19.902, Diss: Psycholing: Altan: 'The Influence of Vowel Harmony on Turkish...'

Tue Mar 18 14:35:23 UTC 2008

LINGUIST List: Vol-19-902. Tue Mar 18 2008. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 19.902, Diss: Psycholing: Altan: 'The Influence of Vowel Harmony on Turkish...'

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Reviews: Randall Eggert, U of Utah  
         <reviews at linguistlist.org> 

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, 
and donations from subscribers and publishers.

Editor for this issue: Evelyn Richter <evelyn at linguistlist.org>
================================================================  

To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at
http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html.

===========================Directory==============================  

1)
Date: 17-Mar-2008
From: Asli Altan < asli_altantr at yahoo.com >
Subject: The Influence of Vowel Harmony on Turkish Native Speakers Learning an Artificial Language System

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:33:58
From: Asli Altan [asli_altantr at yahoo.com]
Subject: The Influence of Vowel Harmony on Turkish Native Speakers Learning an Artificial Language System
E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=19-902.html&submissionid=172445&topicid=14&msgnumber=1  

Institution: Hacettepe University 
Program: Department of English Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2008 

Author: Asli Altan

Dissertation Title: The Influence of Vowel Harmony on Turkish Native Speakers
Learning an Artificial Language System 

Linguistic Field(s): Psycholinguistics

Dissertation Director(s):
?sil Ozyildirim
Guray Konig
Ayfer Altay
Hatice Sofu
Nalan Buyukkantarcioglu

Dissertation Abstract:

In this dissertation, we elicited speech errors by experiments and analysed
them to see what they reveal about vowel harmony (VH). The basic question
is whether VH helps speakers to learn an artificial language system. VH can
facilitate learning in two ways: ease in speech production or ease in
learning. The way we looked at this is by testing Turkish speakers and
analyse whether VH had an effect in learning the system. 

In the experiments, learning effects in an artificial language was
analysed. The question of whether the subjects learned VH was tested in
three ways: first, the diversity and quantity of their speech errors;
second, by the test phase and third by analyzing the words subjects
remembered. In previous studies, it was attested that speech errors abide
by phonotactic rules of the language (Dell et al., 2000). 

There were two conditions in the experiment. In the first condition, words
were categorized as either adhering to backness/rounding VH or not. There
were three groups in this condition. The first is the VH where the words
had vowels which were agreeing for backness and rounding. The second group
was disharmony and the third group was a mixed one. All the subjects were
given 180 non-sense words made according to the condition they were trained
on. They were then asked to read those words while they were recorded. 

The second condition in the experiment was height harmony. Although Turkish
does not have this property, this condition was used to see whether Turkish
speakers would be able to learn this condition which is attested in many
other languages. There were again three groups under this condition: vowel
height harmony, height disharmony and mixed group.

There was also a test phase in all six conditions, where subjects were
tested whether they learned the condition they were trained on by choosing
the word that was similar to the words they saw before. In the last part of
the experiment, subjects were asked to write down the words they
remembered. The aim here was again to see whether the subjects learned the
rules (VH or disharmony) used to create the words they were trained on.

The results revealed that subjects abide by the conditions of the system
they were presented with in the experiment. Subjects preserved the system
they were trained on even in their speech errors. There were certain
patterns in the speech errors of subjects. This finding is valid for both
harmony and disharmony subjects. Mixed group subjects made more speech
errors. This underlies the finding that as long as there is a pattern
(whether harmony or disharmony) in the artificial language system, subjects
were able to learn it. However, a lack of pattern is difficult for the
subjects. 

When the results of height harmony subjects were compared to backness
harmony subjects, it was revealed that backness harmony subjects did
better. Since backness harmony was similar to the harmony in Turkish, it is
claimed that this similarity has an effect. Thus, the finding in previous
studies (Oh & Cole, 2006; Linebaugh, 2007) that backness/rounding harmony
is more of a facilitative nature than height harmony was also supported in
this study. 

The findings in the test part and the words remembered part were also
parallel to the results in speech errors part. The backness/rounding
harmony subjects were more successful than other groups. It was observed
that height harmony was more difficult for Turkish subjects compared to
backness/rounding harmony. But the results of the mixed condition subjects
reveal that even vowel disharmony was easier than a lack of pattern. The
results point out to the fact that VH is a property that facilitates both
production and perception. 

-----------------------------------------------------------

This Year the LINGUIST List hopes to raise $60,000. This money will go to help keep 
the List running by supporting all of our Student Editors for the coming year.

See below for donation instructions, and don't forget to check out our Fund Drive 
2008 LINGUIST List Circus and join us on our many shows!

http://linguistlist.org/fund-drive/2008/

There are many ways to donate to LINGUIST!

You can donate right now using our secure credit card form at  
https://linguistlist.org/donation/donate/donate1.cfm

Alternatively you can also pledge right now and pay later. To do so, go to:
https://linguistlist.org/donation/pledge/pledge1.cfm

For all information on donating and pledging, including information on how to 
donate by check, money order, or wire transfer, please visit:
http://linguistlist.org/donate.html

The LINGUIST List is under the umbrella of Eastern Michigan University and as such 
can receive donations through the EMU Foundation, which is a registered 501(c) 
Non Profit organization. Our Federal Tax number is 38-6005986. These donations 
can be offset against your federal and sometimes your state tax return (U.S. tax 
payers only). For more information visit the IRS Web-Site, or contact your 
financial advisor.

Many companies also offer a gift matching program, such that they will match any 
gift you make to a non-profit organization. Normally this entails your contacting 
your human resources department and sending us a form that the EMU Foundation fills 
in and returns to your employer. This is generally a simple administrative procedure 
that doubles the value of your gift to LINGUIST, without costing you an extra penny. 
Please take a moment to check if your company operates such a program.

Thank you very much for your support of LINGUIST!

-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-19-902	