Project description
How bilingual brains handle borrowed grammar
How does the bilingual brain handle grammar from two languages at once? This question lies at the heart of the NABOR project. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the project explores how speakers of Senhaja Amazigh (Berber) and Arabic in Morocco process borrowed grammar. Unusually, Senhaja has adopted Arabic participles (including roots and agreement markers), creating ‘Trojan Horse participles’. These are used alongside native forms in a structure known as co-morphology, where native and foreign grammatical systems operate in parallel. NABOR investigates whether these forms are processed differently from traditional morphological borrowing. Through narrative analysis and psycholinguistic experiments, the project offers new insights into a rarely studied linguistic phenomenon in the field.
Objective
Understanding how morphologies from different languages co-exist in the bilingual brain is a central testing ground for theories of language in the brain. NABOR investigates the differences in interpretation and processing of native vs. borrowed morphologies in the context of language contact among bilingual speakers of Senhaja Amazigh (Berber) and Arabic in Morocco. Strikingly, Senhaja has borrowed a whole morphological word class, Arabic participles, used among other to express TAM (Tense, Aspect, Modality). We call them “Trojan Horse participles” as they are borrowed with lexical content (roots) and agreement inflection (morphology). To describe situations akin to this, Gardani 2021 uses the term co-morphologies. Here, two morphologies are used in parallel: one with native, and one with foreign lexicon. NABOR investigates whether co-morphologies are psycholinguistically different (in processing) from morphological borrowing, where foreign morphology spreads to the native lexicon. To what extent are identical chunks of grammar shared by two languages processed as belonging to one grammar? We will tackle this question on the basis of Senhaja TAM constructions employing participles. Such participles present an important testcase for understanding how bilingual grammar is organized. It is rare that linguists can study co-morphologies in the field. Various tests will be run to investigate the processing of co-morphologies. We will perform semantic analysis on narrative production, and psycholinguistic experiments on the processing of morphological agreement. This will provide a window into questions of grammar representation. Previous research on bilingual processing has focused on codeswitching, while the psycholinguistic status of co-morphologies has not been studied. The research questions are new, and fill a gap in our understanding of bilingual cognitive realities, while also expanding our understanding of underdocumented morphological systems.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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9019 Tromso
Norway
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