Cover not available
Article published In:
Journal of Second Language Studies
Vol. 1:1 (2018) ► pp.31–59

Suprasegmental information cues morphological anticipation during L1/L2 lexical access

| Rutgers University
| Rutgers University

We use visual-world eye-tracking and gating methods to investigate whether Spanish monolinguals and English late learners of Spanish use prosodic cues (lexical stress) to anticipate morphological information (suffixes) during spoken word recognition, and if they do, whether L2 proficiency and working memory (WM) mediate their anticipatory abilities. Our findings show that the monolinguals used prosodic information to predict word endings in both tasks, regardless of first-syllable stress (stressed, unstressed) and structure (CV, CVC). In contrast, the beginning learners did not use prosodic information to anticipate word suffixes in any task or condition. Importantly, the advanced learners mirrored the monolinguals, except in words with first-syllable CV structure, but were slower than the monolinguals. Finally, WM was not associated with anticipatory eye movements, though results were inconclusive for offline processing. Taken together, the present study shows that suprasegmental information facilitates morphological anticipation during spoken word recognition, and that adult learners can gain anticipatory processing patterns qualitatively, but not quantitatively, similar to monolinguals.

Keywords: morphological processing, anticipation, prediction, L2 proficiency, working memory, critical period, prosody, lexical stress
Article outline
  • Prosodic cues in L1 anticipation
  • Prosodic cues in L2 anticipation
  • WM and L2 anticipation
  • Lexical stress in adult SLA
  • The current study
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Materials and procedure
    • Language background questionnaire
    • Spanish proficiency test
    • Eye-tracking task
    • Visual stimuli
    • Auditory stimuli
    • Gating task
    • Working memory task
  • Results
    • Eye-tracking task
  • Gating task
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 7 May 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.17026.sag
References
Allopenna, P. D., Magnuson, J. S., & Tanenhaus, M. K.
(1998) Tracking the time course of spoken word recognition using eye movements: Evidence for continuous mapping models. Journal of Memory and Language, 381, 419–439 DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Altmann, G. T., & Mirkovic, J.
(2009) Incrementality and prediction in human sentence processing. Cognitive Sciences, 331, 583–609. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barr, D. J.
(2008) Analyzing “visual world” eyetracking data using multilevel logistic regression. Journal of Memory and Language, 59(4), 457–474. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bartoń, K.
(2016) MuMIn: Multi-Model Inference. R package version 1.15.6. [URL]
Barrouillet, P. & Camos, V.
(2007) The time-based resource-sharing model of working memory. In N. Osaka, R. H. Logie, & M. D’ Esposito (Eds.), The cognitive neuroscience of working memory (pp. 59–80). Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boersma, P. & Weenink, D.
(2017) Praat: Doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 6.0.33. Retrieved from: [URL] (26 September, 2017).
Bullock, B., & Lord, G.
(2003) Analogy as a learning tool in second language acquisition: The case of Spanish stress. In A. T. Pérez-Leroux & Y. Roberge (Eds.), Romance linguistics. Theory and acquisition (pp. 281–297). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chrabaszcz, A., Winn, M., Lin, C. Y., & Idsardi, W. J.
(2014) Acoustic cues to perception of word stress by English, Mandarin, and Russian speakers. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 57(4), 1468–1479. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clahsen, H. & Felser, C.
(2006) Grammatical processing in language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 271, 3–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cooper, N., Cutler, A., & Wales, R.
(2002) Constraints of lexical stress on lexical access in English: Evidence from native and non-native listeners. Language and speech, 45(3), 207–228. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cutler, A.
(2012) Native listening: Language experience and the recognition of spoken words. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cutler, A., Dahan, D., & van Donselaar, W.
(1997) Prosody in the comprehension of spoken language: A literature review. Language and Speech, 40(2), 141–201. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dijkgraaf, A., Hartsuiker, R. J., & Duyck, W.
(2016) Predicting upcoming information in native-language and non-native-language auditory word recognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20(5), 1–14.Google Scholar
Douglas, B., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S.
(2015) Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48.Google Scholar
Dussias, E. P., Valdés Kroff, J. R., Guzzardo Tamargo, R. E., & Gerfen, C.
(2013) When gender and looking go hand in hand. Grammatical gender processing in L2 Spanish. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 351, 353–387. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Face, T. L.
(2000) The role of syllable weight in the perception of Spanish stress. In H. Campos, E. Herburger, A. Morales-Front, & T. J. Walsh (Eds.), Hispanic linguistics at the turn of the millennium (pp. 1–13). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
(2005) Syllable weight and the perception of Spanish stress placement by second language learners. Journal of Language and Learning, 3(1), 90–103.Google Scholar
(2006) Cognitive factors in the perception of Spanish stress placement: Implications for a model of speech perception. Linguistics, 44(6), 1237–1267. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fischer, B.
(1992) Saccadic reaction time: Implications for reading, dyslexia and visual cognition. In K. Rayner (Ed.), Eye movements and visual cognition: Scene perception and reading (pp. 31–45). New York, NY: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Foucart, A., Martin, C., Moreno, E. M., & Costa, A.
(2014) Can bilinguals see it coming? Word anticipation in L2 sentence reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 40(5), 1461–9.Google Scholar
Foucart, A., Ruiz-Tada, E., & Costa, A.
(2016) Anticipation processes in L2 speech comprehension: Evidence from ERPs and lexical recognition tasks. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(1), 213–219. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gordon, M., & Roettger, T.
(2017) Acoustic correlates of word stress: A cross-linguistic survey. Linguistics Vanguard, 3(1). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gosselke Berthelsen, S., Horne, M., Brännström, K. J., Shtyrov, Y., & Roll, M.
(2018) Neural processing of morphosyntactic tonal cues in second-language learners. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 451, 60–78. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grosjean, F.
(1980) Spoken word recognition processes and the gating paradigm. Perception and Psychophysics, 28(4), 267–283. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grüter, R., Lew-Williams, C., & Fernald, A.
(2012) Grammatical gender in L2: A production or a real-time processing problem? Second Language Research, 28(2), 191–215. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hawthorne, K., & Gerken, L. A.
(2014) From pauses to clauses: Prosody facilitates learning of syntactic constituency. Cognition, 133(2), 420–428. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holt, L. L., & Lotto, A. J.
(2006) Cue weighting in auditory categorization: Implications for first and second language acquisition. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1191, 3059–3071. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hopp, H.
(2015) Semantics and morphosyntax in predictive L2 sentence processing. IRAL, 53(3), 277–306. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hualde, J. I.
(2005) The sounds of Spanish. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Huettig, F.
(2015) Four central questions about prediction in language processing. Brain Research, 16261, 118–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huettig, F., & Janse, E.
(2016) Individual differences in working memory and processing speed predict anticipatory spoken language processing in the visual world. Lang. Cogn. Neurosci., 311, 80–93. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huettig, F., & McQueen, J. M.
(2007) The tug of war between phonological, semantic and shape information in language-mediated visual search. Journal of Memory and Language, 57(4), 460–482. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huettig, F., Rommers, J., & Meyer, A. S.
(2011) Using the visual world paradigm to study language processing: A review and critical evaluation. Acta Psychologica, 137(2), 151–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ingvalson, E. M., Holt, L. L., & McClelland, J. L.
(2011) Can native Japanese listeners learn to differentiate /r-l/ on the basis of F3 onset frequency? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 151, 255–274. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Iverson, P., Kuhl, P. K., Akahane-Yamada, R., Diesch, E., Tohkura, Y. i., Kettermann, A., & Siebert, C.
(2003) A perceptual interference account of acquisition difficulties for non-native phonemes. Cognition, 871, B47–B57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ito, A.
(2016) Prediction during native and non-native language comprehension: The role of mediating factors. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. The University of Edinburgh, UK.
Ito, A., Dunn, M. S., & Pickering, M.
(2017) Effects of language production on prediction: Word vs. picture visual world study. Poster presented at Architectures and mechanisms of language processing .
Jaeger, T. F. & Snider, N. E.
(2013) Alignment as a consequence of expectation adaptation: Syntactic priming is affected by the prime’s prediction error given both prior and recent experience. Cognition, 127(1), 57–83. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jensen, J. T.
(1993) English phonology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiang, N.
(2004) Morphological insensitivity in second language processing. Applied Psycholinguistics, 251, 603–634. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2007) Selective integration of linguistic knowledge in adult second language learning. Language Learning, 57(1), 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kamide, Y.
(2008) Anticipatory processes in sentence processing. Language and Linguistics Compass, 2(4), 647–670. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kjelgaard, M., & Speer, S.
(1999) Prosodic facilitation and interference in the resolution of temporary syntactic closure ambiguity. Journal of Memory and Language, 401, 153–194. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lenth, R. V.
(2016) Least-Squares Means: The R Package lsmeans. Journal of Statistical Software, 69(1), 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lew-Williams, C. & Fernald, A.
(2007) Real-time processing of gender-marked articles by native and non-native Spanish speakers. Journal of Memory and Language, 63(4), 447–464. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010) Real-time processing of gender-marked articles by native and non-native Spanish speakers. Journal of Memory and Language, 63(4), 447–464.Google Scholar
Liburd, T.
(2014) Investigating prediction in L2 morpho-syntax: A visual world study (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Lord, G.
(2007) The role of lexicon in learning second language stress patterns. Applied Language Learning, 17(1–2), 1–14.Google Scholar
Marull, C.
(2017) Second language processing efficiency: Experience and cognitive effects on L2 morphosyntactic integration and anticipation. In M. LaMendola & J. Scott (Eds.), BUCLD 41: Proceedings of the 41st Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 466–480). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Martin, C. D., Thierry, G., Kuipers, J-R., Boutonnet, B., Foucart, A. & Costa, A.
(2013) Bilinguals reading in their second language do not predict upcoming words as natives do. Journal of Memory and Language, 691, 574–588. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matin, E., Shao, K. C. & Boff, K. R.
(1993) Saccadic overhead: Information-processing time with and without saccades. Perception and Psychophysics, 531, 372–380. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McDonald, J.
(2006) Beyond the critical period: Processing-based explanations for poor grammaticality judgment performance by late second language learners. Journal of Memory and Language, 551, 381–401. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McQueen, J. M.
(2005) Spoken word recognition and production: Regular but not inseparable bedfellows. In A. Cutler (Ed.), Twenty-first century psycholinguistics: Four cornerstones (pp. 229–244). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Mirman, D.
(2014) Growth curve analysis and visualization using R. Boca Raton, FL: Chapman & Hall/CRC.Google Scholar
Mitsugi, S., & MacWhinney, B.
(2016) The use of case marking for predictive processing in second language Japanese. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(1), 19–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nakagawa, S. & Schielzeth, H.
(2013) A general and simple method for obtaining R2 from generalized linear mixed-effects models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 41, 133–142. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oldfield, R. C.
(1971) The assessment and analysis of handedness: The Edinburgh inventory. Neuropsychologia, 91, 97–113. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ortega Llebaria, M., Gu, H., & Fan, J.
(2013) English speakers’ perception of Spanish lexical stress: Context-driven L2 stress perception. Journal of Phonetics, 411, 186–197. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Otten, M. & Van Berkum, J. J. A.
(2009) Does working memory capacity affect the ability to predict words in discourse? Brain Research, 12911, 92–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Park, D., Welsh, R., Marschuetz, C., Gutchess, A., Mikels, J., Polk, T., Noll, D., & Taylor, S.
(2003) Working memory for complex scenes: Age differences in frontal and hippocampal activations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 15(8), 1122–1134. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Peters, R. E., Grüter, T., & Borovsky, A.
(2015) Anticipatory and locally coherent lexical activation varies as a function of language proficiency. In Proceedings of CogSci2015: The Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.Google Scholar
R Core Team
(2017) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. [URL]
Rehrig, G. L.
(2017) Acoustic correlates of syntax in sentence production and comprehension (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Rutgers University.Google Scholar
Roettger, T., & Gordon, M.
(2017) Methodological issues in the study of word stress correlates. Linguistics Vanguard, 3(1). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roll, M.
(2015) A neurolinguistic study of South Swedish word accents : Electrical brain potentials in nouns and verbs. Nordic Journal of Linguistics, 38(2), 149–162. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roll, M., Horne, M., & Lindgren, M.
(2010) Word accents and morphology – ERPs of Swedish word processing. Brain Research, 13301, 114–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009) Left-edge boundary tone and main clause verb effects on syntactic processing in embedded clauses – an ERP study. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 221, 55–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roll, M., Söderström, P., & Horne, M.
(2013) Word-stem tones cue suffixes in the brain. Brain Research, 15201, 116–120. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saalfeld, A. K.
(2012) Teaching L2 spanish stress. Foreign language annals, 45(2), 283–303. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sagarra, N.
(2008) Working memory and L2 processing of redundant grammatical forms. In Z. Han (Ed.), Understanding Second Language Process (pp. 133–147). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Sagarra, N. & Herschensohn, J.
(2010) The role of proficiency and working memory in gender and number agreement processing in L1 and L2 Spanish. Lingua, 201, 2022–2039. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saslow, M. G.
(1967) Latency for saccadic eye movement. Journal of the Optical Society of America, 571, 1030–1033. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schremm, A., Söderström, P., Horne, M., & Roll, M.
(2016) Implicit acquisition of tone-suffix connections in L2 learners of Swedish. Mental Lexicon, 11(1), 55–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sebastián-Gallés, N., Martí, M. A., Cuetos, F., & Carreiras, M. F.
(2000) LEXESP: Léxico informatizado del español [LEXESP: A computerized word-pool in Spanish]. Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona.Google Scholar
Söderström, P., Horne, M., & Roll, M.
(2017) Stem tones pre-activate suffixes in the brain. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 46(2), 271–280. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Söderström, P., Roll, M., & Horne, M.
(2012) Processing morphologically conditioned word accents. The Mental Lexicon, 7(1), 77–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Soto-Faraco, S., Sebastián-Gallés, N., & Cutler, A.
(2001) Segmental and suprasegmental mismatch in lexical access. Journal of Memory and Language, 45(3), 412–432. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Steinhauer, K., Alter, K., & Friederici, A. D.
(1999) Brain potentials indicate immediate use of prosodic cues in natural speech processing. Nature Neuroscience, 2(2), 191–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tremblay, A., Broersma, M., & Coughlin, C. E.
(2017) The functional weight of a prosodic cue in the native language predicts the learning of speech segmentation in a second language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1–13. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Trenkic, D., Mirkovic, J. & Altmann, G.
2014, ‘Real-time grammar processing by native and non-native speakers: constructions unique to the second language.’ Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17(2), pp. 237–257.Google Scholar
Ullman, M.
(2005) A cognitive neuroscience perspective on second language acquisition: The declarative/procedural model. In C. Sanz (ed.), Mind and context in adult second language acquisition: Methods, theory, and practice (pp. 141–178). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Weber, A., Grice, M., & Matthew, C. W.
(2006) The role of prosody in the interpretation of structural ambiguities: a study of anticipatory eye movements. Cognition, 99(2), B63–B72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weber-Fox, C. & Neville, H.
(1996) Maturational constraints on functional specialization for language processing: ERP and behavioral evidence in bilingual speakers. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 81, 231–256. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, D.
(1997) Wechsler adult intelligence scale (3rd ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 9 other publications

Fernández-Arroyo, Laura, Nuria Sagarra & Kaylee Fernández
2022. Differential effects of language proficiency and use on L2 lexical prediction. The Mental Lexicon 17:2 ► pp. 213 ff. DOI logo
Garrido-Pozú, Juan J.
2022. Predictive processing of grammatical gender: Using gender cues to facilitate processing in Spanish. Lingua 278 ► pp. 103416 ff. DOI logo
Gosselke Berthelsen, Sabine, Merle Horne, Yury Shtyrov & Mikael Roll
2021. Phonological transfer effects in novice learners: A learner's brain detects grammar errors only if the language sounds familiar. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 24:4 ► pp. 656 ff. DOI logo
Liu, Yiguang, Florian Hintz, Junying Liang & Falk Huettig
2022. Prediction in challenging situations: Most bilinguals can predict upcoming semantically-related words in their L1 source language when interpreting. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 25:5 ► pp. 801 ff. DOI logo
Lozano-Argüelles, Cristina & Nuria Sagarra
2021. Interpreting experience enhances the use of lexical stress and syllabic structure to predict L2 word endings. Applied Psycholinguistics 42:5 ► pp. 1135 ff. DOI logo
Lozano-Argüelles, Cristina, Nuria Sagarra & Joseph V. Casillas
2020. Slowly but surely: Interpreting facilitates L2 morphological anticipation based on suprasegmental and segmental information. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 23:4 ► pp. 752 ff. DOI logo
Lozano-Argüelles, Cristina, Nuria Sagarra & Joseph V. Casillas
2023. Interpreting experience and working memory effects on L1 and L2 morphological prediction. Frontiers in Language Sciences 1 DOI logo
Ortín, Ramsés & Miquel Simonet
2022. PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING OF STRESS BY NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS LEARNING SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 44:2 ► pp. 460 ff. DOI logo
Ortín, Ramsés & Miquel Simonet
2023. Perceptual Sensitivity to Stress in Native English Speakers Learning Spanish as a Second Language. Laboratory Phonology 14:1 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 may 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.