Aims and objectives: A vast body of research has dealt with negation processing. There are many differences between negations across languages, which could influence negation processing in bilingual speakers. However, bilingual negation processing has rarely been experimentally investigated. This study aims at exploring whether highly proficient Croatian-English bilinguals are able to adequately adopt English negations, and whether linguistic cues from both languages have similar effect on negation processing. Methodology: A sentence–picture verification task was used to investigate the processing of affirmative sentences, sentential and constituent negations, Croatian negative concord and English sentences with negated subject. Data and analysis: 2 (language) × 4 (sentence type) × 2 (congruency) ANOVA with repeated measures was used to analyze the data. Findings: The results showed that the effect of language was not significant, except in the case of constituent negations which were processed faster in English. There was a significant difference between the processing of affirmative and negative sentences, as affirmatives were processed faster than negatives in both languages. Constituent negations in both languages were processed slower compared with other types of negations. Originality: The results suggest that strong linguistic cues, such as word order and quantifiers, influence negation processing in both languages, resulting in differences between different types of negations. The results are discussed in the light of two existing models of negation and sentence processing. A new model, as a combination of these two models, is proposed. Implications: The fact that there was no significant difference in negation processing between the bilinguals’ two languages supports the view that highly proficient successive bilinguals are able to adequately adopt negations in both their languages.

Abstract Studies from English and German have found differences in the processing of affirmative and negative sentences. However, little attention has been given to quantifiers that form negations. A picture-sentence verification task was used to investigate the processing of different types of quantifiers in Croatian: universal quantifiers in affirmative sentences (e.g. all), non-universal quantifiers in compositional negations (e.g. not all), null quantifiers in negative concord (e.g. none) and relative disproportionate quantifiers in both affirmative and negative sentences (e.g. some). The results showed that non-universal and null quantifiers, as well as negations were processed significantly slower compared to affirmative sentences, which is in line with previous findings supporting the two-step model. The results also confirmed that more complex tasks require a longer reaction time. A significant difference in the processing of same-polarity sentences with first-order quantifiers was observed: sentences with null quantifiers were processed faster and more accurately than sentences with disproportional and non-universal quantifiers. A difference in reaction time was also found in affirmatives with different quantifiers: sentences with universal quantifiers were processed significantly faster and more accurately compared to sentences with relative disproportionate quantifiers. These findings indicate that the processing of quantifiers follows after the processing of affirmative information. In the context of the two-step model, the processing of quantifiers occurs in the second step, along with negations.

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Kao globalni jezik modernoga doba engleski je postao dominantan jezik davatelj. Danas se smatra da hrvatski jezik najviše posuđuje upravo iz engleskoga. Utjecaj engleskoga jezika na hrvatski vidljiv je u različitim funkcionalnim stilovima te na gotovo svim jezičnim razinama, no najizraženiji je na leksičkoj razini. U novije vrijeme, posebice u medijima i na društvenim mrežama, sve se češće javljaju neprilagođene engleske riječi, tj. riječi koje su zadržale izvorni oblik, a kojima se po potrebi dodaju hrvatski afiksi. Za sada još uvijek ne postoje konkretni podaci o takvim riječima u hrvatskome jeziku. U cilju pronalaženja engleskih riječi, u drugim su se jezicima koristile različite metode, od ručnih klasifikacija i korištenja postojećih jezičnih resursa do razvoja novih alata i/ili resursa. Međutim, jezične tehnologije za hrvatski jezik još uvijek su nedostatno razvijene. Stoga je cilj ovoga rada ispitati mogućnosti nekih od postojećih alata i resursa za crpljenje engleskih riječi i stvaranje baze engleskih riječi. U tu svrhu pretraživan je mrežni hrvatskog jezika hrWaC pomoću platforme Sketch Engine. Ovom metodom dobiven je popis od 1217 engleskih riječi. Rezultati su pokazali da se pomoću dostupnih alata i resursa za hrvatski jezik može izraditi popis engleskih riječi i njihovih frekvencija, ali i da postoje brojni problemi zbog kojih se rezultati ne mogu smatrati u potpunosti pouzdanima. Isto tako, sam se postupak i dalje mora kombinirati s ručnim metodama i klasifikacijama. Zaključujemo da je za izradu cjelovite baze engleskih riječi u hrvatskome potrebno razviti nove alate i resurse koji bi omogućili automatsko crpljenje engleskih riječi iz korpusa hrvatskoga jezika.