NSF-BSF: The Dominance Shift in Mixed-Language Production vs. Comprehension

NSF-BSF：混合语言生成与理解的主导地位转变

• 批准号: 2316909
• 负责人: Tamar Gollan
• 金额: $ 66.34万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-15 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2316909&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; BSF; Dominance; Shift; Mixed

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about one in five people in the US speak a language other than English at home. The value of knowing more than one language is becoming increasingly relevant as technology develops and US industry connects with individuals all over the world, even with just a handheld device. People who speak multiple languages have greater potential to connect with a broader audience or customer base and speaking more than one language is often a key component for success in economic, educational, and professional realms. Hence, there is a great need to understand how people acquire, maintain, and proficiently switch among languages. Learning another language obviously requires learning new words, sounds, and rules, but it also requires learning to control the automatic tendency to think and speak in the first-learned or dominant language. This research program directly examines whether, when, and by how much speakers actively inhibit their dominant language to enable speaking a language in which they are less proficient. Hypotheses to be tested are that more inhibition is required for bilingual speakers with one more clearly dominant language and/or when fewer cues are present to aid language selection. To test these hypotheses, the investigators detail a series of behavioral experiments that compare different Spanish-English vs. Hebrew-English bilingual speakers as they produce and/or comprehend pictures, names, single words, and full sentences. Each speaker's response times, spoken word durations, and eye movements will be measured in single and mixed-language contexts. Relationships among these tasks will help clarify links between inhibitory control and bilingual language proficiency. The insights gained in the proposed studies will contribute to theoretical models of bilingual language processing, laying the groundwork needed to improve theory-driven approaches to second language acquisition and teaching, and for assessment and treatment of cognitive and linguistic abilities in diverse types of bilinguals.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

根据美国人口普查局的数据，大约五分之一的美国人在家里说英语以外的语言。随着技术的发展和美国工业与世界各地个人的联系，懂一门以上语言的价值正变得越来越重要，即使只需要一台手持设备。会说多种语言的人更有可能与更广泛的受众或客户群建立联系，会说多种语言往往是在经济、教育和专业领域取得成功的关键因素。因此，很有必要了解人们是如何习得、保持和熟练地在语言之间进行转换的。学习另一种语言显然需要学习新的单词、发音和规则，但它也需要学习控制用第一语言或主导语言思考和说话的自动倾向。这项研究计划直接调查说话者是否、何时以及在多大程度上积极抑制他们的主要语言，以使他们能够说一种他们不太熟练的语言。需要检验的假设是，当双语使用者使用一种更明显的主导语言时，需要更多的抑制，和/或当出现更少的线索来帮助语言选择时。为了验证这些假设，研究人员详细介绍了一系列行为实验，比较了不同的西班牙语-英语和希伯来语-英语双语使用者在产生和/或理解图片、名字、单个单词和完整句子时的表现。每个说话者的反应时间、口语时长和眼球运动将在单一语言和混合语言环境中进行测量。这些任务之间的关系将有助于澄清抑制控制和双语熟练程度之间的联系。这项研究将有助于双语语言处理的理论模型，为改进理论驱动的第二语言习得和教学方法，以及评估和处理不同类型的双语者的认知和语言能力奠定必要的基础。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。