Plasticity of grammatical recursion in German learners of Dutch

Abstract

We examined the multilingual comprehension and learning of cross-serial and embedded constructions in Germanspeaking learners of Dutch using magnetoencephalography (MEG). In several experimental sessions, learners performed a sentence-scene matching task with Dutch sentences including two different verb orders (Dutch or German verb order). The results indicated a larger evoked response for the German order relative to the Dutch order over frontal sensors after three months, but not initially. The response implies that sensitivity to violations of verb order remains plastic into adulthood.

Idiosyncratic Grammars: Syntactic Processing in Second Language Comprehension Uses Subjective Feature Representations

“…In contrast, a number of recent studies on L2 syntactic acquisition rather suggest a parallel course of behavioral and neural correlates of syntactic discrimination ability (Davidson & Indefrey, 2009, 2011. Although we do not want to deny that a certain "gut feeling" might contribute to syntactic processing in a second language, these and our results clearly show that the role of implicit knowledge is fairly limited when compared with that of subjective, but explicit, representations.…”

An Event Related Field Study of Rapid Grammatical Plasticity in Adult Second-Language Learners

“…Based on both the behavioral results and the electrophysiological responses, we found that when a grammar rule is taught individually in an intensive training paradigm, learning can occur rapidly (within hours) and it is usually accompanied by changes in neural responses that are similar to L1-like patterns, as it has been shown in previous studies (Mueller et al, 2005, 2007, 2008; Davidson and Indefrey, 2009a,b, 2011). Nevertheless, these results differ from other studies finding that adult learners' brain responses differed from the ones of native speakers (Pakulak and Neville, 2011; Meulman et al, 2014; Díaz et al, 2016).…”

“…From previous fMRI studies we know that the localized areas have been found to be part of the language network involved in speech comprehension (Friederici, 2011). Similarly, Davidson and Indefrey (2009b) studied the MEG response to phrase-order violations in German learners of Dutch, and a source reconstruction of that activity implicated a variety of left-hemisphere perisylvian areas showing a greater amplitude response to grammatical violations after months following formal coursework. The fact that the main effect occurs on language areas could suggest that the new L2 memories are being created and embedded in regions that already process lexical and grammatical information, rather than in separate regions that are responsible for other cognitive processes.…”

“…Most previous studies have examined second language (L2) grammar learning using electroencephalography (EEG), however, and as a consequence, there is uncertainty in the literature about which brain areas correspond to these newly-emerging electrophysiological responses. Regarding magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies on the field, Davidson and Indefrey (2009b) examined grammar learning on adult learners of Dutch, the source reconstruction localized the evoked activity at left temporal and left inferior-frontal areas. However, participants were tested after 2 weeks and 3 months of formal course.…”

“…In a similar study, Davidson and Indefrey (2011) found P600 responses for both declension and gender violations using text materials. Davidson and Indefrey (2009b) studied the MEG response to phrase-order violations in German learners of Dutch. However, Davidson and Indefrey (2009b) examined the response to text-stimuli rather than auditory materials, and the grammar training was not carried out in the laboratory, but rather in a classroom in a longitudinal design, so it is not clear whether the outcome seen in that study will also hold for the more focused laboratory based training regime such as in Davidson and Indefrey (2009a, 2011).…”