“Bread and butter” or “butter and bread”? Nonnatives’ processing of novel lexical patterns in context

Abstract

Little is known about how nonnative speakers process novel language patterns in the input they encounter. The present study examines whether nonnatives develop a sensitivity to novel binomials and their ordering preference from context. Thirty-nine nonnative speakers of English (L1 Arabic) read three short stories seeded with existing binomials (black and white) and novel ones (bags and coats) while their eye movements were monitored. The existing binomials appeared once in their forward (conventional) form and once in their reversed form. The novel binomials appeared in their experimentally defined forward form in different frequency conditions (two vs. four encounters) and once in the reversed form. Results showed no advantage for existing binomials over their reversed forms. For the novel binomials, the nonnative speakers read subsequent encounters significantly faster than initial ones for both frequency conditions. More importantly, the final reversed form also led to faster reading, suggesting that L2 speakers process the reversed form of a novel binomial as another encounter, ignoring the established order.

The processing advantage of multiword sequences: A meta-analysis

“…Binomials are typically semantically transparent and consist of associated words arranged in a preferred order. Sonbul et al (2023) discovered that nonnative speakers tend to disregard the conventional word order of both familiar (e.g., black and white) and newly encountered binomials (e.g., bags and coats) in their L2. Conversely, Conklin and Carrol (2021) discovered that native speakers exhibited sensitivity to both established (e.g., time and money) and novel binomials (e.g., wires and pipes) in their L1.…”

The dynamics of multiword sequence extraction

“…Nevertheless, the use of a well-controlled environment allowed us to characterise the acquisition of multiword sequences in real-time and to investigate in depth the process of word-to-word associative learning in different linguistic settings (i.e., unrelated words, novel words using pseudowords, semantically related words and idioms). To gain a fuller picture of how multiword sequences are acquired, studies employing more ecological presentation conditions, such as those of Conklin and Carrol (2020) and Sonbul et al (2022), and using different types and larger multiword sequences are needed.…”

“…They found that participants were sensitive to the co-occurrences of the novel binomials, which translated into faster reading times for the novel binomials as the number of co-occurrences increased. In addition, the results showed an advantage for forward novel binomials over their reverse forms after only four to five exposures, suggesting that participants very quickly detected and encoded the structure of the repeated pattern (see Sonbul et al, 2022, for a replication in second language acquisition).…”

The Effect of Congruency and Frequency of Exposures on the Learning of L2 Binomials

“…Forward forms demonstrated a processing advantage over their reversed forms after four exposures, suggesting that native speakers developed sensitivity to the conventional word order of binomials during reading. Sonbul et al (2023) aimed to replicate the Conklin and Carrol study with non-native speakers but found no advantage of the forward forms over their reversed ones. The two studies suggest that non-native speakers may require more exposures than native speakers to develop sensitivity to the preferred word order of binomials.…”

“…In sum, although the reviewed studies add to our understanding of binomial learning and processing, they had limitations. The Alotaibi et al (2022) and Sonbul et al (2023) studies did not address the congruency effect, and the Du et al (2021) study did not address the frequency effect on binomial learning and processing. It remains an open question whether congruency and frequency of encounter affect binomial learning, which is the focus of the current research.…”