Research examining bilinguals who stutter (BWS) is limited; in particular there are few studies that have considered examining features of speech motor control in BWS. The present study was designed to examine features of speech motor control in bilingual speakers of Mandarin and English. Speech motor control was examined through the acoustic analysis of speaking rate, voice onset time (VOT) and stuttering adaptation. Participants ranged from age between 9 and 27 years. Upon completion of a language dominance questionnaire, two BWS participants were found to be English dominant and three were Mandarin dominant. Each BWS participant was matched to age/sex matched control participants (BWNS). Results for the BWS participants found more stuttering in the less dominant language based on a measure of percentage of syllables stuttered. All of the BWS participants demonstrated stuttering adaptation and there was no significant difference in the amount of adaptation for Mandarin and English. There was no difference found between BWS and BWNS for speaking rate and VOT. In spite of the similarity between BWS and BWNS, speaking rate in Mandarin appeared to be faster compared to English. These findings suggest that speech motor control in BWS and BWNS are similar and current application of these findings to the clinical setting is discussed.

La concession est une relation logique « secondaire » complexe qui se nourrit de plusieurs notions de base : l’hypothèse, la temporalité, la causalité, la négation, l’intensité, la subjectivité, etc. En reliant toutes ces notions, nous traitons les quatre locutions concessives les plus utilisées ainsi que leurs homologues dérivés de la même série en chinois : ji shi « bien que » « même si », sui ran « bien que » « malgré » (et zong ran « bien que » « même si »), na pa « bien que » « même si », jiu shi « même si » (et jiu suan « bien que » « même si »). L’objectif de notre travail est d’explorer le mécanisme concessif dans ces deux langues typologiquement distantes et différentes. En nous inscrivant en principe dans la même ligne que A. Meillet (1912), R. Martin (1982 et 1987) et O. Soutet (1987, 1990 et 1992), etc., nos recherches démontrent non seulement l’évolution diachronique de ce marqueur concessif étudié, mais mettent également en évidence ses rapprochements avec certains connecteurs analogues français (tels que cependant, alors, si, ja, nonobstant, etc.) pendant leur processus de grammaticalisation d’une manière à la fois sémantico-logique et syntaxico-discursive. Notre étude comprend divers corpus allant du chinois archaïque au chinois moderne, ainsi que des méthodologies linguistiques pour classer et traduire les exemples choisis. Nous constatons une ressemblance frappante entre la combinaison des notions de base au cours de la formation du mécanisme concessif dans les deux langues étudiées. / The concession is a “secondary” or “composed” linguistic concept since it combines many fundamental linguistic notions: hypothesis, temporality, causality, negation, intensity, subjectivity, etc. By relating all these crucial notions, our research examines the four most used concessive markers as well as their homologues derived from the same series in Chinese: ji shi "although" "even if", sui ran "although" "despite" (and zong ran "although" "even if"), na pa "although" "even if", jiu shi "even if" (and jiu suan "although" "even if"), as well as their equivalents in French based on previous theories and analyses in the two languages. The aim of the work is to explore the concessive mechanism in these two languages that are typologically distant and different. In the same line as A. Meillet (1912), R. Martin (1982 and 1987) and O. Soutet (1987, 1990 and 1992), etc., our research not only demonstrates the historical evolution of the studied concessive markers, but also highlights its rapprochements with certain French concessive connectors (such as cependant, alors, bien, si, ja, nonobstant, etc.) during their grammaticalization processes from semantic-logical and syntactic-discursive points of view. Our study involves various corpuses from archaic to contemporary Chinese and French, as well as technical linguistic methodologies to categorize and translate the extracted examples. The results of our present research show surprising similarities in terms of the concessive evolution despite the enormous etymological and cultural divergences of the two studied languages.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The thesis explores Chinese teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning Chinese at Chinese complementary schools in Scotland. The teachers taught either Cantonese or Mandarin, the two main Chinese languages spoken by Scotland’s Chinese communities; teaching took place on a voluntary basis at weekends; the teachers were drawn from a variety of occupations; most of the pupils were of Chinese ethnicity, with in addition some non-Chinese children. The research mainly draws on phenomenography, a research approach that investigates variation in conceptions of different phenomena as these appear to particular groups of people – in this case, teachers of Chinese in Scottish complementary schools. The variation refers to the different conceptions of teaching and learning that were identified in the group of teachers as a whole. Semi-structured interviews with each individual teacher were devised, conducted and analysed according to phenomenographic procedures. From the group as a whole six key conceptions of teaching were identified, and likewise six key conceptions of learning. In addition, the research focused on a smaller number of teachers in order to identify individual profiles in greater depth. The teacher interviews also elicited the metaphors that the teachers considered represented good teaching and learning. The interviews also served to identify the factors that the teachers considered had most influenced their conceptions, and they were complemented by qualitative classroom observations designed to identify factors that would allow the researcher to better understand the context in which the teachers had formed their conceptions. The findings showed that Mandarin and Cantonese teachers had much in common, but that also there were clear differences in particular areas that seemed to be explained both by differences in culture between Mandarin-speaking Mainland China and Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong, and also by emerging differences in power and status, with Mandarin assuming a dominant role and Cantonese showing some decline in numbers and in optimism, with some parents switching their children over from Cantonese to Mandarin. More generally, the findings suggested that the teachers were dedicated, adaptable, and different from the stereotypical perception of Chinese teachers of the sort that emphasises examinations, rote-learning and authoritarian teaching style. The teachers in the present study generally understood their pupils had multiple identities and they sought to teach in a child-centred way, and to help their pupils preserve moral values and a Chinese component of their identity through learning Chinese language and experiencing Chinese culture.

L’alternance codique (Code-switching, CS) est l’un des comportements naturels les plus courants chez les bilingues. Les linguistes ont exploré les contraintes derrière l’alternance codique (CS) pour expliquer ce comportement. Au cours des dernières décennies, la recherche a plutôt été axée sur les contraintes syntaxiques et ce n’est que récemment que les contraintes prosodiques ont commencé à attirer l’attention des linguistes. Puisque la paire de langues choisie est moins étudiée dans le domaine de recherche sur la CS, les études sur la CS mandarin-anglais sont limitées en ce qui concerne les deux contraintes. Ainsi, cette étude explore à la fois les contraintes prosodiques et les schémas syntaxiques de cette paire de langues grâce à une base de données naturelle sur l’alternance codique. Prosodiquement, l’étude applique une approche fondée sur l’information (information-based approach) et utilise une unité fondamentale, l’unité d’intonation (Intonation Unit, IU), pour mener l’analyse. Le résultat de 10,6 % d’IU bilingue (BIU) se révèle fiable et offre des preuves solides que l’alternance codique a tendance à avoir lieu aux frontières de l’IU chez les bilingues. Les résultats soutiennent le travail précurseur de Shenk (2006) à partir d’une paire de langues inexplorée (mandarin-anglais). De plus, cette étude développe des solutions au problème de subjectivité et au problème d’adéquation de la base de données afin de renforcer la fiabilité des résultats. D’un point de vue syntaxique, l’étude examine les schémas syntaxiques aux points de CS de la paire de langues mandarin-anglais en utilisant des données recueillies auprès d’une communauté bilingue rarement étudiée. Un schéma syntaxique spécifique à cette paire de langues a été observé en fonction des résultats, mais l’étude suggère que ce schéma ait perturbé les résultats finaux. L’étude comporte une analyse avec les résultats de l’aspect prosodique et de l’aspect syntaxique. Lorsque les résultats divergents sont éliminés, on peut observer un résultat plus solide qui soutient davantage l’argument de la contrainte prosodique. / Code-switching (CS) is one of the most common natural behaviors among bilinguals. Linguists have been exploring the constraints behind CS to explain this behaviour, and while syntactic constraints have been the focus for decades, prosodic constraints were only studied more in depth recently. As a less common language pair in CS research, studies on Mandarin-English CS are limited for both constraints. Thus, this study explores the prosodic constraints and syntactic patterns of this language pair with a natural CS database. Prosodically, this study applies the information-based approach and its fundamental unit, Intonation Unit (IU), to conduct the analysis. The result of 10.6% bilingual IU (BIU) proves to be reliable and offers solid evidence that bilinguals tend to code-switch at IU boundaries. This supports the pioneer work of Shenk (2006) from the unexplored Mandarin-English language pair. In addition to this, the study develops solutions to deal with the subjectivity problem and the database appropriateness problem in this approach to strengthen the validity of the results. Syntactically, this study investigates the syntactic patterns at switching points on the Mandarin-English language pair using data collected from a rarely investigated bilingual community. Based on the results, a syntactic pattern specific to this language pair was observed and this study suggests it disrupted the final results. This study conducts an analysis with the results of both the prosodic aspect and the syntactic aspect. When the interfering results are eliminated, a more solid outcome can be observed which provides greater support to the prosodic constraint argument.

En associant les récentes techniques de neuro-imagerie (IRMf et Potentiels Evoqués) à la finesse des analyses syntaxiques des approches typologiques et formelles, cette recherche pluridisciplinaire se penche sur la question de la représentation des structures hiérarchiques qui caractérisent l’unité-phrase à travers les langues. La façon dont le cerveau humain représente, construit et l'esprit comprend les diverses structures de phrase, est en effet une des plus importantes questions qui restent encore largement irrésolues dans l’organisation cérébrale du langage. En nous appuyant sur la diversité des langues dans leur organisation syntaxique de l’unité-phrase, nous avons pu isoler différentes dimensions de cette complexité grâce aux propriétés syntaxiques du français dans la formation des questions, ainsi qu'aux spécificités des articulations Topique-Commentaire en chinois mandarin. Suite à une étude du marquage intonationel de la hiérarchie entre Topique et Commentaire, nous avons pu enregistrer les réponses cérébrales (PE) à ce type de constructions en contexte, et ainsi découvrir l’influence de sa signature prosodique sur son traitement en temps réel. Nos deux études d’IRMf apportent quand à elles un éclairage sur les bases neurales de deux dimensions de la complexité syntaxique de la phrase : sa structure hiérarchique et les transformations structurelles dont elle témoigne en cas de dislocation de ses éléments. La première étude, sur les interrogatives en français, met en lumière les corrélats cérébraux de différents types de movements syntaxiques, la seconde, sur les différents phénomènes topicaux du chinois, révèle les représentations et processus qui sont liés à l’activation par le Topique de l’interface entre l’unité-phrase et le niveau du discours. / Combining fine-grained linguistic analyses — from both typological and formal approaches to syntax — with neuro-imaging techniques (fMRI and ERP), this pluri-disciplinary research aims at investigating experimentally the issue of the hierarchical nature and complexity of the linguistic representation of sentence structure and its processing strategies across languages, specifically focusing on the case of Chinese Topic-Comment articulations and on French Interrogative constructions. The question of how the brain achieves sentence structure representation, building and understanding is often seen as one of the most important and unsolved issues of the neural organization of language. Leveraging on cross-linguistic invariance and variability in sentence hierarchical structure organization and building, we found in Chinese and French two exceptional testing grounds to isolate different syntactic complexity dimensions of the sentence-unit encoding. While the on-line auditory comprehension of sentence hierarchical structure in case of minimal intonational cues is investigated thanks to ERP recordings of Topic-Comment articulations in Chinese, two fMRI studies isolate two different syntactic complexity dimensions, respectively reflecting the sentence’s hierarchy and syntactic transformations. The first study, on French interrogative, seeks to isolate the neural correlates of different syntactic movement types. The second study, on Chinese sentence-discourse interface and Topics types, enables us to distinguish word-order surface complexity factors from syntactic movement transformations.

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Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 11 janvier 2024) / L'objectif de notre étude a été d'examiner l'influence du bilinguisme précoce sur la perception auditive et la production de nouveaux sons dans une langue étrangère (LÉ). Nous avons vérifié si le fait d'avoir acquis une langue seconde (L2) en bas âge facilitait la discrimination et la prononciation des contrastes phonologiques lors de l'apprentissage d'une nouvelle langue, voire une troisième langue (L3). Afin d'atteindre cet objectif, nous avons mené une étude quasi expérimentale auprès de deux groupes d'élèves francophones de 1ʳᵉ et de 2ᵉ année du primaire, lesquels ont débuté l'apprentissage du français dès leur plus jeune âge. Le premier groupe était composé de 18 élèves bilingues français-anglais ayant débuté l'apprentissage de l'anglais (L2) entre 0 et 5 ans. Le second groupe était constitué de 27 élèves monolingues francophones. Les tests utilisés visaient à évaluer leur habileté à discriminer et à prononcer certains sons de l'espagnol et du chinois mandarin. Pour l'évaluation de la prononciation des élèves, en termes de compréhensibilité et d'accent étranger, cette tâche a été accomplie par des auditeurs natifs de l'espagnol et du mandarin (deux évaluateurs par L3). Nous avons complété nos analyses en vérifiant si les bilingues adaptent mieux que les monolingues les caractéristiques phonétiques de certains phonèmes en fonction de la langue utilisée (français, espagnol ou mandarin). Les résultats de notre étude ont montré que les membres du groupe bilingue étaient ni avantagés, ni désavantagés par rapport au groupe monolingue. Nos résultats suggèrent qu'une exposition spécifique aux caractéristiques intrinsèques à la L3 est nécessaire pour arriver à maîtriser les nouveaux sons. / The aim of our study was to examine whether early bilingualism affects the discrimination and pronunciation of new sounds in a foreign language. We sought to verify whether the fact of having acquired a second language (L2) at a young age facilitated discrimination and pronunciation of phonological contrasts when learning a new, i.e., a third language (L3). To achieve this goal, we conducted a quasi-experimental study of two groups of francophone students in 1ˢᵗ or 2ⁿᵈ grade of elementary school all of whom acquired French from an early age. The first group consisted of 18 French-English bilingual students who began English acquisition when they were between 0 and 5 years old. The second group consisted of 27 monolingual French-speaking students. Tests evaluated the ability to discriminate and pronounce some Spanish and Mandarin sounds. Pronunciation was assessed for comprehensibility and foreign accent by native Spanish and Mandarin listeners (two raters per L3). We completed our analyses by verifying whether bilinguals adapted the phonetic characteristics of certain phonemes better than monolinguals according to the language used (French, Spanish, Mandarin). The results of our study showed that the members of the bilingual group were neither advantaged nor disadvantaged compared to the monolingual group. Our findings suggest that specific exposure to the characteristics intrinsic to the L3 is necessary for mastering new sounds in an L3.

En ökad efterfrågan på talare av mandarin kinesiska (hädanefterkinesiska) i väst har lett till ett ökat behov av högkvalitetsundervisning i kinesiska. I den här undersökningen studerade 24 svenska modersmålstalare utan tidigare kinesisk språkerfarenhet 60 svenska ord i kombination med deras kinesiska motsvarighet. Hälften av paren lärdes genom upprepade studier (där ordparen presenteras samtidigt) och hälften av paren genom aktiv minneshämtning (där ordparen presenteras separat). Varaktigheten av upprepade studieroch aktiva minneshämtningen likställdes. Alla de kinesiska tecknen presenterades tillsammans med en fonologisk representation. Efter att ha lärtde 60 ordparen, utfördesett flervalstest för att bedöma läranderesultatet. För att testa för den fonologiska representationens betydelse vid inlärning så presenterades hälften av ordparen från varje betingelse utan deras fonologiska representation under testningen. Logistikblandade modellerfann att prestationvar signifikant bättre förupprepade studier jämfört med aktiv minneshämtningoch att tillgång till en fonologisk representation under testninginte gav signifikant bättre testprestanda. / An increased demand for speakers of Mandarin Chinese (henceforth Chinese) in the West has lead to an increased need for high quality teaching of Chinese. In the present study, 24 native Swedish speakers with no prior Chinese language experience studied 60 Swedish words paired with their Chinese equivalents. Half of the pairs were learned by repeated studying (with the word pairs presented simultaneously) and half of the pairs by active retrieval (with the word pairs presented separately). The durations of repeated study and active memory retrieval were equated. All the Chinese characters were presented along with a phonological representation. After learning the 60 word pairs, a multiple-choice test was conducted to assess learning outcome. To test for for the importance of the phonological representation, half of the word pairs learnt in each condition had the representation removed during testing. Logistic mixed models found that performance was significantly better for repeated studying compared to active memory retrieval and that having access to a phonological representation during testing did not yield significantly better test performance. Keywords: Mandarin Chinese, second language learning, the testing effect