Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Psycholinguistic Status of Lone English-Origin Nouns in Spanish: Integrating Sociolinguistic Approaches

据估计，有5300万美国人会说西班牙语，其中大多数人都会说两种语言。西班牙语和英语双语已经成为美国各地社区的标志，从佛罗里达州迈阿密不断增长的古巴裔美国人，到整个西南部历史悠久的墨西哥裔美国人社区，再到美国领土波多黎各的人口。在这些社区中，有一种共同的语言实践在双语研究中发挥着核心作用：语言混合。语言混合的定义是在一次对话中同时使用两种语言，一些人认为这是随意的或无能的表现。然而，语言学研究表明，语言混合是有组织的和规则驱动的，实现这一点需要两种语言的高超技能。然而，尽管它在世界各地的双语社区中随处可见，语言学家们还没有就什么是语言混合的实际情况达成一致。同样，尽管人们对语言混合的社会方面了解很多，但对语言混合的心理和认知特征的研究才刚刚开始。该奖项支持的论文研究结合了语言学不同分支学科的方法，以更清楚地了解双语者是如何将他们的两种语言结合起来的。该项目侧重于使用嵌在其他西班牙语句子中的单一英语名词--即所谓的“单项”。通过汇集双语演讲中使用独项的丰富知识来源和现代心理学技术，该项目将考察独项是如何被处理和理解的，以及双语者对独项使用中的语法变化的敏感度有多高。尽管在过去的几十年里，对双语的语言理解有了很大的提高，但两种或两种以上语言的使用和混合仍然存在严重的耻辱。这项研究将有助于越来越多的研究表明，语言混合是一种技能，具有影响人类语言理解的社会、心理和认知特征。这一奖项反映了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。

It is estimated that 53 million Americans speak Spanish, the majority of whom are bilingual. Spanish-English bilingualism has become a hallmark of communities across the U.S., from the growing Cuban-American population in Miami, Florida, to the long-established Mexican-American communities throughout the Southwest, to the population of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Across these communities, there is a common linguistic practice that plays a central role in bilingualism research: language mixing. Defined as the simultaneous use of two languages within a single conversation, language mixing is viewed by some as haphazard or indicative of incompetence. However, linguistic research has demonstrated that language mixing is structured and rule-driven, and that accomplishing it requires great skill in both languages. Despite its ubiquity across bilingual communities the world over, however, linguists have yet to agree on what counts as actual instances of language mixing. Likewise, while much is known about the social aspects of language mixing, research has only begun to explore the psychological and cognitive characteristics of language mixing.The dissertation research supported by this award combines approaches from different subdisciplines in linguistics to provide a clearer understanding of how bilinguals combine their two languages. The project focuses on the use of single English nouns of English embedded in otherwise Spanish sentences--so-called "lone items". By bringing together the rich source of knowledge on the use of lone items in bilingual speech and modern psychological techniques, the project will examine how lone items are processed and comprehended, and how sensitive bilinguals are to grammatical changes in the use of lone items. Although linguistic understanding of bilingualism has improved greatly over the past several decades, heavy stigma still surrounds the use and mixing of two or more languages. The present research will contribute to the growing body of research showing that language mixing is a skill, and has social, psychological, and cognitive characteristics that influence human language understanding.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.