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Developing a unified feature-based model for L2 lexical and syntactic processing / GABRIELE LUONI

Swansea University Author: GABRIELE LUONI

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.59912

Abstract

Research on lexical processing shows that lexical representations of L2 speakers are less developed, so frequency and vocabulary size affect the way they use lexical information. Specifically, reduced access to lexical features hinders the processing system of L2 speakers from working efficiently, h...

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Published: Swansea 2022
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Rogers, Vivienne ; Tschichold, Cornelia
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59912
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first_indexed 2022-04-27T14:30:01Z
last_indexed 2022-04-28T03:32:21Z
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spelling 2022-04-27T17:28:30.6667326 v2 59912 2022-04-27 Developing a unified feature-based model for L2 lexical and syntactic processing 27d555247df150dc15595c19f1646b9a GABRIELE LUONI GABRIELE LUONI true false 2022-04-27 Research on lexical processing shows that lexical representations of L2 speakers are less developed, so frequency and vocabulary size affect the way they use lexical information. Specifically, reduced access to lexical features hinders the processing system of L2 speakers from working efficiently, having an impact on their ability to build syntactic structures in a native-like manner. The present research project aims to construct and test a unified model that explains how lexical and sentence processing interact. First, it develops and validates a productive vocabulary task for L2 Italian to measure vocabulary size. The task, called I-Lex, is based on the existing LEX30 for English, and uses frequency to determine lexical knowledge. Then, adopting the formalism of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, a framework that associates all the information relevant to the grammar with the lexicon, the research project develops a model that explains the effects of lexical access on syntactic processing. The model is tested in two empirical studies on L2 speakers of Italian. The first study, using an Oral Elicited Imitation task, and the I-Lex productive vocabulary task investigates the effects of frequency and vocabulary size on cleft sentences. The second study, using the same productive vocabulary task and a Self-paced Reading task, investigates frequency and vocabulary effects on relative clauses. The results reveal that frequency and vocabulary size interact with the ability of L2 speakers to process both cleft and relative clauses, providing evidence that accessing lexical features is a crucial stage for processing syntactic structures. Based on the results, a feature-based lexical network model is constructed. The model describes how lexical access and the activation of structural links between words can be described using the same set of lexical features. In the last chapter, the model is applied to the results of the two studies. E-Thesis Swansea Second Language Acquisition, Italian, Language Processing, Vocabulary, L2 Lexical Processing, L2 Syntactic Processing, HPSG, Word Association 26 4 2022 2022-04-26 10.23889/SUthesis.59912 ORCiD identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9948-1793 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Rogers, Vivienne ; Tschichold, Cornelia Doctoral Ph.D 2022-04-27T17:28:30.6667326 2022-04-27T15:26:25.5219864 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics GABRIELE LUONI 1 59912__23922__47aa0c10ce504c5488def4945272a386.pdf Luoni_Gabriele_PhD_Thesis_Final_Redacted_Signature.pdf 2022-04-27T15:36:29.3688199 Output 4773798 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Copyright: The author, Gabriele Luoni, 2022. true eng
title Developing a unified feature-based model for L2 lexical and syntactic processing
spellingShingle Developing a unified feature-based model for L2 lexical and syntactic processing
GABRIELE LUONI
title_short Developing a unified feature-based model for L2 lexical and syntactic processing
title_full Developing a unified feature-based model for L2 lexical and syntactic processing
title_fullStr Developing a unified feature-based model for L2 lexical and syntactic processing
title_full_unstemmed Developing a unified feature-based model for L2 lexical and syntactic processing
title_sort Developing a unified feature-based model for L2 lexical and syntactic processing
author_id_str_mv 27d555247df150dc15595c19f1646b9a
author_id_fullname_str_mv 27d555247df150dc15595c19f1646b9a_***_GABRIELE LUONI
author GABRIELE LUONI
author2 GABRIELE LUONI
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institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUthesis.59912
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics
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description Research on lexical processing shows that lexical representations of L2 speakers are less developed, so frequency and vocabulary size affect the way they use lexical information. Specifically, reduced access to lexical features hinders the processing system of L2 speakers from working efficiently, having an impact on their ability to build syntactic structures in a native-like manner. The present research project aims to construct and test a unified model that explains how lexical and sentence processing interact. First, it develops and validates a productive vocabulary task for L2 Italian to measure vocabulary size. The task, called I-Lex, is based on the existing LEX30 for English, and uses frequency to determine lexical knowledge. Then, adopting the formalism of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, a framework that associates all the information relevant to the grammar with the lexicon, the research project develops a model that explains the effects of lexical access on syntactic processing. The model is tested in two empirical studies on L2 speakers of Italian. The first study, using an Oral Elicited Imitation task, and the I-Lex productive vocabulary task investigates the effects of frequency and vocabulary size on cleft sentences. The second study, using the same productive vocabulary task and a Self-paced Reading task, investigates frequency and vocabulary effects on relative clauses. The results reveal that frequency and vocabulary size interact with the ability of L2 speakers to process both cleft and relative clauses, providing evidence that accessing lexical features is a crucial stage for processing syntactic structures. Based on the results, a feature-based lexical network model is constructed. The model describes how lexical access and the activation of structural links between words can be described using the same set of lexical features. In the last chapter, the model is applied to the results of the two studies.
published_date 2022-04-26T04:17:34Z
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score 11.016235