Itziar Laka
Biographic Data
| ID | 754345 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Itziar Laka |
| GIVEN NAMES | Itziar |
| FAMILY NAME | Laka |
| SIGNATURE | LAKA I |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Basque Country |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2402-2661 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Types of language use and interference control in aging bilinguals: Insights from the Word–Color Stroop Task
This study investigates the relationship between bilingualism, language use, aging, and interference control using the Color–Word Stroop test task. We examined 158 highly proficient Basque–Spanish bilinguals and 84 Spanish monolinguals (aged 30–80 years) to test whether interference control declines with age and whether bilingual adaptations depend on language use frequency. Language experience was assessed using an adapted Language and Social Ba…
The Agent Preference in Visual Event Apprehension
A central aspect of human experience and communication is understanding events in terms of agent (“doer”) and patient (“undergoer” of action) roles. These event roles are rooted in general cognition and prominently encoded in language, with agents appearing as more salient and preferred over patients. An unresolved question is whether this preference for agents already operates during apprehension, that is, the earliest stage of event processing,…
Cross-linguistic differences in case marking shape neural power dynamics and gaze behavior during sentence planning
Languages differ in how they mark the dependencies between verbs and arguments, e.g., by case. An eye tracking and EEG picture description study examined the influence of case marking on the time course of sentence planning in Basque and Swiss German. While German assigns an unmarked (nominative) case to subjects, Basque specifically marks agent arguments through ergative case. Fixations to agents and event-related synchronization (ERS) in the th…
Bilinguals and knowledge of language: A commentary to “Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theory”
How infant and adult humans learn languages and what this tells us about the various aspects of the language system is currently a central topic in linguistic research, one that more and more includes bilingualism and language attrition in its embrace. Despite the centrality of the problem of language acquisition for Generative Grammar, it is fair to say that other modes of language learning are now entering the arena of discussion, having shown …
Segmental information drives adult bilingual phrase segmentation preference
In two artificial language learning experiments with four groups of highly proficient Basque-Spanish bilinguals and two groups of Spanish monolinguals, we examine the cues that allow adult listeners to parse new input into phrases. In addition, we investigate which factors lead bilinguals to switch between the segmentation strategies characteristic of their two languages. We show that segmental information drives bilinguals’ choice of a segmentat…
Anomaly detection in the processing of complex syntax by early L2 learners
This study investigates the processing of long-distance syntactic dependencies by native speakers of Slovenian (L1) who are advanced learners of Italian as a second language (L2), compared with monolingual Italian speakers. Using a self-paced reading task, we compare sensitivity of the early-acquired L2 learners to syntactic anomalies in their L2 in two empirical domains: (1) syntactic islands, for which the learners’ L1 and L2 grammars provide a…
On the role of frequency-based cues in the segmentation strategies of adult OV-VO bilinguals
The present investigation seeks to determine whether and under what circumstances can adult bilinguals deploy segmentation strategies characteristic of their two languages, or of their dominant language. To that end, we inquired whether the context language employed during the segmentation experiment (i.e., the language in which participants receive the instructions of the experiment) modulates the bilinguals' segmentation preferences given an am…
Word Order Processing in a Second Language: From VO to OV
Accounting for ergativity
On the Syntax of Negation
Accounting for ergativity
Anomaly detection in the processing of complex syntax by early L2 learners
This study investigates the processing of long-distance syntactic dependencies by native speakers of Slovenian (L1) who are advanced learners of Italian as a second language (L2), compared with monolingual Italian speakers. Using a self-paced reading task, we compare sensitivity of the early-acquired L2 learners to syntactic anomalies in their L2 in two empirical domains: (1) syntactic islands, for which the learners’ L1 and L2 grammars provide a…
Word Order Processing in a Second Language: From VO to OV
On the Syntax of Negation
Accounting for ergativity
Word Order Processing in a Second Language: From VO to OV
On the role of frequency-based cues in the segmentation strategies of adult OV-VO bilinguals
The present investigation seeks to determine whether and under what circumstances can adult bilinguals deploy segmentation strategies characteristic of their two languages, or of their dominant language. To that end, we inquired whether the context language employed during the segmentation experiment (i.e., the language in which participants receive the instructions of the experiment) modulates the bilinguals' segmentation preferences given an am…
Anomaly detection in the processing of complex syntax by early L2 learners
This study investigates the processing of long-distance syntactic dependencies by native speakers of Slovenian (L1) who are advanced learners of Italian as a second language (L2), compared with monolingual Italian speakers. Using a self-paced reading task, we compare sensitivity of the early-acquired L2 learners to syntactic anomalies in their L2 in two empirical domains: (1) syntactic islands, for which the learners’ L1 and L2 grammars provide a…
Cross-linguistic differences in case marking shape neural power dynamics and gaze behavior during sentence planning
Languages differ in how they mark the dependencies between verbs and arguments, e.g., by case. An eye tracking and EEG picture description study examined the influence of case marking on the time course of sentence planning in Basque and Swiss German. While German assigns an unmarked (nominative) case to subjects, Basque specifically marks agent arguments through ergative case. Fixations to agents and event-related synchronization (ERS) in the th…
Bilinguals and knowledge of language: A commentary to “Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theory”
How infant and adult humans learn languages and what this tells us about the various aspects of the language system is currently a central topic in linguistic research, one that more and more includes bilingualism and language attrition in its embrace. Despite the centrality of the problem of language acquisition for Generative Grammar, it is fair to say that other modes of language learning are now entering the arena of discussion, having shown …
Segmental information drives adult bilingual phrase segmentation preference
In two artificial language learning experiments with four groups of highly proficient Basque-Spanish bilinguals and two groups of Spanish monolinguals, we examine the cues that allow adult listeners to parse new input into phrases. In addition, we investigate which factors lead bilinguals to switch between the segmentation strategies characteristic of their two languages. We show that segmental information drives bilinguals’ choice of a segmentat…
The Agent Preference in Visual Event Apprehension
A central aspect of human experience and communication is understanding events in terms of agent (“doer”) and patient (“undergoer” of action) roles. These event roles are rooted in general cognition and prominently encoded in language, with agents appearing as more salient and preferred over patients. An unresolved question is whether this preference for agents already operates during apprehension, that is, the earliest stage of event processing,…
Types of language use and interference control in aging bilinguals: Insights from the Word–Color Stroop Task
This study investigates the relationship between bilingualism, language use, aging, and interference control using the Color–Word Stroop test task. We examined 158 highly proficient Basque–Spanish bilinguals and 84 Spanish monolinguals (aged 30–80 years) to test whether interference control declines with age and whether bilingual adaptations depend on language use frequency. Language experience was assessed using an adapted Language and Social Ba…
Linguistics (8 works) · Language Development and Disorders (7 works) · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Artificial Intelligence (5 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (5 works) · Natural language processing (4 works) · Neuroscience of multilingualism (4 works) · Cognition (3 works)