Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 566

Part of Session 179: Mutual intelligibility of closely related languages in a multilingual Europe (Other abstracts in this session)

Recognising cognates in an unknown language variety: the impact of cognitive factors

Authors: Vanhove, Jan; Berthele, Raphael; Kaiser, Irmtraud
Submitted by: Vanhove, Jan (University of Fribourg, Switzerland)

Mutual intelligibility between closely related language varieties (dialects, sociolects, “independent” languages) crucially relies on readers’ and listeners’ ability to identify correspondences between the target variety (Lx) and one or several source varieties (L1, L2, …, Ln), especially in the absence of contextual cues. Of particular interest, cognate relationships between Lx and L1, L2, …, Ln lexical items represent a huge potential: to the extent that listeners and readers can reconstruct the phylogenetic link between such items, they may be able to infer the meaning of the Lx item based on its formal characteristics alone. Needless to say, some readers/listeners are more adept at unravelling cognate relationships than others and researchers have tried to account for such interindividual variance in terms of, for instance, the make-up of the participants’ linguistic repertoire (e.g. Berthele, 2008) and sociolinguistic factors, most notably attitudes towards the target language (e.g. Schüppert and Gooskens, 2011).

We hypothesise that the cognate recognition process is also dependent on basic cognitive factors, specifically working memory (WM; short-term storage and manipulation of information), crystallised intelligence (Gc; accumulated knowledge) and fluid intelligence (Gf; capacity to solve novel problems), and that interindividual differences in WM, Gc and Gf can directly account for interindividual variance in cognate recognition skills. We test these predictions using data from a cross-sectional study in which 180 German-speaking Swiss participants (aged 10 to 95) without competences in Swedish were asked to translate 100 Swedish words into German and, additionally, to participate in a number of cognitive tests.

Of further interest, WM, Gc and Gf are age-dependent, though not in the same way: while WM and Gf reach their highest point in the mid-20s and show roughly linear decline afterwards, Gc tends to display modest increase throughout adulthood (e.g. Bialystok and Craik, 2006). To the extent that cognate recognition is indeed dependent on these cognitive factors, we therefore expect that the ability to recognise cognates in unknown foreign languages will also vary as a function of age (as already hinted at in studies by Berthele, 2011, and Delsing and Lundin Åkesson, 2005). The data of our cross-sectional study will allow us to track the development of cognate recognition skills throught the lifespan (of potential interest to educationalists) as well as to tease apart its cognitive driving forces.

References

Berthele, R. (2008), ‘Dialekt-Standard Situationen als embryonale Mehrsprachigkeit. Erkenntnisse zum interlingualen Potenzial des Provinzlerdaseins’, Sociolinguistica 22, 87-107.

Berthele, R. (2011), ‘On abduction in receptive multilingualism. Evidence from cognate guessing tasks’, Applied Linguistics Review 2, 191-219.

Bialystok, E. and Craik, F. I. M., eds. (2006), Lifespan cognition. Mechanisms of change. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 128-142.

Delsing, L.-O. and Lundin Åkesson, K. (2005), Håller språket ihop Norden? En forskningsrapport om ungdomars förståelse av danska, svenska och norska, TemaNord:573. Copenhagen: Nordiska ministerrådet.

Schüppert, A. and Gooskens, C. (2011), ‘Investigating the role of language attitudes for perception abilities using reaction time’, Dialectologia Special issue, II, 119-140.

Sociolinguistics Symposium 19

Programme: accepted abstracts

Recognising cognates in an unknown language variety: the impact of cognitive factors