Helen Engemann
Biographic Data
| ID | 3531094 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Helen Engemann |
| GIVEN NAMES | Helen |
| FAMILY NAME | Engemann |
| SIGNATURE | ENGEMANN H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Mannheim |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5937-2819 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Implicit Learning in Second Language Acquisition
Aims and objectives: We examine whether priming within and across languages facilitates target-like production in L2 acquisition. Focussing on motion event encoding, we test whether prime exposure to verb-framed (VF) patterns promotes VF production in L2 French (VF) by L1 German (satellite-framing, SF) speakers. We further ask whether dispreferred but grammatical L1 patterns (German VF) can be leveraged for L2 learning and whether effects are lon…
Priming motion events in Italian heritage language speakers
Language contact can lead to short-term effects like cross-linguistic influence but might also contribute to long-term processes such as contact-induced language change. Recent studies suggest that structural priming may serve as a cognitive mechanism linking synchronic and diachronic outcomes in contact-induced language change since it occurs across languages and persists over time. Heritage language speakers, immersed in extreme language contac…
The role of cross-linguistic structural priming in contact-induced language change
Research investigating the psycholinguistic foundations of contact-induced grammatical language change suggests that new structures may enter a language through cross-linguistic priming in bilinguals. However, this assumes that priming effects can emerge even for structures which are ungrammatical in the target language. In the present study, we test this assumption by investigating cross-linguistic ungrammatical priming for analytic comparatives…
Psycho-historical linguistics
The acquisition of motion event constructions by German-speaking learners of Italian as L3
Aim and Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the acquisition of motion event (ME) constructions in Italian as an L3 by German-speaking learners focusing on the following aspects: (1) the role of input frequency distributions in the target language, (2) the influence of the L1 and (3) the influence of the L2. Methodology: We designed a video description task aimed at eliciting ME in Italian native speakers and L3 learners of Italian…
Evidence from priming on how L2 sentence processing impacts L3 production and cross-linguistic awareness
In the present study we investigate L2-to-L3 priming of motion event (ME) constructions in L1 German learners of English (L2) and Italian (L3). This is a domain in which foreign language (FL) learners often have difficulties adapting to target language norms, especially when the preferential typological encoding patterns of source and target language differ. We adopted a pre-/post-test design to address the question of whether priming affects cro…
Linguistic variation in the interpretation and production of Italian motion event constructions in younger and older adults
Languages vary in the way they encode motion. Following Talmy, languages can be divided into verb-framed (VF, henceforth) or satellite-framed (SF, henceforth), based on how they encode path of motion. However, this difference is not always clear-cut. Italian, for instance, is typically considered a VF language but has also been shown to display a hybrid pattern. Since variation has typically been considered a prerequisite for language change, we …
Structural complexity reduction in English–French bilingual children’s event encoding
Previous research on the L1 acquisition of motion event expression suggests that mapping multiple semantic components onto syntactic units is associated with greater difficulties in verb-framed than in satellite-framed languages, because the former require more complex structures (using subordination). This study investigated the impact of this language-specific difference in English–French bilingual children’s caused motion expressions. 2L1 chil…
Cognate Facilitation in Child Third Language Learners in a Multilingual Setting
Research has established cognate facilitation effects as a robust finding in bilingual adults and children. Recent studies suggest that cognate facilitation also occurs in highly proficient trilingual adults and can even accumulate across languages. The evidence for multilingual children is scarce and inconclusive. This study examines whether and in which direction cognate effects arise in 35 ten-year-old unbalanced trilingual children, who, in a…
How (not) to cross a boundary
Simultaneous bilingual children sometimes display crosslinguistic influence (CLI), widely attested in the domain of morphosyntax. It remains less clear whether CLI affects bilinguals’ event construal, what motivates its occurrence and directionality, and how developmentally persistent it is. The present study tested predictions generated by the structural overlap hypothesis and the co-activation account in the motion event domain. 96 English–Fren…
Cognate Facilitation in Child Third Language Learners in a Multilingual Setting
Research has established cognate facilitation effects as a robust finding in bilingual adults and children. Recent studies suggest that cognate facilitation also occurs in highly proficient trilingual adults and can even accumulate across languages. The evidence for multilingual children is scarce and inconclusive. This study examines whether and in which direction cognate effects arise in 35 ten-year-old unbalanced trilingual children, who, in a…
How (not) to cross a boundary
Simultaneous bilingual children sometimes display crosslinguistic influence (CLI), widely attested in the domain of morphosyntax. It remains less clear whether CLI affects bilinguals’ event construal, what motivates its occurrence and directionality, and how developmentally persistent it is. The present study tested predictions generated by the structural overlap hypothesis and the co-activation account in the motion event domain. 96 English–Fren…
Structural complexity reduction in English–French bilingual children’s event encoding
Previous research on the L1 acquisition of motion event expression suggests that mapping multiple semantic components onto syntactic units is associated with greater difficulties in verb-framed than in satellite-framed languages, because the former require more complex structures (using subordination). This study investigated the impact of this language-specific difference in English–French bilingual children’s caused motion expressions. 2L1 chil…
Cognate Facilitation in Child Third Language Learners in a Multilingual Setting
Research has established cognate facilitation effects as a robust finding in bilingual adults and children. Recent studies suggest that cognate facilitation also occurs in highly proficient trilingual adults and can even accumulate across languages. The evidence for multilingual children is scarce and inconclusive. This study examines whether and in which direction cognate effects arise in 35 ten-year-old unbalanced trilingual children, who, in a…
The acquisition of motion event constructions by German-speaking learners of Italian as L3
Aim and Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the acquisition of motion event (ME) constructions in Italian as an L3 by German-speaking learners focusing on the following aspects: (1) the role of input frequency distributions in the target language, (2) the influence of the L1 and (3) the influence of the L2. Methodology: We designed a video description task aimed at eliciting ME in Italian native speakers and L3 learners of Italian…
Evidence from priming on how L2 sentence processing impacts L3 production and cross-linguistic awareness
In the present study we investigate L2-to-L3 priming of motion event (ME) constructions in L1 German learners of English (L2) and Italian (L3). This is a domain in which foreign language (FL) learners often have difficulties adapting to target language norms, especially when the preferential typological encoding patterns of source and target language differ. We adopted a pre-/post-test design to address the question of whether priming affects cro…
Linguistic variation in the interpretation and production of Italian motion event constructions in younger and older adults
Languages vary in the way they encode motion. Following Talmy, languages can be divided into verb-framed (VF, henceforth) or satellite-framed (SF, henceforth), based on how they encode path of motion. However, this difference is not always clear-cut. Italian, for instance, is typically considered a VF language but has also been shown to display a hybrid pattern. Since variation has typically been considered a prerequisite for language change, we …
Implicit Learning in Second Language Acquisition
Aims and objectives: We examine whether priming within and across languages facilitates target-like production in L2 acquisition. Focussing on motion event encoding, we test whether prime exposure to verb-framed (VF) patterns promotes VF production in L2 French (VF) by L1 German (satellite-framing, SF) speakers. We further ask whether dispreferred but grammatical L1 patterns (German VF) can be leveraged for L2 learning and whether effects are lon…
Priming motion events in Italian heritage language speakers
Language contact can lead to short-term effects like cross-linguistic influence but might also contribute to long-term processes such as contact-induced language change. Recent studies suggest that structural priming may serve as a cognitive mechanism linking synchronic and diachronic outcomes in contact-induced language change since it occurs across languages and persists over time. Heritage language speakers, immersed in extreme language contac…
The role of cross-linguistic structural priming in contact-induced language change
Research investigating the psycholinguistic foundations of contact-induced grammatical language change suggests that new structures may enter a language through cross-linguistic priming in bilinguals. However, this assumes that priming effects can emerge even for structures which are ungrammatical in the target language. In the present study, we test this assumption by investigating cross-linguistic ungrammatical priming for analytic comparatives…
Psycho-historical linguistics
Categorization, perception, and language (8 works) · Linguistics (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (5 works) · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism (5 works) · Cognitive psychology (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (3 works) · History (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works)