Doctoral Dissertation Research: Process of Language Production in Tunisian Arabic

本论文奖将支持突尼斯阿拉伯语语音错误的心理语言学实验。阿拉伯语的构词法不同于更常用的语言。使用一种具有不同寻常的词形音系特征的语言对错误现象进行跨语言研究，可以对句子的加工和产生进行新的、更清晰的测试。核心问题围绕着所谓的“交换错误”（例如，“我把公文包落在雪茄里了”）。这些错误不仅会打乱整个单词的顺序，还会打乱较小的语法元素。例如，在英语中，这类错误可能会把词缀串在一起（例如，“it waits to pay”和“you have to square it facely”）。先前对英语、德语和罗曼语语音错误特性的实验测试在语言产生的心理语言学解释中发挥了重要作用。本研究项目涉及语音错误现象的不同解释，通过利用现有的阿拉伯语语音错误数据库的实验方法，在语法、形态学和音韵学的界面上解决生产理论的一个重要领域。这项研究代表了既有模式和创新模式的结合，既促进了博士生的培养，又以新颖的方式为重大科学问题做出了贡献。论文作者是亚利桑那大学第二语言习得与教学项目的突尼斯女性，对将心理语言学研究与应用领域联系起来感兴趣。对她研究的支持扩大了代表性不足群体的参与。这项研究有可能帮助为阿拉伯语学习者开发更有效的教学材料。现代语言协会（Modern Language Association）最近的一份报告显示，2002年至2006年间，美国高校外语课程的入学人数增加了127%。因此，这项研究是及时的，这一潜在的关键。研究小组还致力于通过与阿拉伯语国家的学者联系的方式传播研究结果，这些学者可能无法随时获得美国学者通常享有的会议和期刊。这个项目将是突尼斯阿拉伯语语言生产过程的第一个研究。这也是首个利用语音错误数据对闪族词结构进行理论评价的实验研究。在某种程度上，这项工作出现在突尼斯和更广泛的阿拉伯学术界可以访问的场所，它也将提高该地区心理语言学研究的知名度。

This dissertation award will support psycholinguistic experiments on speech errors in Tunisian Arabic. Word formation in Arabic differs from that in more commonly studied languages. The cross-language study of error phenomena using a language with unusual morpho-phonological properties permits a new and sharper test of claims about sentence processing and production. The central questions revolve around so-called 'exchange errors' (e.g., "I left my briefcase in the cigar"). These errors can mis-order not just whole words but smaller grammatical elements as well. In English, for example, such errors may strand affixes (e.g., "it waits to pay" and "you have to square it facely"). Previous experimental tests of the properties of speech errors in English, German, and Romance languages have played an important role in psycholinguistic accounts of language production. This research project speaks to alternative accounts of speech error phenomena, addressing a vital area of production theory at the interface of syntax, morphology, and phonology with an experimental method that utilizes an existing speech error database in Arabic. The research represents a combination of established and innovative paradigms that promote the training of a Ph.D. student while contributing in an original way to a significant scientific problem. The dissertator is a Tunisian woman in the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program at the University of Arizona, with an interest in linking psycholinguistic research to applied domains. Support of her research broadens the participation of underrepresented groups. The research has the potential to help develop more effective pedagogical materials for Arabic language-learners. The Modern Language Association's recent report on enrollment in foreign-language courses in American colleges and universities found a 127% increase in students studying Arabic between 2002 and 2006. The research is therefore timely and this potential critical. The research team is also committed to disseminating the results in ways that connect with scholars from Arabic-speaking countries who may not have ready access to the conferences and journals that American scholars typically enjoy. This project will be the first study of language production processes in Tunisian Arabic. It will also be the first experimental study to exploit speech error data to contribute to the theoretical evaluation of Semitic word structure. To the extent that this work appears in venues that are accessible to the Tunisian and broader Arabic academic communities, it will also raise the visibility of psycholinguistic research in that region.