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1. Reconstructing the life-cycle of a mixed language: An exploration of Ecuadoran Media Lengua

   https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006919842668  

   Lipski, John M. (April 2019, International Journal of Bilingualism)

   Aims and objectives:This study explores the assertion that bilingual mixed languages are only diachronically stable if they are not spoken together with both of the contributing source languages. Ecuadoran Media Lengua, which combines all-Quichua morphosyntax with nearly all lexical roots replaced by Spanish-derived forms, coexists in three communities with both Spanish and Quichua, having arrived in each community in successive generations. Methodology and design:Trilingual speakers (Quichua, Media Lengua, Spanish) participated in four interactive tasks: speeded translation, speeded acceptability judgments, language classification, and lexical decision. Data and analysis:For each task, the calculated rate of separation of Quichua and Media Lengua was the response variable for a series of linear mixed-effects models, with community (and when appropriate, age group) as a fixed effect. Findings/conclusions:The results suggest that a mixed language spoken together with the languages that supplied both the lexical roots and the morphosyntax can maintain its integrity for a generation or two, but the perceptual boundaries circumscribing the mixed language eventually become more permeable. They point to a significant correlation between the chronology of language contacts and the perceptual stability of Media Lengua, which is greatest when the only competing language is Quichua, somewhat less when Spanish is acquired later as the second language, and lowest when Spanish is one of the early acquired or native languages alongside Quichua. Originality:This is the first attempt to test the putative diachronic stability of a mixed language by means of synchronic experimental data. 

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2. What word-prosodic typology is missing: Motivating foot structure as an analytical tool for syllable-internal prosodic oppositions

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-024-09639-z  

   Köhnlein, Björn; Cameron, Ian S (June 2024, Natural Language & Linguistic Theory)

   A notoriously contested subarea of phonological typology is word-prosodic typology, which governs suprasegmental structure (such as tone, syllable structure and stress) at the word level. Within word-prosodic typology, it is widely recognized that some languages have so-called stress systems while others have lexical-tone systems. Other languages appear to have intermediate systems, with properties of both stress and lexically contrastive tone. Certain types of such intermediate systems are at the core of ongoing theoretical debates on the nature of word- prosodic systems, viz. language varieties with contrasts between two word tones that are restricted to the main-stressed syllables of a word, a phenomenon that is often descriptively referred to as tonal accent. In this paper, we aim to show that exploring tone-accent systems in detail has the potential to significantly contribute to word-prosodic typology, specifically concerning the foot as a tool for the analysis of syllable-internal prosodic contrasts. The phonology of tonal accent in Franconian (a variety of West Germanic spoken in parts of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands) will be the main piece of evidence supporting our claims, with a focus on predictable interactions between segmental structure and accentuation. A central implication of our analysis is that tonal contrasts within syllables can sometimes derive from two types of feet being active in the same prosodic system. We support the Franconian evidence with analogous tone-segment interactions in Estonian and discuss the relevance of our claims in the broader context of word-prosodic typology. 

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3. Vowel Dispersion as a Cue for Prominence in Sora

   Horo, Luke (March 2020, International Congress of the Phonetic Sciences)

   Calhoun, Sasha; Escudero, Paola; Tabain, Marija; Warren, Paul (Ed.)

   The vowel space differences between first and second syllables in Sora disyllables argue in favor of the second syllable being prominent. 

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4. Spanish input accelerates bilingual infants’ segmentation of English words

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104936  

   Mateu, Victoria E.; Sundara, M. (January 2022, Cognition)

   We asked whether increased exposure to iambs, two-syllable words with stress on the second syllable (e.g., guitar), by way of another language – Spanish – facilitates English learning infants' segmentation of iambs. Spanish has twice as many iambic words (40%) compared to English (20%). Using the Headturn Preference Procedure we tested bilingual Spanish and English learning 8-month-olds' ability to segment English iambs. Monolingual English learning infants succeed at this task only by 11 months. We showed that at 8 months, bilingual Spanish and English learning infants successfully segmented English iambs, and not simply the stressed syllable, unlike their monolingual English learning peers. At the same age, bilingual infants failed to segment Spanish iambs, just like their monolingual Spanish peers. These results cannot be explained by bilingual infants' reliance on transitional probability cues to segment words in both their native languages because statistical cues were comparable in the two languages. Instead, based on their accelerated development, we argue for autonomous but interdependent development of the two languages of bilingual infants. 

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5. Examining the Neural Markers of Speech Rhythm in Silent Reading Using Mass Univariate Statistics of EEG Single Trials

   https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14111142  

   Powell, Stephanie J; Nayak, Srishti; Magne, Cyrille L (November 2024, Brain Sciences)

   Background/Objectives: The Implicit Prosody Hypothesis (IPH) posits that individuals generate internal prosodic representations during silent reading, mirroring those produced in spoken language. While converging behavioral evidence supports the IPH, the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms remain largely unknown. Therefore, this study investigated the neurophysiological markers of sensitivity to speech rhythm cues during silent word reading. Methods: EEGs were recorded while participants silently read four-word sequences, each composed of either trochaic words (stressed on the first syllable) or iambic words (stressed on the second syllable). Each sequence was followed by a target word that was either metrically congruent or incongruent with the preceding rhythmic pattern. To investigate the effects of metrical expectancy and lexical stress type, we examined single-trial event-related potentials (ERPs) and time–frequency representations (TFRs) time-locked to target words. Results: The results showed significant differences based on the stress pattern expectancy and type. Specifically, words that carried unexpected stress elicited larger ERP negativities between 240 and 628 ms after the word onset. Furthermore, different frequency bands were sensitive to distinct aspects of the rhythmic structure in language. Alpha activity tracked the rhythmic expectations, and theta and beta activities were sensitive to both the expected rhythms and specific locations of the stressed syllables. Conclusions: The findings clarify neurocognitive mechanisms of phonological and lexical mental representations during silent reading using a conservative data-driven approach. Similarity with neural response patterns previously reported for spoken language contexts suggests shared neural networks for implicit and explicit speech rhythm processing, further supporting the IPH and emphasizing the centrality of prosody in reading. 

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