Vikki Janke
Biographic Data
| ID | 1498902 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Vikki Janke |
| GIVEN NAMES | Vikki |
| FAMILY NAME | Janke |
| SIGNATURE | JANKE V |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Kent |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1149-6999 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Complex grammar in English: A snapshot of comprehension in children aged 5 to 8
Our study makes an empirical contribution to questions relating to the developmental trajectory of four examples of English complex grammar: subject and object control, subject and object relative clauses, long passives and seem -raising constructions with and without an overt experiencer argument. We tested children’s comprehension of all seven sentence sets at the same point in time using a picture-selection task. Forty-five children (20 girls)…
Theory-of-Mind development in educational bilingualism: Identifying the strongest predictors of performance and tracking them over time
This longitudinal study monitored Theory-of-Mind development in monolingually raised but bilingually educated Spanish children (age 5–6) with varied L2-English curricula (13%–83%) to assess whether higher L2-exposure resulted in advantages on seven ToM concepts (emotion, desires, belief, reference, moral-reasoning, lies, sarcasm). Attention (selective, switching, inhibition) and a full suite of individual-difference effects were also monitored. G…
Variability in L2 learning: Insights from verb phrase ellipsis in Greek learners of English
This study investigates variability in second language learning. It contributes new data to the ongoing discussion on whether L2 learners can acquire grammatical phenomena that are absent from their L1. We focus on knowledge of English Verb Phrase Ellipsis (VPE) in Greek advanced learners of English and explore reasons for variability in their performance. Greek does not have VPE of the English type and the subtleties surrounding its regulation m…
The effects of L2 exposure at school on the cognitive development of children from monolingual backgrounds: A longitudinal study
This longitudinal study examined the cognitive development of Spanish children from monolingual backgrounds attending schools with varying levels of English exposure (13%–83%) to assess whether higher L2 exposure results in advantages over time. 229 children (ages 6–7) completed background (nonverbal reasoning (NVR), working memory (WM), L1 vocabulary, L2 vocabulary) and experimental tests measuring attentional/executive functions (selective atte…
Building a Child’s Trust before a Medical Procedure: A Linguistic Case Study
When a paediatrician establishes a trusting relationship with their patient, the chance of a positive outcome multiplies. A calm child, who participates fully in the communicative exchange is more receptive to the clinician’s requests and reports weaker sensations of pain. This experience stays with the child, shaping how they approach their healthcare as adults. Our qualitative case study unpacks the linguistic aspects of a 32-minute videoed and…
From gesture to Sign? An exploration of the effects of communicative pressure, interaction, and time on the process of conventionalisation
This study explored how non-signers exploit their gestural repertoire during a process of handshape conventionalisation. We examined how communicative context, interaction, and time affect the transition from iconically motivated representations to linguistically organised, generalised forms. One hundred non-signers undertook a silent gesture-elicitation task, describing pictures in one of four conditions: (A) in isolation; (B) with a passive rec…
Educational bilingualism: Reflections on a longitudinal study of children's cognitive and linguistic development
Our longitudinal study examined the cognitive and linguistic development of bilingually-educated, yet monolingually-raised, Spanish children, exploring (a) whether bilingual education procured a bilingual advantage, (b) whether greater L2 exposure was key to producing it, and (c) how development proceeded over time. We compared three groups of children in Years 1 and 2 of primary education in Spain: one attending monolingual education (MON), and …
Which Aspects of Visual Motivation Aid the Implicit Learning of Signs at First Exposure
We investigated whether sign-naïve learners can infer and learn the meaning of signs after minimal exposure to continuous, naturalistic input in the form of a weather forecast in Swedish Sign Language. Participants were L1-English adults. Two experimental groups watched the forecast once (n = 40) or twice (n = 42); a control group did not (n = 42). Participants were then asked to assign meaning to 22 target signs. We explored predictors of meanin…
Investigating the bilingual advantage: The impact of L2 exposure on the social and cognitive skills of monolingually-raised children in bilingual education
Most research reporting that bilingual children exhibit enhanced cognitive skills and social awareness relative to their monolingual peers focusses on children raised and educated bilingually, making it difficult to pinpoint the degree of second language exposure necessary for such advantages to materialise. The current study measures the social and cognitive skills of Spanish children educated bilingually yet raised monolingually to explore (a) …
Who is the agent? The influence of pragmatic leads on children's reference assignment in non-obligatory control
Non-obligatory control constructions (NOC) are sentences which contain a non-finite clause with a null subject whose reference is determined pragmatically. Little is known about how children assign reference to these subjects, yet this is important as our current understanding of reference-resolution development is limited to less complex sentences with overt elements, such as pronouns. This study explores how seventy-six children (aged six to el…
Effects of discourse on control
This study examined discourse effects on obligatory and non-obligatory control interpretations. Seventy participants undertook three online forced-choice surveys, which monitored preferred interpretations in complement control, verbal gerund subject control, long-distance control and sentence-final temporal adjunct control. Survey 1 ascertained their baseline interpretations of the empty category in these constructions. Survey 2 primed the critic…
The false-friend effect in three profoundly deaf learners of French: Disentangling morphology, phonology and orthography
Three profoundly deaf individuals undertook a low-frequency backward lexical translation task (French/English), where morphological structure was manipulated and orthographic distance between test items was measured. Conditions included monomorphemic items (simplex), polymorphemic items (complex), items whose French morphological structure exceeded their English counterpart (mismatch), and a control. Order of translation success was uniform: cont…
Intact grammar in HFA? Evidence from control and binding
False cognates: The effect of mismatch in morphological complexity on a backward lexical translation task
In this article we focus on ‘false cognates’, lexical items that have overlapping orthographic/phonological properties but little or no semantic overlap. False-cognate pairs were created from French (second language or L2) and English (first language or L1) items by manipulating the levels of morphological correspondence between them. Our aim was to test whether mismatches in morphological structure affected success on a low-frequency backward le…
Ascending and Descending VPs in English
We argue that English allows both rightward-descending VP shell structures and more traditional rightward-ascending VPs. The choice between these depends on case theory and economy. Case theory triggers VP shell formation whenever the verb is merged with a DP object after it has been merged with some other category. The reason is that VP shell formation allows verb and object to surface in adjacent positions, a prerequisite for case licensing in …
Control without a subject
Ascending and Descending VPs in English
We argue that English allows both rightward-descending VP shell structures and more traditional rightward-ascending VPs. The choice between these depends on case theory and economy. Case theory triggers VP shell formation whenever the verb is merged with a DP object after it has been merged with some other category. The reason is that VP shell formation allows verb and object to surface in adjacent positions, a prerequisite for case licensing in …
Control without a subject
Which Aspects of Visual Motivation Aid the Implicit Learning of Signs at First Exposure
We investigated whether sign-naïve learners can infer and learn the meaning of signs after minimal exposure to continuous, naturalistic input in the form of a weather forecast in Swedish Sign Language. Participants were L1-English adults. Two experimental groups watched the forecast once (n = 40) or twice (n = 42); a control group did not (n = 42). Participants were then asked to assign meaning to 22 target signs. We explored predictors of meanin…
False cognates: The effect of mismatch in morphological complexity on a backward lexical translation task
In this article we focus on ‘false cognates’, lexical items that have overlapping orthographic/phonological properties but little or no semantic overlap. False-cognate pairs were created from French (second language or L2) and English (first language or L1) items by manipulating the levels of morphological correspondence between them. Our aim was to test whether mismatches in morphological structure affected success on a low-frequency backward le…
Effects of discourse on control
This study examined discourse effects on obligatory and non-obligatory control interpretations. Seventy participants undertook three online forced-choice surveys, which monitored preferred interpretations in complement control, verbal gerund subject control, long-distance control and sentence-final temporal adjunct control. Survey 1 ascertained their baseline interpretations of the empty category in these constructions. Survey 2 primed the critic…
Control without a subject
Ascending and Descending VPs in English
We argue that English allows both rightward-descending VP shell structures and more traditional rightward-ascending VPs. The choice between these depends on case theory and economy. Case theory triggers VP shell formation whenever the verb is merged with a DP object after it has been merged with some other category. The reason is that VP shell formation allows verb and object to surface in adjacent positions, a prerequisite for case licensing in …
False cognates: The effect of mismatch in morphological complexity on a backward lexical translation task
In this article we focus on ‘false cognates’, lexical items that have overlapping orthographic/phonological properties but little or no semantic overlap. False-cognate pairs were created from French (second language or L2) and English (first language or L1) items by manipulating the levels of morphological correspondence between them. Our aim was to test whether mismatches in morphological structure affected success on a low-frequency backward le…
The false-friend effect in three profoundly deaf learners of French: Disentangling morphology, phonology and orthography
Three profoundly deaf individuals undertook a low-frequency backward lexical translation task (French/English), where morphological structure was manipulated and orthographic distance between test items was measured. Conditions included monomorphemic items (simplex), polymorphemic items (complex), items whose French morphological structure exceeded their English counterpart (mismatch), and a control. Order of translation success was uniform: cont…
Intact grammar in HFA? Evidence from control and binding
Effects of discourse on control
This study examined discourse effects on obligatory and non-obligatory control interpretations. Seventy participants undertook three online forced-choice surveys, which monitored preferred interpretations in complement control, verbal gerund subject control, long-distance control and sentence-final temporal adjunct control. Survey 1 ascertained their baseline interpretations of the empty category in these constructions. Survey 2 primed the critic…
Who is the agent? The influence of pragmatic leads on children's reference assignment in non-obligatory control
Non-obligatory control constructions (NOC) are sentences which contain a non-finite clause with a null subject whose reference is determined pragmatically. Little is known about how children assign reference to these subjects, yet this is important as our current understanding of reference-resolution development is limited to less complex sentences with overt elements, such as pronouns. This study explores how seventy-six children (aged six to el…
Investigating the bilingual advantage: The impact of L2 exposure on the social and cognitive skills of monolingually-raised children in bilingual education
Most research reporting that bilingual children exhibit enhanced cognitive skills and social awareness relative to their monolingual peers focusses on children raised and educated bilingually, making it difficult to pinpoint the degree of second language exposure necessary for such advantages to materialise. The current study measures the social and cognitive skills of Spanish children educated bilingually yet raised monolingually to explore (a) …
Educational bilingualism: Reflections on a longitudinal study of children's cognitive and linguistic development
Our longitudinal study examined the cognitive and linguistic development of bilingually-educated, yet monolingually-raised, Spanish children, exploring (a) whether bilingual education procured a bilingual advantage, (b) whether greater L2 exposure was key to producing it, and (c) how development proceeded over time. We compared three groups of children in Years 1 and 2 of primary education in Spain: one attending monolingual education (MON), and …
Which Aspects of Visual Motivation Aid the Implicit Learning of Signs at First Exposure
We investigated whether sign-naïve learners can infer and learn the meaning of signs after minimal exposure to continuous, naturalistic input in the form of a weather forecast in Swedish Sign Language. Participants were L1-English adults. Two experimental groups watched the forecast once (n = 40) or twice (n = 42); a control group did not (n = 42). Participants were then asked to assign meaning to 22 target signs. We explored predictors of meanin…
Building a Child’s Trust before a Medical Procedure: A Linguistic Case Study
When a paediatrician establishes a trusting relationship with their patient, the chance of a positive outcome multiplies. A calm child, who participates fully in the communicative exchange is more receptive to the clinician’s requests and reports weaker sensations of pain. This experience stays with the child, shaping how they approach their healthcare as adults. Our qualitative case study unpacks the linguistic aspects of a 32-minute videoed and…
From gesture to Sign? An exploration of the effects of communicative pressure, interaction, and time on the process of conventionalisation
This study explored how non-signers exploit their gestural repertoire during a process of handshape conventionalisation. We examined how communicative context, interaction, and time affect the transition from iconically motivated representations to linguistically organised, generalised forms. One hundred non-signers undertook a silent gesture-elicitation task, describing pictures in one of four conditions: (A) in isolation; (B) with a passive rec…
Variability in L2 learning: Insights from verb phrase ellipsis in Greek learners of English
This study investigates variability in second language learning. It contributes new data to the ongoing discussion on whether L2 learners can acquire grammatical phenomena that are absent from their L1. We focus on knowledge of English Verb Phrase Ellipsis (VPE) in Greek advanced learners of English and explore reasons for variability in their performance. Greek does not have VPE of the English type and the subtleties surrounding its regulation m…
The effects of L2 exposure at school on the cognitive development of children from monolingual backgrounds: A longitudinal study
This longitudinal study examined the cognitive development of Spanish children from monolingual backgrounds attending schools with varying levels of English exposure (13%–83%) to assess whether higher L2 exposure results in advantages over time. 229 children (ages 6–7) completed background (nonverbal reasoning (NVR), working memory (WM), L1 vocabulary, L2 vocabulary) and experimental tests measuring attentional/executive functions (selective atte…
Complex grammar in English: A snapshot of comprehension in children aged 5 to 8
Our study makes an empirical contribution to questions relating to the developmental trajectory of four examples of English complex grammar: subject and object control, subject and object relative clauses, long passives and seem -raising constructions with and without an overt experiencer argument. We tested children’s comprehension of all seven sentence sets at the same point in time using a picture-selection task. Forty-five children (20 girls)…
Theory-of-Mind development in educational bilingualism: Identifying the strongest predictors of performance and tracking them over time
This longitudinal study monitored Theory-of-Mind development in monolingually raised but bilingually educated Spanish children (age 5–6) with varied L2-English curricula (13%–83%) to assess whether higher L2-exposure resulted in advantages on seven ToM concepts (emotion, desires, belief, reference, moral-reasoning, lies, sarcasm). Attention (selective, switching, inhibition) and a full suite of individual-difference effects were also monitored. G…
Linguistics (12 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism (9 works) · Artificial Intelligence (7 works) · Language Development and Disorders (6 works) · Cognition (5 works) · Developmental psychology (5 works) · Reading and Literacy Development (5 works) · Cognitive psychology (4 works)