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Bilingual Sentence Production and Code-Switching: Neural Network Simulations

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Bilingual Sentence Production and Code-Switching: Neural Network Simulations Bilingual sentence production and code-switching: Neural network simulations Chara Tsoukala 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 1 The educational component of the doctoral training was provided by the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Language Sciences. The graduate school is a joint initiative between the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and two partner institutes at Radboud University – the Centre for Language Studies, and the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. The IMPRS curriculum, which is funded by the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, ensures that each member receives interdisciplinary training in the language sciences and develops a well-rounded skill set in preparation for fulfilling careers in academia and beyond. More information can be found at www.mpi.nl/imprs ISBN: 978-94-92910-27-1 Cover design: Amalia Tsichla Printed by: Ipskamp printing Layout: This thesis was typeset with LATEX2ε. It uses the Clean Thesis style developed by Ricardo Langner. © Chara Tsoukala, 2021. All rights reserved. This thesis was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Gravitation Grant 024.001.006 to the Language in Interaction Consortium. 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 2 Bilingual sentence production and code-switching: Neural network simulations Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. dr. J.H.J.M. van Krieken, volgens besluit van het college van decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 21 april 2021 om 14.30 uur precies door Chara Tsoukala geboren op 18 april 1986 te Athene (Griekenland) 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 3 Promotor Prof. dr. A.P.J. van den Bosch Copromotoren Dr. S.L. Frank Dr. M. Broersma Manuscriptcommissie Prof. dr. J.J.M. Schoonen (voorzitter) Prof. dr. A.M. Backus (Tilburg University) Prof. dr. F. Chang (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, JP) Prof. dr. J.G. van Hell (Pennsylvania State University, VS) Dr. M.C. Parafita Couto (Universiteit Leiden) 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 4 Bilingual sentence production and code-switching: Neural network simulations Doctoral Thesis to obtain the degree of doctor from Radboud University Nijmegen on the authority of the Rector Magnificus prof. dr. J.H.J.M. van Krieken, according to the decision of the Council of Deans to be defended in public on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 at 14.30 hours by Chara Tsoukala born on April 18, 1986 in Athens (Greece) 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 5 Supervisor Prof. dr. A.P.J. van den Bosch Co-supervisors Dr. S.L. Frank Dr. M. Broersma Doctoral Thesis Committee Prof. dr. J.J.M. Schoonen (chair) Prof. dr. A.M. Backus (Tilburg University) Prof. dr. F. Chang (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, JP) Prof. dr. J.G. van Hell (Pennsylvania State University, U.S.A.) Dr. M.C. Parafita Couto (Leiden University) 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 6 Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Code-switching ....................... 1 1.2 Factors affecting code-switching ............... 3 1.3 Methods to study code-switching patterns ......... 5 1.4 Models of code-switching and bilingualism ........ 6 1.5 Neural network models of sentence production ...... 8 1.6 Research questions and dissertation overview ....... 11 Chapter 2 Simulating Spanish-English code-switching 15 2.1 Introduction ......................... 16 2.2 Model ............................. 17 2.2.1 Bilingual Dual-path model .............. 17 2.2.2 Input languages .................... 19 2.2.3 Training ........................ 22 2.2.4 Evaluation and performance threshold ....... 22 2.3 Experiment: Code-switching ................ 23 2.3.1 Background ...................... 23 2.3.2 Method ......................... 24 2.3.3 Results ......................... 26 2.3.4 Discussion ....................... 27 2.4 Conclusion .......................... 28 vii 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 7 Chapter 3 Simulating code-switching in balanced and non-balanced bilinguals 29 3.1 Introduction ......................... 30 3.2 Bilingual Dual-path model ................. 33 3.2.1 Model architecture .................. 34 3.2.2 Messages ........................ 34 3.2.3 (Message-to-)Sentence production .......... 35 3.2.4 Miniature Languages ................. 36 3.2.5 Message-sentence pair examples .......... 39 3.2.6 Model training ..................... 40 3.2.7 Code-switching .................... 41 3.2.8 Correctness of sentence production ......... 42 3.3 Method: Simulations and Corpus Analysis ......... 42 3.3.1 Balanced bilingual model (Balanced model) .... 43 3.3.2 Non-balanced bilingual models (L1 English and L1 Spanish models) ................... 43 3.3.3 Corpus analysis .................... 43 3.4 Results ............................ 45 3.4.1 Model performance .................. 45 3.4.2 Research goal 1: Code-switching in the models ... 48 3.4.3 Research goal 2: Balanced versus non-balanced model comparisons ...................... 48 3.4.4 Research goal 3: Model versus corpus comparison .49 3.5 Discussion ........................... 51 3.5.1 Code-switching in the models ............ 51 3.5.2 Balanced versus non-balanced model comparisons .51 3.5.3 Model versus corpus comparison ........... 52 3.6 Conclusion .......................... 53 Chapter 4 Modeling the auxiliary phrase asymmetry in code-switched Spanish–English 55 viii 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 8 4.1 Introduction ......................... 56 4.2 Method ............................ 59 4.2.1 Obtaining corpus frequencies ............ 59 4.2.2 Bilingual Dual-path model .............. 60 4.2.3 Miniature Languages ................. 63 4.2.4 Model training .................... 67 4.3 Simulations ......................... 69 4.3.1 Simulation 1: “haber model” ............. 69 4.3.2 Simulation 2: “tener model” ............. 70 4.3.3 Simulation 3: “synonym model” ........... 70 4.4 Results ............................ 71 4.4.1 Simulation 1: “haber model” ............. 71 4.4.2 Simulation 2: “tener model” ............. 74 4.4.3 Simulation 3: “synonym model” ........... 74 4.5 Discussion ........................... 74 4.6 Conclusion .......................... 76 Chapter 5 Simulating the effect of cognates on code- switching 79 5.1 Introduction ......................... 80 5.2 Cognate comparison setup .................. 82 5.2.1 Bilingual Dual-path model: languages ........ 82 5.2.2 Pairwise cognate experiment setup .......... 83 5.3 Experiments ......................... 84 5.3.1 Balanced versus non-balanced models ........ 84 5.3.2 Effect of percentage of cognates in language pair .. 85 5.4 Results ............................ 86 5.4.1 Balanced versus non-balanced models ....... 86 5.4.2 Effect of percentage of cognates in language pair .. 89 ix 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 9 5.5 Discussion ........................... 91 5.5.1 Balanced versus non-balanced models ........ 91 5.5.2 Effect of percentage of cognates in language pair .. 93 5.6 Conclusion .......................... 94 Chapter 6 “He’s pregnant": simulating the confusing case of gender pronoun errors in L2 English 97 6.1 Introduction ......................... 98 6.2 Method ............................ 101 6.2.1 Bilingual Dual-path model .............. 101 6.2.2 Input languages .................... 102 6.2.3 Training ........................ 104 6.3 Results ............................105 6.4 Discussion ...........................106 6.5 Conclusion .......................... 107 Chapter 7 General discussion 109 7.1 Summary of results ...................... 109 7.2 Overall conclusions ...................... 111 7.3 Future directions ....................... 112 7.4 Concluding remarks ..................... 114 Bibliography 117 Chapter A Appendix 129 A.1 English summary ......................130 A.2 Nederlandse samenvatting ................. 132 A.3 Publications .......................... 134 A.4 Acknowledgements ......................136 x 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 10 A.5 Biography ........................... 139 A.6 MPI Series in Psycholinguistics ...............140 Contents xi 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 11 556869-L-bw-Tsoukala Processed on: 9-3-2021 PDF page: 12 Introduction 1 I first became aware of the notion of code-switching when I was living in Portugal and working in an English-speaking environment. I spoke English, Greek (my native language) and a little bit of Portuguese on a daily basis, but almost every time I tried to switch from Portuguese to Greek, I would end up uttering English words instead. This simple incident sparked an ongoing curiosity as to how the code-switching process works. It made me realize that code-switching is done by many people who speak more than one language, and not only by balanced bilingual speakers who grew up in bilingual communities; it is an important aspect of human language. Despite that, we still do not fully understand the underlying processes of this phenomenon. Even though it was the mistakes in language selection that drew my initial attention, such as producing English rather than Greek words, I soon became interested in the patterns that bilingual, and multilingual, speakers produce when speaking their languages, especially when they mix them in a single sentence. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to come
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