Reassessing the application of Processability Theory

The WEAVER++ model and ESL nominal plural marking

Helen Charters, Loan Dao & Louise JansenHelen Charters, Loan Dao & Louise Jansen

University of Auckland & Australian National UniversityUniversity of Auckland & Australian National University

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OverviewOverview

Theoretical contextTheoretical context– SLASLA– Processability Theory Processability Theory – The WEAVER++ modelThe WEAVER++ model

The studyThe studyResultsResults– Contrary to predictions?Contrary to predictions?

InterpretationInterpretation– L1 Transfer effects?L1 Transfer effects?– Plurality without AgreementPlurality without Agreement

ConclusionConclusion

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ExplanandumExplanandum

The acquisition of L2 The acquisition of L2 knowledge and the ability knowledge and the ability

to process it for speaking.to process it for speaking.

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Theoretical frameworkTheoretical framework

Processability TheoryProcessability Theory

knowledge --- knowledge --- access access output output

Lexical Functional “Theory of Speaking”Lexical Functional “Theory of Speaking”

GrammarGrammar Weaver++Weaver++

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The developmental problemThe developmental problem

How do L2 knowledge and How do L2 knowledge and processing change over time?processing change over time?

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Acquisition of procedural skillsAcquisition of procedural skills

Stages of acquisition reflect increases in Stages of acquisition reflect increases in processing demandsprocessing demands

Processing demands relate to the Processing demands relate to the storage of information to be comparedstorage of information to be compared

the longer information must be storedthe longer information must be stored

the higher the processing demands the higher the processing demands

the later a structure will emerge in SLAthe later a structure will emerge in SLA

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Information Exchange: Information Exchange: a hierarchya hierarchy

LexicalLexical– Direct mapping from conceptual structure onto Direct mapping from conceptual structure onto

linguistic formlinguistic form– No information exchangeNo information exchange at the level of linguistic form at the level of linguistic form

PhrasalPhrasal– Information exchange Information exchange withinwithin a phrasal constituent a phrasal constituent

Inter-phrasalInter-phrasal– Information exchange Information exchange acrossacross phrase boundaries phrase boundaries

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PT Predictions for English Plural -sPT Predictions for English Plural -s

Lexical < Phrasal < InterphrasalLexical < Phrasal < InterphrasalBare N-pl Quantified N-pl Verbal 3Bare N-pl Quantified N-pl Verbal 3 rdrd-ps-sg-ps-sg

[[bookbookss]] [[five bookfive bookss ]] [[She She [[sellsellss …. ….] ]] ]

[[oneone bookbook ]]

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The StudyThe Study

To test PT predictionsTo test PT predictionsCross-sectionalCross-sectionalEFL EFL L1 = VietnameseL1 = Vietnamese36 school learners36 school learnersAge 13-18 Age 13-18 Spontaneous oral productionSpontaneous oral productionElicited by tasks Elicited by tasks

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The corpusThe corpus

Nearly 20 hrs of recorded dataNearly 20 hrs of recorded data

1613 contexts1613 contexts:: 605 tokens605 tokens::

. 487 Bare N-pl . 172 Bare N-pl. 487 Bare N-pl . 172 Bare N-pl . 778 Quantified N-pl . 388 Quantified N-pl. 778 Quantified N-pl . 388 Quantified N-pl . 357 3. 357 3rdrd-ps-sg . 45 3-ps-sg . 45 3 rdrd-ps-sg -ps-sg

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Data AnalysisData Analysis

Distributional analysisDistributional analysis

Quantitative analysis based on Quantitative analysis based on typestypes

Application of emergence criterionApplication of emergence criterion

Implicational analysisImplicational analysis– 90% Reproducibility Coefficient 90% Reproducibility Coefficient – 60% Scalability Coefficient60% Scalability Coefficient

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Results: Results: Acquisition Order Acquisition Order

Bare Plural Quantified pluralBare Plural Quantified plural

Sense “books” “five books” / Sense “books” “five books” / one bookone book

Stage 1 Stage 1 book five book / book five book / one bookone book

Stage 2 Stage 2 bookbook five bookfive books s / / one bookone book

Stage 3 Stage 3 bookbookss five bookfive books s // one bookone book

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Prediction FalsifiedPrediction Falsified

PT predictionPT prediction

Lexical < Lexical < PhrasalPhrasal < Inter-phrasal < Inter-phrasal

Bare N-pl Quantified N-pl Verbal 3Bare N-pl Quantified N-pl Verbal 3rdrd-ps-sg-ps-sg

Study’s findingsStudy’s findings

PhrasalPhrasal < < Lexical < Inter-phrasalLexical < Inter-phrasal

Quantified N-pl Quantified N-pl Bare N-pl Verbal 3 Bare N-pl Verbal 3rdrd-ps--ps-sgsg

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A Processing Account:A Processing Account:

Levelt, Roelofs and Meyer (1999)Levelt, Roelofs and Meyer (1999)

Theory of lexical accessTheory of lexical access

Conceptual stratumConceptual stratum - holistic concepts - holistic concepts

Lemma stratumLemma stratum - grammatical features - grammatical features

Form stratum Form stratum - morphemes, phonemes, - morphemes, phonemes, syllables syllables

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English PL Inflection in Weaver++ ModelEnglish PL Inflection in Weaver++ Model

Conceptual Conceptual MULTMULT BOOK BOOKStratumStratum SENSESENSE

SENSESENSE

Lemma Lemma PLPL NUMNUM LEX-CAT LEX-CAT NNStratumStratum

FORMFORM FORMFORM

Form Form StratumStratum : Morpheme: Morpheme <book> <book>

PhonemesPhonemes /s/ /s/ /b/ /U/ /k//b/ /U/ /k/

Syllables Syllables [bUk][bUk][bUks][bUks]

bookbook

SGSG

<+s><+s>

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Vietnamese PluralsVietnamese Plurals

hoahoaflowerflowerflower(s)flower(s)

một một bôngbông hoahoa hai hai bôngbông hoahoaOne One CLASSCLASS flowerflower Two Two CLASSCLASS flowerflowerone flowerone flower two flowerstwo flowers

nhữngnhững hoahoathe.pluralthe.plural flowerflowerthe flowersthe flowers

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Schema for Vietnamese PluralSchema for Vietnamese Plural

ConceptualConceptual

StratumStratum

SENSE SENSESENSE SENSE

LemmaLemma LEX-CATLEX-CAT LEX-CATLEX-CAT

StratumStratum

FORMFORM FORMFORM

Form Form StratumStratum

FLOWERFLOWER

hoahoa NN

<hoa><hoa>

PLURALPLURAL

nhữngnhữngARTART

<<nhữngnhững >>

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Acquisition tasksAcquisition tasks

Link countable entity concepts to Link countable entity concepts to PluralPlural

Link Link PLPL node to N lemma node to N lemma

LinkLink PLPL lemma node to lemma node to <-s> morpheme<-s> morpheme

Acquire syllable structures with final –sAcquire syllable structures with final –s

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Initial State Initial State Stage 1 Stage 1

BOOKBOOK

SENSESENSE

LEX-CATLEX-CAT

FORMFORM

<book><book>

ConceptualConceptualStratumStratum

LemmaLemmaStratumStratum

FormFormStratumStratum

bookbook

FLOWERFLOWER

SENSESENSE

hoahoa LEX-CATLEX-CAT N N

FORMFORM

<hoa><hoa>

[hoa][hoa]

[bUk][bUk] [bUks] [bUks]

NN

[[bôngbông]]

2020

Stage 1: Numeric expressionStage 1: Numeric expressionNo Plural ConceptNo Plural Concept

TWOTWO

SENSESENSE SENSE SENSE SENSE SENSE

CLCL

LEX-CATLEX-CAT haihai hoahoa LEX-CATLEX-CAT

twotwo bookbook

FORMFORM FORMFORM FORMFORM FORMFORM

<hai><hai> <hoa><hoa> <two><two> <book><book>

ConceptualConceptualStratumStratum

LemmaLemmaStratumStratum

FormFormStratumStratum

<-s><-s>

FLOWERFLOWER BOOKBOOK

bôngbông

<<bông>bông>

CLASSCLASSCOUNTCOUNT

NNQQ

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Stage 2: Emergent PluralStage 2: Emergent PluralActivation of Activation of Count Concept and LemmaCount Concept and Lemma by by

NumbersNumbers

TWOTWO COUNTCOUNT BOOKBOOK

SENSESENSE SENSE SENSE SENSE SENSE

QQ LEX-CATLEX-CAT twotwo LEX-CATLEX-CAT

FORM FORM FORMFORM FORMFORM FORMFORM

<two><two> <book><book>

ConceptualConceptualStratumStratum

LemmaLemmaStratumStratum

FormFormStratumStratum

bookbook NNCountCount

<-s><-s>

[bUks][bUks] [bUk][bUk]

PLURALPLURAL

pluralplural

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Stage 2: Emergent PluralStage 2: Emergent PluralBare NounBare Noun

BOOKBOOK

SENSESENSE SENSE SENSE

ConceptualConceptualStratumStratum

LemmaLemmaStratumStratum

FormFormStratumStratum

TWOTWO

twotwo

<two><two>

QQ

<-s><-s>

CountCountplpl bookbook

<book><book>

NN

FORMFORMFORMFORMFORMFORM

FORMFORM

LEX-CATLEX-CATLEX-CATLEX-CAT

COUNTCOUNT

Syllables Syllables [bUks][bUks] [[bUkbUk]]

PLURALPLURAL

SENSESENSE

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Stage 3 English (target) structure: NumericStage 3 English (target) structure: Numeric

Conceptual Conceptual BOOK BOOKStratum Stratum

SENSESENSE SENSESENSE SENSE SENSE

Lemma Q Lemma Q LEX-CATLEX-CAT NUMNUM NUM NUM book book LEX-CAT LEX-CAT

NNStratumStratum

FORMFORM FORM FORMFORM FORM

Form Form StratumStratum <book> <book>

FIVEFIVEONEONE

fivefive

oneone

PLPL

plpl

<five><five><one><one>

<+s><+s>

[[bUkbUk]][bUks][bUks]

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Stage 3 Target structure: Bare N Stage 3 Target structure: Bare N

Conceptual Conceptual PLURALPLURAL BOOKBOOKStratumStratum

SENSESENSE SENSE SENSE

Lemma Lemma PLPL NUMNUM LEX-CAT LEX-CAT NNStratumStratum

FORM FORM FORMFORM

Form Form Stratum: MorphemeStratum: Morpheme <book> <book>

PhonemesPhonemes /s/ /s/ /b/ /U/ /k//b/ /U/ /k/

Syllables Syllables [bUk][bUk][bUks][bUks]

bookbook

<+s><+s>

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ConclusionsConclusionsEarly plural marking in Numeric contexts need not Early plural marking in Numeric contexts need not involve grammatical agreement if one plural form involve grammatical agreement if one plural form responds directly to a plural concept.responds directly to a plural concept.

Learners whose L1 does not mark number on Nouns Learners whose L1 does not mark number on Nouns must restructure their conceptual stratum and the Noun must restructure their conceptual stratum and the Noun lemmas in their mental lexicon in order to mark number lemmas in their mental lexicon in order to mark number obligatorily. obligatorily.

The Weaver++ model allows us to model this The Weaver++ model allows us to model this restructuring, providing a partial account of L1 transfer restructuring, providing a partial account of L1 transfer effects in acquisition of English Plural morphology.effects in acquisition of English Plural morphology.

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Comments welcomeComments welcome

Thank you!Thank you!

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ReferencesReferences

Bock, Kathryn and Bock & Willem Levelt (1994). “Language production: Bock, Kathryn and Bock & Willem Levelt (1994). “Language production: Grammatical encoding. In: Morton A. Gernsbacher (Ed.). Grammatical encoding. In: Morton A. Gernsbacher (Ed.). Handbook of Handbook of psycholinguisticspsycholinguistics. San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 945-983.. San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 945-983.Charters, Areta H. (2005). “The second language acquisition of Mandarin Charters, Areta H. (2005). “The second language acquisition of Mandarin nominal syntax”. PhD Thesis. University of Auckland (Dept. of Applied nominal syntax”. PhD Thesis. University of Auckland (Dept. of Applied Language Studies and Linguistics). Language Studies and Linguistics). Dao, Loan (forthcoming). “Foreign Language Acquisition: Processes and Dao, Loan (forthcoming). “Foreign Language Acquisition: Processes and Constraints.” PhD Thesis. Australian National University (School of Constraints.” PhD Thesis. Australian National University (School of Language Studies). Language Studies). Levelt, Willem J.M. (1989). Levelt, Willem J.M. (1989). Speaking: From intention to articulationSpeaking: From intention to articulation. . Cambridge: MIT Press.Cambridge: MIT Press.Kempen, Gerard and Edward Hoenkamp (1987). “An incremental Kempen, Gerard and Edward Hoenkamp (1987). “An incremental procedural grammar for sentence formulation.” procedural grammar for sentence formulation.” Cognitive ScienceCognitive Science, 11: 201-, 11: 201-258.258.Levelt, Willem J.M., Ardi Roelofs and Antje S. Meyer (1999). “A theory of Levelt, Willem J.M., Ardi Roelofs and Antje S. Meyer (1999). “A theory of lexical access in speech production.” lexical access in speech production.” Behavioral and brain sciencesBehavioral and brain sciences 22:1- 22:1-75.75.Pienemann, Manfred (1998). Pienemann, Manfred (1998). Language processing and second language Language processing and second language development: Processability theorydevelopment: Processability theory. Amsterdam: Benjamins.. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Bresnan, Joan (2001). Lexical-functional Syntax. Oxford: Blackwell.Bresnan, Joan (2001). Lexical-functional Syntax. Oxford: Blackwell.Bresnan, Joan (ed.) (1982). Bresnan, Joan (ed.) (1982). The mental representation of grammatical The mental representation of grammatical relationsrelations. Cambridge, MIT Press. . Cambridge, MIT Press.

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Direction for further empirical researchDirection for further empirical research

Replication of the studyReplication of the study– Non-classifier first languageNon-classifier first language– Role of syllable structureRole of syllable structure

Extension of the studyExtension of the study– Diversify contextsDiversify contexts

Semantic vs grammatical pluralSemantic vs grammatical plural

Elicitation of ‘one’ Elicitation of ‘one’

Number marking and Determiners (Articles/ Number marking and Determiners (Articles/ Demonstratives) Demonstratives)

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Task examplesTask examples

Task 1.1 (Bare Noun-plural):Task 1.1 (Bare Noun-plural):

R R close your eyes and tell me what you close your eyes and tell me what you can remember in this roomcan remember in this room

88 HL HL fanfanss … … lamplampss … … and and one teacherone teacher sit in sit in thethe cornercorner … … … … dictionaridictionarieses … … tabletabless andand

chairchairss

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Task examples (cont)Task examples (cont)

Task 1.2 (Quantified Noun-plural):Task 1.2 (Quantified Noun-plural):

RR (shows two pictures) tell me the (shows two pictures) tell me the differencesdifferences

99 HL HL in this picturein this picture . . have have one clockone clock .. .. one one boardboard and and threethree boardboardss … … thisthis classroom have classroom have twotwo studentstudentss .. .. fourfour studentstudents andand a teachera teacher … … chairchair .. .. tabletable andand penpen … … twotwo . . twotwo studentstudentss .. .. erasing .. erasing .. the board … the board …

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Task examples (cont)Task examples (cont)

Task 2.1 (Bare Noun-plural):Task 2.1 (Bare Noun-plural):

R R (shows 8 cards for view in 15 secs) (shows 8 cards for view in 15 secs) tell tell me me what you can remember in what you can remember in those those cardscards

2424 HL HL clockclock … … bananabananass . . tenttent … … flowerflowerss … … eggeggss … … bookbookss … … oniononionss

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Task examples (cont)Task examples (cont)

Task 2.2 (Quantified Noun-plural):Task 2.2 (Quantified Noun-plural):

RR (a card game) what do you have(a card game) what do you have

25 25 HLHL II havehave threethree tenttentss … …2626 I haveI have four teacherfour teacherss . . doctordoctorss … …2727 I haveI have two pentwo pen … …2828 I haveI have four dogfour dogss … …2929 I haveI have fourfour clockclock … …3030 I haveI have fivefive teacherteacherss

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Emergence Criteria for AcquisitionEmergence Criteria for Acquisition

At least:At least:

Lexical variationLexical variationOne token each of two One token each of two typestypes

(‘books’ and ‘flowers’, ‘she rides’ and ‘she lives’,(‘books’ and ‘flowers’, ‘she rides’ and ‘she lives’,etcetc.).)

Formal variationFormal variation One contrasting formOne contrasting form

(‘two books’ (‘two books’ vsvs ‘one book’, ‘she rides’ ‘one book’, ‘she rides’ vsvs ‘I ride’) ‘I ride’)

RobustnessRobustness Five obligatory contextsFive obligatory contexts