The present work contributes to the ongoing discussion of the factors involved in perfecting foreign language learning through a close examination of vocabulary use. Motivated by Laufer’s (1991) argument that the use of less frequent vocabulary items is a sign that a language learner is approximating the lexical competence of a native speaker, I set out to model Laufer and Nation’s (1995) study that assessed lexical frequency. The first goal of this work was to assess the usefulness of the lexical frequency profile (Laufer and Nation, 1995) in evaluating written texts produced by learners of German. This lexical frequency profile had mostly been used to examine vocabulary use of learners of English. Instead of using frequency bands of German, this work relied on three generated word frequency lists. The second goal of this work was to examine how the language repertoire of aspiring bilinguals varies at the lexical level by comparing vocabulary use at three competency levels (Introductory German I, II and Intermediate German). The analysis revealed that the lexical frequency profile is a valuable tool for evaluating lexical use by language learners, although the tool was difficult to adapt for research of texts in German. Furthermore, learners in all three courses relied heavily on vocabulary from learning materials used in their courses, and they were more likely to use less frequent words as they progressed from the introductory to the intermediate language course.

The present work contributes to the ongoing discussion of the factors involved in perfecting foreign language learning through a close examination of vocabulary use. Motivated by Laufer’s (1991) argument that the use of less frequent vocabulary items is a sign that a language learner is approximating the lexical competence of a native speaker, I set out to model Laufer and Nation’s (1995) study that assessed lexical frequency. The first goal of this work was to assess the usefulness of the lexical frequency profile (Laufer and Nation, 1995) in evaluating written texts produced by learners of German. This lexical frequency profile had mostly been used to examine vocabulary use of learners of English. Instead of using frequency bands of German, this work relied on three generated word frequency lists. The second goal of this work was to examine how the language repertoire of aspiring bilinguals varies at the lexical level by comparing vocabulary use at three competency levels (Introductory German I, II and Intermediate German). The analysis revealed that the lexical frequency profile is a valuable tool for evaluating lexical use by language learners, although the tool was difficult to adapt for research of texts in German. Furthermore, learners in all three courses relied heavily on vocabulary from learning materials used in their courses, and they were more likely to use less frequent words as they progressed from the introductory to the intermediate language course.

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Este trabalho teve por objetivo analisar o papel da frequência lexical em dois fenômenos fonológicos variáveis que apresentam condicionamentos morfológicos, quais sejam Redução da Nasalidade e Apagamento de /r/ Final, no intuito de verificar: 1) a interação de frequência lexical com variáveis linguísticas; 2) a interação de frequência lexical com variáveis sociais; 3) o melhor modelo, se abstracionista ou exemplarista, para tratar dos resultados aqui obtidos. Para a redução da nasalidade, reanalisamos dados de Schwindt e Bopp da Silva (2010), adicionando a informação de frequência lexical para a análise dos dados; para o fenômeno de apagamento de /r/ final, novos dados foram coletados de entrevistas com informantes do Rio de Janeiro. A informação de frequência lexical dos dados foi obtida do corpus de referência ASPA (Avaliação Sonora do Português Atual). Nossos resultados apontam que frequência lexical apresenta correlação positiva com a aplicação dos fenômenos, estando condicionada à classe gramatical, não à estrutura morfológica interna da palavra. Idade apresenta uma interação bastante significativa em dados de redução da nasalidade, principalmente na classe de não verbos sem gem. A mesma interação com idade não foi encontrada no fenômeno de apagamento de /r/. Uma explicação para isso talvez esteja relacionada com a caracterização de frequência de type e frequência de token. Tendo em vista que, na análise de frequência lexical, regras relativas à morfologia interna à palavra e à fonologia parecem não ser determinantes na aplicação dos fenômenos, defendemos neste trabalho a superioridade das abordagens exemplaristas. / The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of lexical frequency in two variable phonological phenomena which present morphological conditioning, such as Nasality Reduction and Final /r/ Deletion, in order to verify: 1) lexical frequency interaction with linguistic variables ; 2) lexical frequency interaction with social variables; 3) the best model, if abstractionist or exemplarist, to deal with the results obtained here. For nasality reduction, we reanalyzed data from Schwindt and Bopp da Silva (2010), adding lexical frequency information for data analysis; for the final /r/ deletion phenomenon, new data were collected from interviews with informants from Rio de Janeiro. Lexical frequency information of the data was obtained from the reference corpus ASPA (Sound Evaluation of Current Portuguese). Our results point out that lexical frequency has positive correlation with the application of the phenomena, being conditioned by grammatical class, not by the internal morphological structure of the word. Age has a very significant interaction in nasality reduction data, especially in the class of non-verbs without gem. The same interaction with age was not found in the final /r/ deletion phenomenon. An explanation for this may be related to the characterization of type and token frequency. In lexical frequency analysis, considering that rules regarding the internal morphology of words and regarding phonology do not seem to be decisive in the application of both phenomena, we argue for the superiority of the exemplarist approaches.

Purpose: This thesis examines the effect of listener characteristics (i.e., cognition and vocabulary) and language-based factors (i.e., lexical frequency and phonological similarity) on speech recognition accuracy in adverse listening conditions. Method: Fifty listeners (40 females and 10 males) aged 18-33 years and with normal hearing (puretone thresholds ≤ 20 dB HL, 0.25-8 kHz) participated. They completed a speech perception experiment, which required listeners to repeat back non-sensical English phrases presented at a variety of signal-to-noise ratios (-5, -2, +1, and +4 dB SNRs). In addition, all listeners undertook assessments of vocabulary knowledge (PPVT-IV) and cognition (WAIS -IV). The primary dependent variable was individual content word recognition accuracy, and results were analysed using binomial mixed effects modelling. Results: Listeners demonstrated variability in their speech recognition abilities, and their vocabulary and cognitive scores. Statistical analysis revealed that listener-based factors affected word recognition. Listeners with faster processing speed and larger working memories exhibited higher word recognition accuracy. Surprisingly, listeners with higher non-verbal intelligence scores exhibited lower word recognition accuracy. Vocabulary knowledge interacted with SNR, such that as the listening conditions became more favourable, listeners with larger receptive vocabularies identified more words correctly. Similarly, main effects were also present for language-based factors. The more phonologically distinct a word was, the more likely it was to be correctly identified; higher frequency words were more likely to be accurately recognised. In addition, higher frequency words were identified more accurately at higher SNR levels. Finally, listener- and language-based factors interacted. The positive effect of working memory on word recognition was reversed as word frequency increased; on the other hand non-verbal intelligence’s negative influence on word recognition was reversed as word frequency increased. Conclusion: In the current cohort, listener and language-based factors interacted in the process of word recognition in noise. These results provide an insight into the underlying speech recognition mechanisms in adverse conditions. Further understanding of how these listener differences affect an individual’s speech processing may lead to the development of improved signal processing techniques and rehabilitation strategies.

<p>The theory underlying L2 oral fluency has focused on cognitive processes, particularly proceduralization (Anderson, 1983; Levelt, 1989, 1999) and linguistic constructs, especially vocabulary and grammar (Segalowitz, 2010). Towell, Hawkins, and Bazergui (1996) argued that development of formulaic language enables automatic speech production. However, no research has studied the longitudinal development of L2 oral fluency concurrently with any of the following lexical variables: lexical frequency profile, formulaic language use, and MTLD (a measure of lexical diversity). The purpose of the present study is to clarify the process by which L2 oral fluency, syntax, and vocabulary develop concurrently.</p> <p>Data analysis involved three sequential phases: oral fluency analysis, lexico-syntactic analysis, and discourse analysis. Oral fluency measures were calculated using the transcribed oral test responses of 100 L1-Chinese EAP learners at the beginning and end of a required two-course EAP language and culture sequence at Purdue University. The task completed was a computer-administered, two-minute argumentative speaking task. This study included eight oral fluency measures: speech rate, mean length of speech run, articulation rate, phonation time ratio, mean length of silent pause, mean length of filled pause, silent pause frequency, and filled pause frequency. For the ten participants who made the largest percentage-wise oral fluency gains (in terms of the oral fluency variable associated with the largest effect size of gains), oral transcripts were analyzed to compute descriptive statistics for the three lexical variables mentioned above and three syntactic variables: coordinate clause ratio, dependent clause ratio, and words per T-unit. </p> Results indicated significant change in all oral fluency measures, except mean length of silent pause and mean length of filled pause. The largest gains were made in mean length of speech run. Of the linguistic variables, the largest longitudinal change was associated with coordinate clause ratio. Discourse analysis of the transcripts of large fluency gainers' pre-post responses suggested that large fluency gainers used coordinate clauses to build more sophisticated discourse models in the post-test response than they did in the pre-test response. Implications for L2 oral fluency theory, EAP pedagogy, and L2 oral assessment are discussed.

Sound reduction and deletion have been studied across many languages for some time. Usage-based approaches suggest that the more often a word is used, the more likely it is that some of the sounds are reduced. Phonetic environment, stress, and speech rate have all been studied as reasons for sound reduction or deletion. Most recently, frequency in reducing context (FRC) has been included when studying sound reduction and deletion. FRC in this thesis measures the portion of word tokens of a given word type that are followed by a reducing context. This thesis focuses on word-final /t/ reduction and deletion in German. Audio and transcriptions of six native German speakers were time aligned with the Montreal Forced Aligner for the analysis. Word frequency, phonetic environment, stress, and FRC were analyzed as factors that condition reduction and deletion. A linear mixed-effects regression model with the dependent variable of word-final /t/ duration found significance between a shorter /t/ duration and (1) a shorter duration of the preceding sound and (2) a consonant preceding the reduced /t/. A logistic mixed-effects regression model with the dependent variable of word-final /t/ deletion found significance between deletion and (1) a consonant preceding the deleted /t/ and (2) word frequency. Though FRC was not found to be significant in this study, perhaps measuring FRC with a different reducing context would be significant in a future study.

This study incorporates insights from Usage Based Grammar (UBG) into variationist research on morphosyntactic variation in Spanish. Specifically, this dissertation investigates the impact on pronoun use of lexical frequency, or the number of times a finite verb appears in a large data set based on spontaneous speech from 221 speakers in two locales (New York City, NY and Boston, MA), as well as a series of context-based frequency metrics in a Variationist study of Spanish Subject Personal Pronoun (SPP) variation (e.g. Yo creo vs. creo ‘I think’). This investigation elucidates the nature of frequency effects (both lexical and contextual) on pronoun use and on the other linguistic factors that have been shown to impact pronoun use. Through this investigation, this dissertation is able to draw conclusions on the nature of linguistic variation and make inferences surrounding the mental representations underlying sociolinguistic patterns. In the past, frequency has been investigated in subject pronoun production as it pertains to the rate of the finite verb, with researchers counting the instances of each verb's occurrence within a corpus. This approach has produced mixed results. One study has shown that frequency modulates or amplifies the effects of other linguistic predictors, providing evidence that suggests lexical frequency does not directly impact pronoun use in a uniform or monotonic way (Erker & Guy, 2012). A few studies have replicated some version of these modulating effects, though they have not found as consistent amplification effects across linguistic constraints. Other studies have found contradictory frequency effects, showing only a main effect of frequency (high frequency corresponding to high pronoun use in some studies and low pronoun use in others) with no amplification effects, or no frequency effects at all. Further, Usage Based Grammar frameworks, which are often referenced in studies exploring lexical frequency, posit that speakers are not only sensitive to the rate of use of linguistic forms, but also the detailed contexts in which these forms appear. Such “rich memories”, as they are referred to in UBG, are said to constitute the mental representations of these forms. The mixed results in the literature, together with the UBG notion of rich memories, motivate the current study, which investigates the relationship between contextual frequency and pronoun use, since contextual frequency metrics (as opposed to overall frequency) might shed more light on frequency effects in morphosyntactic variation. The contextual frequency metrics analyzed in the current dissertation consist of the frequencies at which finite verbs appear in four combinations of the factor values of two variables, referred to as Switch Reference (i.e. whether the previous verb has a different referent or the same referent as the target site of variation) and Preceding Pronoun (i.e. whether the immediately preceding site of pronominal variation has a pronoun present or absent). The four combinations on which contextual frequency metrics are based are therefore: (1) ‘Different Referent/Preceding Pronoun Present’, (2) ‘Different Referent/Preceding Pronoun Absent’, (3) ‘Same Referent/Preceding Pronoun Present’, or (4) ‘Same Referent/Preceding Pronoun Absent’. Analysis of 88,001 tokens of pronominal presence or absence generally replicate the modulating effects of overall verb frequency observed by Erker & Guy (2012), i.e. the effects of several linguistic factors are amplified for frequent verb forms. Moreover, the analysis of contextual frequency reveals that verb forms must reach a certain overall frequency threshold in order for contextual properties to impact pronoun use. This finding aligns with the UBG prediction that the most frequent context in which a verb appears will dominate the overall pronominal tendencies of the verb, as long as that verb is sufficiently frequent in discourse. Overall, this study concludes that the linguistic variation observed in language use aligns with the usage-based approach that contextual frequency effects accumulate in the mental representations that underlie sociolinguistic patterns.

and Key Words The linguistic concept of complexity as a component of the CAF triad is used to describe the complexity of texts, either spoken (transcribed) or written, and to describe speaker advancedness not only in L1, but also in L2 research. On the most basic level, lexical complexity and syntactic complexity can be distinguished, however, complexity is a multidimensional concept and many different descriptions and operationalisations exist; there is an even wider gap in terms of measuring lexical complexity of L2 oral speech with lexical frequency wordlists as studies on lexical sophistication have yielded inconsistent and sometimes inconclusive results; the majority of studies on lexical sophistication, one of the subdivisions of lexical complexity, have been carried out on written learner production. For this reason, this thesis focuses on measuring lexical complexity in L2 speech with word frequency lists; more specifically, it presumes that C1 speakers would produce more of complex vocabulary (low-frequency vocabulary) than B2 speakers in our sample; this thesis also attempts to correlate word frequency list results with English Vocabulary Profile results and compare the individual speakers. For this analysis 10 B2 and 10 C1 Czech speakers of English were selected from the LINDSEI spoken...

The thesis analyses lexical complexity in the written production of L2 proficient learners of English (the highest C2 level). Additionally, it compares L2 lexical complexity with L1 lexical complexity of English native speakers. This lexical complexity is investigated in two key parameters: lexical diversity and lexical sophistication. A quantitative analysis is made by the means of single indicators and is followed by an analysis where composite indicators VOCD-D and MTLD are employed to measure lexical diversity. Lexical sophistication is explored through the English Vocabulary Profile tool (EVP), which categorises words in a text according to predefined frequency word lists (A1-C2 types). The main hypothesis presumed that the lexical complexity of L2 English speakers is inferior to L1 English speakers, despite the fact that their L2 English language competence is at the highest level possible (C2 level), often compared to "native-speaker competence". It was expected that the results in respective groups (L2 and L1 speakers) would be similar. Another working hypothesis is that low- frequency words at the C2 level will be smaller for L2 English speakers than that for L1 English speakers. The data comprises 20 comparable texts of L2 proficient English speakers in the dimension of their length (the...