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Poster C29, Wednesday, August 21, 2019, 10:45 am – 12:30 pm, Restaurant Hall

Brain Processing of Socio-Pragmatic Conventions in a Second Language: Cross-Linguistic Perspectives

Haining Cui1, Hyeonjeong Jeong1, Kiyo Okamoto1, Daiko Takahashi1, Ryuta Kawashima1, Motoaki Sugiura1;1Tohoku University

Although previous neuroimaging studies have investigated the cross-linguistic influence on second language (L2) processing (Jeong at al., 2007; Kotz, 2009), it remains unknown whether linguistic differences have an impact on L2 socio-pragmatic convention processing. Thus, this study investigated how Chinese learners of Japanese process a socio-pragmatic convention of Japanese honorific expressions that is linguistically different from Chinese. Japanese honorific expressions are called grammaticalized honorifics since they require that speakers of lower social status apply different inflected verb forms (i.e., honorific or humble) toward interlocutors with higher social status. In comparison, Chinese has neither a verb inflected system nor the humble and honorific form distinction. By manipulating conventional and unconventional expressions by both lower and higher social status speakers, we examined common and different brain mechanisms underlying the processing of socio-pragmatic conventional expressions between Chinese learners of Japanese (L2) and native speakers of Japanese (L1). We hypothesized that social cognition areas would be involved in the processing of conventional expressions in both groups but that the degree of involvement in the language-related regions might differ between L2 and L1 speakers due to the cross-linguistic differences. The participants were 31 healthy right-handed Chinese learners of Japanese and 33 native speakers of Japanese. During fMRI scanning, they performed a socio-pragmatic judgment task (auditory sentences accompanied by interlocutors’ images), which had a 2 ✕ 2 factorial design with two levels of ‘Conventionality’ (conventional and unconventional expressions) and two levels of ‘Social Status’ (lower and higher social status speakers’ expressions). The lower social status speakers’ expressions required a distinction between honorific and humble forms, but the higher social status speakers’ expressions did not. In the first-level analysis, four regressors with correct trials were created to model the hemodynamic response for each subject. In the second-level analysis, by using a flexible three-way ANOVA implemented in SPM12, we tested the main effect of Conventionality, Social Status (i.e., grammaticalized honorifics), and the interaction of Group ✕ Conventionality, and Group ✕ Social-status (FWE p < 0.05 at the voxel-level). For the main effect, conventional expressions showed greater activation in the bilateral anterior temporal lobe (ATL) than unconventional expressions, and the right insula produced significant activation for lower social status than higher status in both groups. For the interaction effect, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was more activated when the L1 group processed the conventional expressions more than those of the L2 group. Similarly, the L1 group showed higher activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) while processing the lower social status’ expressions than those of the L2 group (p < 0.001 unc.). Taken together, we argue that the ATL and the right insula may be involved as common brain areas that function to integrate the linguistic information along with socio-pragmatic conventions irrespective of language proficiency. The interaction results suggest that both the social cognition (mPFC) and language-related regions (LIFG) are taken in the processing of grammaticalized honorifics in L1. However, the grammaticalized honorifics may not be readily accessible for L2 speakers due to the cross-linguistic differences.

Themes: Meaning: Discourse and Pragmatics, Development
Method: Functional Imaging

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