Masters Degrees (General Linguistics)

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Afrikaans-English bilinguals and the foreign language effect in South Africa
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Cullen, Sarah; Bylund, Emanuel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Do people think differently when they think in a different language? Could the language that you are asked a question in impact the answer that you give? These are the questions that form the foundation of the linguistic phenomenon known as the Foreign Language Effect (FLE). The FLE suggests that individuals do indeed make different decisions when presented with messaging in their native language versus in a foreign language. Linguistic investigations have been done to explore in what circumstances this phenomenon occurs as well as what factors contribute to these changes in bilinguals’ choices. This particular research project takes place within the South African context. As a uniquely multilingual and multicultural nation, South Africa is a rich environment for psycholinguistic research. The current research specifically focuses on Afrikaans-English bilinguals who are proficient in both languages and only started learning English after the age of three. However, while the current research is based in South Africa and investigates South African participants’ decision-making, the research design was modelled on a study performed by Italian researchers Miozzo et al. (2020). They examined whether an FLE was seen when testing two groups of Italian bilinguals who were proficient in Italian and another regional language, thus exploring whether an FLE can be seen when the non-native language is not specifically a foreign language. Using Miozzo et al. (2020) as a foundation, this research project seeks to answer two key questions with regards to the FLE: 1) To what extent is decision-making and risk-aversion impacted by the FLE in proficient Afrikaans-English bilinguals? And 2) If an FLE is elicited in Afrikaans-English bilinguals, to what extent is this impacted by proficiency and age of acquisition? The study took place online and participants were presented with two dilemmas and asked how they would respond in each case. This was done via an audio modality with numerical items displayed on screen. Participants were randomly assigned to either the English or the Afrikaans language condition. The findings of this study were in contrast to Miozzo et al. (2020). While the Italian study did see an FLE occur, in the current study no FLE was seen in the way that participants answered the scenarios. These outcomes have various implications for our understanding of Afrikaans-English bilinguals’ cognitive processing and also present exciting opportunities for further study in the realm of psycholinguistics in South Africa.
Colour memory and similarity judgement in isiXhosa-English bilinguals : the case of luhlaza
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Parshotam, Minali Dinesh; Bylund, Emanuel; Xeketwana, Simthembile; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Colour categorisation has been a well-known topic of enquiry in the cognitive sciences. There is an abundance of literature examining colour categorisation in speakers of different languages. The findings indicate that cross-linguistic variation in colour term repertoires to some extent influences the way speakers perceive colour. English and isiXhosa differ in their categorisation of colour, as isiXhosa, unlike English, does not have a lexical distinction between green and blue, but instead has the basic colour term luhlaza to refer to this colour space. The aims of the current study is, firstly, to see whether these cross-linguistic differences modulate memory accuracy and similarity judgements of the green-blue colour space and, secondly, to see whether experience with English language influences isiXhosa speakers to behave more like speakers of English on these measures. A pre-experimental study is conducted in order to obtain baseline colour data of South African English. The data collected on the colours green and blue is then used for the main experiments of the current study. The main experiments include a memory task, examining the recognition memory for the relevant colour space among the participants, and a similarity judgement task, examining perceived similarity of triads of colour stimuli belonging to same and different categories of colour. Overall, 60 participants, isiXhosa-English bilinguals and first language South African English speakers, participated in the main experiments. Findings from both the memory and the similarity judgement experiments show certain differences, but also to a greater extent, similarities between the two language groups. Additionally, the isiXhosa-English bilingual speakers’ English experience is assessed, but direct effects of English language experiential variables are not found.
First language development in a bilingual setting : the role of first language contact
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-04) Gultzow, Simone; Bylund, Emanuel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Moving to a new country often involves exposing oneself to new languages and cultures. Many individuals who move to another country and acquire a new language are sometimes at risk of losing the language of their country of origin. Studies in first language (L1) loss aim to describe what happens in an individual’s L1 when he/she moves away or disconnects from its source as well as to explain which linguistic aspects change and why. The aim of this research paper is to investigate lexical proficiency in L1 German bilingual speakers residing in the Western Cape. Lexical data were elicited through a Verbal Fluency Task (VFT) and a Picture Naming Task (PNT). Particularly, the paper assesses the extent to which degree of German L1 contact influences lexical development, alongside other background factors (age of reduced L1 contact, length of residence in the L2, education level) and sociolinguistic factors (attitude towards the L1, language use and contact). Correlational analyses revealed that two types of contact factors were crucial for maintaining L1 lexical proficiency: 1) intense receptive input such as reading German books and other German visual media, and 2) exposure to German as a medium of instruction within an educational setting. Neither of these factors allow nor permit any code-switching or code-mixing and are considered to be a form of German monolingual input, thus cementing L1 knowledge and skills and proving to be beneficial for long-term language development and maintenance. Conclusions drawn from the results of the study are discussed in the final chapter and suggestions for future research are presented.
Parallel vs sequential activation during spoken-word recognition tasks : an eye-tracking study
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) McLoughlin, Jayde Caitlyn; Bylund, Emanuel; Berghoff, Robyn; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Through previous spoken word-recognition tasks, bilinguals have demonstrated an ability to access both languages in a simultaneous/parallel manner. Parallel activation contrasts with sequential activation (where only one language is active at any given time). Afrikaans-English bilingual speakers have never been tested for parallel activation and, additionally, both African languages and early bilinguals have been neglected when studying bilinguals’ parallel activation. In this thesis, the extent to which the Afrikaans-English early bilingual mind accesses and makes use of both Afrikaans and English simultaneously is established through an eye-tracking, spoken-word recognition task. Furthermore, this parallel activation is recognised as correlated to the bilingual’s proficiency in English, as well as the age of acquisition (AoA) of English. Thirty-one Afrikaans-English early bilinguals were tested, and were found to have activated Afrikaans through their proportion of looks (eye fixations) made to an Afrikaans phonetically-similar competitor object (e.g., venster, Afrikaans for “window”) when asked to look to the English target (fairy). Participants’ English AoAs were determined through the Language History Questionnaire, and their proficiency in English was tested by means of the standardised LexTALE test. Within these Afrikaans-English early bilinguals, a lower second-language English proficiency was found to increase parallel activation of the Afrikaans first language, as well as an older English age of acquisition (AoA), independently. It is proposed in this thesis that bilingual parallel activation exists rather as a continuum (from purely sequential activation to purely parallel activation of languages), dependent on a range of interacting, individual, structural, and context-specific variables.
Perceived object similarity in isiXhosa: assessing the role of noun classes
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Jonas, Khanyiso; Bylund, Emanuel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Categorizing objects is central to the way we as humans interact with the world. Without the capacity to form categories, we might not have been able to function efficiently. It is generally assumed that human beings are consistently in the process of categorizing; such as placing entities into groups or classes during conscious, subconscious and even unconscious states. Research on the relationship between language and thought aims to explore the domains of cognition affected by language, as well as the conditions under which these effects are obtained. The aim of the current study is to examine whether the differences in nominal classification between English (a non-noun class language) and isiXhosa (a noun class language) bring about cross-linguistic differences in categorization preferences among speakers of these languages. An object triads-matching task is used to examine categorization preferences of native English speakers and native isiXhosa speakers, specifically evaluating the extent to which isiXhosa noun class categories influence perceived object similarity. Findings from three different experimental conditions, in which the object labels in the matching task have been given different degrees of salience, indicate that noun class categories seem to have a null effect on categorization, even when noun class membership is made maximally salient. The isiXhosa speakers’ experience with English as a second language is also assessed, suggesting limited measurable influence of this factor on object categorization. These findings are discussed against the predictions of the label-feedback hypothesis, along with the general framework of linguistic relativity and bilingual cognition.
Reversing time: The effects of mirror reading and writing exercises on the mental timeline
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Crossley, Jenna; Bylund, Emanuel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study assessed the influence of experience and embodied cognition on the mental timeline through investigating the effect of exposure to reversed orthography reading and writing exercises. The main research question of this study is “What effect does exposure to reversed orthography have on the mental timeline?”, which is divided into two further questions: “What effect does exposure to reversed orthography reading exercises have on the mental timeline?” and “What effect does exposure to reversed orthography writing exercises have on the mental timeline?”. This study consisted of a total of 257 English/Afrikaans participants, divided across six reading or writing conditions. These conditions were studied in five comparisons, which each assessed the effect of orthography on the mental timeline under different circumstances. The results of this study firstly replicate and expand on previous research that has shown that exposure to reversed orthography reading has an effect on the mental timeline. Further, the study found that exposure to standard orthography reading/writing following reversed orthography reading/writing can have a reverse priming effect on the mental timeline. Another finding of this study was that exposure to reversed orthography writing does not appear to have an effect on the mental timeline. A final comparison isolated writing as the cause of this lack of effect.
Scents and sensitivity : the emotional valence and flexibility of Afrikaans taste and smell adjectives
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Beyers, Talya; Bylund, Emanuel; Oostendorp, Marcelyn; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The present study investigated the influence of perceptual experience on the emotional valence of Afrikaans adjectives associated with smell and taste, as well as the emotional valence of the contexts within which these adjectives occur. This study has three research questions, the first of which is "In comparison to adjectives associated with other sensory modalities, to what extent are Afrikaans taste and smell adjectives emotionally valenced?", the second of which is "In comparison to adjectives associated with other sensory modalities, to what extent do Afrikaans smell and taste adjectives appear in highly emotionally valenced phrases?", and the third of which is "In comparison to adjectives associated with other sensory modalities, to what extent are Afrikaans taste and smell adjectives emotionally flexible?". This study consisted of two norming studies and a corpus study. In the first norming study, 60 Afrikaans adjectives were normed for sensory modality and valence by 78 native Afrikaans speakers. In the second norming study, 344 Afrikaans nouns were normed for valence by 140 native Afrikaans speakers. Occurrences of phrases consisting of these adjectives and nouns in the VivA (Virtuele Instituut vir Afrikaans) Korpusportaal Omvattend 1.9 (2021) corpus were analysed. The present study investigated the influence of perceptual experience on the emotional valence of Afrikaans adjectives associated with smell and taste, as well as the emotional valence of the contexts within which these adjectives occur. This study has three research questions, the first of which is "In comparison to adjectives associated with other sensory modalities, to what extent are Afrikaans taste and smell adjectives emotionally valenced?", the second of which is "In comparison to adjectives associated with other sensory modalities, to what extent do Afrikaans smell and taste adjectives appear in highly emotionally valenced phrases?", and the third of which is "In comparison to adjectives associated with other sensory modalities, to what extent are Afrikaans taste and smell adjectives emotionally flexible?". This study consisted of two norming studies and a corpus study. In the first norming study, 60 Afrikaans adjectives were normed for sensory modality and valence by 78 native Afrikaans speakers. In the second norming study, 344 Afrikaans nouns were normed for valence by 140 native Afrikaans speakers. Occurrences of phrases consisting of these adjectives and nouns in the VivA (Virtuele Instituut vir Afrikaans) Korpusportaal Omvattend 1.9 (2021) corpus were analysed. The results of this study are inconsistent with previous findings that smell and taste words are significantly more emotionally valenced and appear in more emotionally valenced and flexible contexts than words associated with the other sensory modalities. It was found that Afrikaans taste and smell adjectives are only marginally more emotionally valenced, and this valence does not extend to the phrases in which these adjectives occur. This challenges the idea that sensory language is embodied to the extent that it influences patterns in language use and highlights the need to study a variety of languages to draw conclusions about the embodiment of sensory language.
Temporal gestures in Afrikaans
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Broders, Linda-Vanessa Sabine; Bylund, Emanuel; Crossley, Jenna; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigated how first language Afrikaans speakers gesture about time, deliberately and spontaneously. This research aims to provide insight into what axis is referred to when thinking and speaking about time, and therefore further add research to the concept of the mental timeline. The main research questions for this study are “What axis do L1 Afrikaans speakers predominantly use when deliberately and spontaneously gesturing about time to indicate where the future and the past lies?”, and “Concerning sagittal gestures, do L1 Afrikaans speakers spontaneously refer to an implicit temporal axis, which is reflected in the usage of hands when referring to time?”. Both main questions have one main sub question. For the first one, is the sub question is “Do L1 Afrikaans speakers rely on the same spatial axis to talk about and spontaneously gesture about time?” For the second main question, the sub question goes as follows: “Is the lateral axis reflected in the right hand used for the future and the left hand used for the past?”. It is further analysed how the deliberate and spontaneous gestures differ. This study consisted of 96 Afrikaans first language speakers, of which 64 took part in the deliberate gestures experiment and 32 in the spontaneous gesture experiment. Overall, there were two types of conditions, the deictic and sequence temporal reference, and the spatial language and non-spatial language condition. These conditions were compared and analysed, and what affect they might have on the temporal gestures produced. The results of this study reproduce and build on previous studies done on temporal gestures which have shown that the flow of time on either cultural artefacts (such as orthography and graphs) or spatio-temporal metaphors in a specific language influence how speakers anchor their temporal gestures on a certain axis. Findings showed that in these experiments, spatio-temporal language was the main influence amongst Afrikaans speakers. Further analysis also lead to the assumption that there is an implicit timeline, shown through the use of hands for the future and the past.
Thinking in two minds : the role of second language in risk-taking
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Dick, Taryn Lee; Bylund, Emanuel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study assessed the effects that language may have on an individual’s decision making in scenarios that involve some type of risk. The main research questions of the study are “Do individuals with prolonged exposure to, and use of, the second language (in this case first language Afrikaans – second languages English bilinguals) exhibit the same framing effect biases documented in previous research?” and “May language background variables, and second language visualisation ability, account for the variation in the decisions made by this group?”. The study consisted of 159 bilingual speakers (first language Afrikaans, second language English), who were randomly assigned to one of two different framing versions of the scenario, (known as the loss or gain frame), and these frames could have either been presented in Afrikaans or English. These conditions were compared and analysed for how the languages effected the choices made in the task. Participants were also presented with a classification task, in which they were assigned to match the language that was represented in the main task. The results of this study provide a new perspective to research in this field, in that the findings were not the same as those in previous research. Participants in the second language condition should have been less effected by framing in the loss version of the task, but instead results in this condition reflect an effect of framing. Participants in the first language condition, however, replicate the results found in previous research. The results of the visualisation task also present findings different to those in previous research, in that speakers in the second language condition outperform those in the first language condition.
To buy or not to buy?: a psycholinguistic perspective on code switching in advertisements
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-03) Adams, Doene; Berghoff, Robyn; Bylund, Emanuel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigated the effects of language on consumer’s product evaluation and decision making. The main research questions of this study are “How does the presence of code-switching in advertisements affect consumers’ decision-making as compared to monolingual advertising?” and “How does L1, L2 and code-switching influence product evaluation?”. The study consisted of 151 bilingual speakers. The first language of participants was Afrikaans and the second language of participants was English. Participants were randomly assigned to evaluate products and indicated their purchase intention after exposure to advertisements in either their first language, second language or a code-switching format. The results of the product evaluations and purchase intentions of the three different conditions were analysed and compared. The results of in this study contradicts the results of previous studies. No language effects were found on participants product evaluations or purchase intentions. The main factors that possibly explain why no language effect was found is the multilingual context that this study was performed in, high second language proficiency and immersion in the second language.
"What's in a name?": political correctness, euphemism, and the impact of name-words on thought
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Collington-O'Malley, Tessa Emily; Bylund, Emanuel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study assessed the impact that euphemistic language may have on one’s reasoning about phenomena, with specific regard to how nominal politically correct labels affect perceptions about groups of people. The main research question of the study is “To what extent do politically correct euphemisms impact reasoning?” The main study consisted of 263 first language English speakers, who were randomly assigned to one of four conditions consisting of a fictional report. In each of the conditions, the reports were identical except for the label which referenced the target group. In a pre-experimental study, the four labels used in the conditions were each rated as having varying levels of euphemistic characteristics. Subsequently, participants were asked to respond to questions about the report that they had read. Responses from the four conditions were analysed and compared in order to determine how the lexical differences in the text affected the participants’ reasoning. The results of the study contribute to the broader body of research on the impact of lexical choices on cognitive processing and provide some new empirical insights into the psychological aspects of euphemism. Results largely indicated that the use of different euphemistic labels likely does not lead to differences in reasoning about the labels’ referent. However, in two of the results obtained, it was found that euphemistic labels may affect perception, but only under highly specific conditions that are dependent on contextual cues that euphemisms, by virtue of their nature, do not provide. The findings from this study are therefore valuable for generating further theoretical comprehension of the cognitive processing of euphemism. In addition to this, the present findings demonstrate that the topic of political correctness, as a linguistic phenomenon, can be empirically examined as a rich topic of research.

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Browsing Masters Degrees (General Linguistics) by browse.metadata.advisor "Bylund, Emanuel"

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