English Question Formation in Hindi Bilinguals
Amanda Nagler
Northeastern University
Abstract
Question formation happens differently for both types of questions in different languages.
Yes/no questions in English are formed by inverting the subject and the auxiliary verb in a
process called subject aux inversion. Hindi yes/no question formation is done with a question
word particle, kyaa, which is added to the beginning or end of a sentence that transforms the
sentence into a question. It was expected that for the bilingual speakers whose L1 is Hindi that
Hindi grammar techniques and instead of inverting the auxiliary and the subject NP, the bilingual
will attempt to add the question particle in English the way they would do in Hindi. Participants
were shown a picture of a scene from a cartoon and then prompted to ask a yes/no or a content
question in English by posing this question to the characters in the scene. Participants were also
asked to fill out a language background self-report. Participants produced optional failure of SAI
in 19% of trials however not in the expected way. Several different methods and strategies were
used to compensate for failure of SAI with the most common of these strategies being a “Do you
think…” type question. This allowed participants a plug it in type of formula for question
formation. This effect would not be as present in monolinguals of English or simultaneous
bilinguals after acquisition.
Keywords: bilingual, question formation, SAI failure, sequential bilingual, yes/no questions
1
Introduction
Bilingualism is more than just the ability to speak more than one language, it is a group of people
that have the ability to use two linguistic codes interchangeably (Hamers & Blanc, 2000, p. 6).
Many different bilingual communities exist, each with different language profiles and different
balances of those languages. Views of what bilingualism is have changed over time. Hamers and
Blanc (2000, p. 8) note that initially, Bloomfield (1935) proposed a concept of bilingualism that
only referred to a perfect bilingual or rather the idea of someone that has balanced and native like
command of both of their languages. However as time went on and the concepts of bilingualism
and populations of bilinguals became better understood, the idea of a bilingual continuum,
suggested by Paradis (1986), with bilinguals at different and continually changing levels in both
L1 and L2 depending on a number of factors (age of acquisition, purposes of the languages,
environment, etc.) emerged (Hamers & Blanc, 2000, p. 8). Due to the complicated nature of
bilingualism, linguists have historically primarily focused up to this point on monolinguals
despite the fact that bilinguals represent more than half of the world’s population. Thus, we look
at bilingualism as an ever changing balance between the two languages that a bilingual person
has access to, with motivations, and needs projecting on to the actual use of the languages.
Though each individual bilingual has a unique background and mix of their languages, this study
focused on sequential bilinguals. That is, bilinguals that have acquired an L1 (for the purposes of
our study, that L1 will be Hindi) just after birth and then acquired an L2 (English) later in life.
This means that there is already a well-established grammatical system in the mind of the
bilingual at the time of L2 acquisition and that the English grammatical system is being
incorporated in to the grammatical understanding of that individual.
The past few decades have involved many studies of bilingualism and how it works.
Linguists have been looking at whether there is a division in the mind of a bilingual between
their two languages (L1 and L2) or whether the languages are stored in the same grammatical
store for years. The separate underlying proficiency model is the concept that there are
completely separate stores in memory for each and every language that a bilingual/multilingual
can speak. These completely separate stores would then process each language independently of
each other, leaving no parallel activations, no priming effects and little mixing between
languages. The common underlying proficiency model discussed in Hamers and Blanc (2000, p.
84) states that the opposite is true. According to this model, all forms, syntax, morphology and so
on are stored in one space in memory for all languages and would thus allow for interlanguage
influence.
The current study looked at bilingualism by comparing the processes that a bilingual
speaker of Hindi and English is going through in terms of English question formation to the
processes that a native English speaker goes through as a child. The purpose was to test if second
language acquisition mirrors first language acquisition despite age of acquisition and to
understand better the processes that go in to question formation across languages. Further, this
study attempts to see what effect age of acquisition will have on later language usage for
sequential bilinguals. Because of the focus on sequential bilinguals, the expected result was that
the bilingual would revert to using structures that they already had stored in their fully formed L1
grammar (Hindi) instead of fully developing the native English question formation pattern. There
should be evidence of syntactic parallel activation, providing further evidence for CUP. Evidence
should point to the sheer importance of age of acquisition in bilinguals.
2
Theoretical Background
2.1 Grammatical Rules
All languages have grammatical rules regarding sentence structure, word order and even
question formation. Question formation in Hindi and English is different for both content and
yes/no of questions. According to Carnie (2007, p. 208), yes/no questions in English are formed
by inverting the subject and the auxiliary verb in a process called subject aux inversion. It is
important to note that the auxiliary verb must be taken from the main clause of the sentence and
not selected at random or by which is left most in terms of syntactic structure. (Crain &
Nakayama, 1987, p. 526) This process is usually accompanied by an intonation rise as noted by
Agnihotri (2007, p. 24) as can be seen in the following example:
(1) The book is blue.
The statement above in (1) is a fairly simple declarative statement that would easily be
stated by both native English speakers as children and bilingual speakers as adults. The subject
of the sentence is the noun phrase (NP) the book and the auxiliary is the verb is. The subject
auxiliary inversion (SAI) then occurs, causing the auxiliary verb to move up in the syntactic
structure to fill a complimentizer position in the structure. This leads to the proper question form
seen in the example below:
(2) Is the book blue?
This inversion however, does not occur in all languages and particularly does not occur in
Hindi when forming yes/no questions. Instead there is a question word particle, kyaa, that is
added to the beginning or end of a sentence that transforms the sentence into a question
(Agnihotri, 2007, p. 24). Kyaa literally translated means “what.” However, unlike in English,
their question word particle can be used for both yes/no questions and content questions. Kyaa at
the beginning or end of the sentence is filling a space in the syntactic structure with a +Question
marker that creates a yes/no question.
(3) kyaa aap mere saath cal rahe hãi
what you me with come PROG be
Are you coming with me?
(4) vo abhii bazaar ga-yaa
he just market go- PST.PERF.
He just left for the market.
(5) Kyaa vo abhii bazaar ga-yaa
what he just market go-PST.PERF.
Did he just leave for the market?
As can be clearly seen between (4) and (5), the structure of the sentence is unchanged by
the question making process except for the addition of the question particle either at the
beginning or the end of the sentence. In English, if a sentence that is to be made a question lacks
an auxiliary with which to complete the SAI, English handles it by utilizing do-support. Dosupport is the process of inserting a dummy (meaningless) auxiliary in yes/no questions. (Carnie,
2007) This process does not happen in Hindi and instead this would be accomplished by the use
of intonation to mark a question.
(6) You read the book.
(7) Did you read the book?
As can be seen from the example of do-support above, line (6) becomes a question only
with the assistance of do-support. Question formation in Hindi is structurally very different than
it is in English. There is a complete lack of movement, rather, there is just an additional
morpheme in the sentence that signals a much more structural change for the listener. There is
one more type of question formation that is important to understand for the study that was
conducted and that is the notion of tag questions. Tag questions are not properly formed yes/no
questions, they are declarative statements with interrogative fragments attached at the end.
(8) You read the book, right?
This formation has the tag question formation with the tag right attaching itself on to the
end of the sentence. This type of question is the expected step between a Hindi question
formation and an English yes/no formation.
It should be noted that the failure or absence of SAI is a common feature of Indian
English, however it is also a common feature of Standard American English. Intonation based
questions are used equal amounts but in different manners by the two dialects. Indian dialect
intonation based questions are more bare and devoid of markers. Balasubramanian also suggests
that tag questions such as isn’t it are quite popular in Indian English. (Balasubramanian, 2009, p.
36)
2.2 Previous Studies
One of the more pivotal studies to look at when regarding yes/no questions, is Bellugi (1971).
This study supports the idea of a piecemeal acquisition of subject auxiliary inversion (SAI) that
suggests that question acquisition does not happen all at once but rather in stages. (Guasti, 2002)
SAI acquisition happens in a specific order for children starting with yes/no questions and then
move on to the next stage, acquiring SAI for positive questions, and then for negatives.
However, as previously stated, there is always conflict among clinical data and drawn
conclusions with bilingual studies and this piecemeal acquisition for SAI is contested.
Particularly it is contested by Stromswold (1990) which instead suggests that there is merely an
optional failure to perform SAI in early childhood for native English speakers. (Guasti, 2002)
However it is important to realize that because the native English speakers who are trying to
acquire SAI have no working structures in their mind, they will then be forced to acquire the SAI
structure much faster than a bilingual might due to the existence of a working model in the mind
of a bilingual. Thus, the late adult bilingual would have to first start to acquire SAI for yes/no
questions and it is a question of whether these Hindi-English bilinguals who have an established
grammar that does not perform SAI will avoid it altogether and stay in a state of this optional
failure.
Many studies have posed questions about interlanguage influence in bilinguals
throughout the years. This topic is incredibly relevant to the proposed study. Pozzan and Quirk
(n.d.) conducted a study on L1 influence on L2 question formation in bilinguals working with
both Spanish-English and Chinese-English bilinguals with English native speakers as a control.
Their method required the use of a dummy shy student to whom the participants would ask either
yes/no or content questions. The questions were prompted by phrases such as “Maybe Gloria
called Jim. Ask Miss Brainy,” which would cause the participants to respond with a question for
the character. This elicit production experiment resulted in the conclusion that there are structural
effects from L1 to L2.
A study conducted by Wang and Wen (2002) focused on testing the levels of interference
of L1 in L2 writing at the different stages of the writing process. By having 16 Chinese-English
female bilinguals do a think-aloud writing task, Wang and Wen were able to measure the level of
L1 usage at each of the five stages they created to describe the writing process. Those stages
were task examining, idea generating, idea organizing, text generating, and process controlling.
They found that L1 interference occurred most in idea generating, idea organizing and process
controlling. Essentially, when interacting with the processes that required organizing and
controlling the text, the speaker reverted to their L1. One of the clear findings of this experiment
was that L2 usage is most likely to occur at the text generating stage. The text generating stage is
where a writer must create written content in L2, whether that content is generated from
translating a text that they generated in Chinese first, which happens with less fluent bilinguals,
or whether that text is directly generated in English (the L2), which happens in the more L2
fluent bilinguals. Wang and Wen (2002) suggested several trends from their results, the first of
which is that the less fluent student groups were more likely to revert to L1 than their more fluent
counterparts. This study shows not only clear and definite evidence of the interference of L1 in
the writing process, but it shows just how frequently it occurs at the different levels of fluency.
This can be applied at a larger level to language production in general beyond just the writing
process, even more specifically to question formation.
Hartsuiker, Pickering and Veltkamp’s (2004) study looks at whether syntax for two
languages is stored in the same few representations, for example, the passive sentence
construction would be stored for both English and Spanish, or if the accounts were separate,
there would be a representation of an English passive sentence and a representation of a Spanish
passive sentence. Hartsuiker et al.’s experiment involved a Spanish speaking confederate
syntactically priming a naïve participant who is speaking English. The intended effect was that
the naïve participant would be primed and thus use the prime/target form. For example, if the
confederate uses a passive sentence the hope is that the naïve participant would use a passive
sentence. Hartsuiker et al. found that this interlanguage priming effect did occur in passives.
Thus the hypothesis of the study was suggested by their results for passive sentences. This points
towards evidence of clear interlanguage influence and to the effects of interlanguage priming. All
results of this study pointed to a shared syntax account (i.e. a common underlying proficiency)
simply because if interlanguage priming can be accomplished then there is implied parallel
activation which would insist upon a shared model for the two languages.
Another study, conducted by Marian and Spivey (2003), that involved tracking eye
movements of Russian-English bilinguals to track interlanguage interference. This was
accomplished by measuring how frequently the participant looked to objects that had
phonologically similar names to the target object in the competition language, the same language
or both at the same time (providing three unique types of competition for participants). For
example, one of the pairs that Marian and Spivey discussed, was “glove-glass-glaz
(tambourine).” The study looked at the frequency of eye movements to objects like the
tambourine when glass was said and so on for the other sets of stimuli they had. Results for this
experiment provided further evidence for parallel activation as participants had significant
competition interference both within and between languages. These results support the concept
of shared language stores for lexicon.
Finally, beyond just the concepts of interference it is important, for the purposes of the
current study, to understand the concept of critical mass. Critical mass is defined as a threshold
point between storing learned combinations, producing those combinations by rote and
understanding and being able to utilize a linguistic feature properly as a grammatical and
recursive element of language. This point is different for different linguistic phenomenon based
on the difficulty and frequency of use of this phenomenon as will be seen in the studies
discussed. This critical mass hypothesis is particularly valuable when analyzing bilingual
language acquisition as compared to monolingual language acquisition. (Gathercole &Thomas,
2005)
One study that was conducted on monolingual children focused on overgeneralization,
overregulation and production of irregulars in toddlers (Marchman & Bates, 1994). The
researchers argue that these phenomena imply that critical mass has been reached is an incredibly
strong argument. The overgeneralized lexical item could not have been learned, as no
grammatically speaking adult would have given the word as input; and thus it cannot be a
learned combination. The study was conducted on toddlers by having parents report level of
input and conducting the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Toddler Form on
the toddlers involved in the study. The results showed that children had reached critical mass for
the grammatical structures they were testing as they were focusing primarily on the overregularization of errors. They proposed that the toddlers who were capable of this overregularization must have reached critical mass. These results supported critical mass as a theory
and provide the foundation for many studies thereafter.
A study conducted by Gathercole and Thomas (2005) looked at critical mass as a model
of acquisition for Welsh speaking children in the north of Wales. The study was designed around
the more complex phenomenon of gender marking mutations in Welsh. Participants were
children who were split into groups based on both amount of exposure to Welsh in both home
and school environments and by age. The task involved forming sentences that forced different
kinds of specific gender mutations and markings in Welsh to see which children had acquired the
grammar and which had yet to do so. Groups that received the most Welsh input (i.e. the children
speaking only Welsh at both home and in school) were the first to acquire the grammatical effect
and children with the least Welsh input were the last. Gathercole and Thomas attributed this to
critical mass, suggesting that it is because these primarily Welsh speaking children logically
reached the critical mass of input first, and consequently that they were the first group able to
generalize the effect. In fact, this study showed that children in Welsh only schools were able to
generalize grammatical gender significantly earlier than children in Welsh English and English
only homes. They found that though school environment was important it was home
environment that decided how early children could reach critical mass. This makes it clear that
level of input in acquiring grammatical features is important, and that increased level of input
allows for an earlier acquisition overall as home environment is where young children would be
receiving most of their input. This study attributes the importance of amount of input to the
notion of critical mass and offers founding support for the theory of critical mass, suggesting that
once this mass is reached the feature can be generalized as was seen in both the adults and some
of the older children.
Paradis (2007) conducted a similar study on French English bilinguals and monolinguals.
This study focused on past tense marking and regular and irregular verbs in both languages,
similar to the Marchman and Bates study (1994) previously mentioned. The children were
broken in to groups based on home languages and level of bilinguality. Then they were tested
with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) in either English or French. The children
were also given past tense elicitation tasks in both languages or in just French in the case of the
monolinguals. The responses were coded to judge level of vocabulary and general fluency of the
children and those results were then compared with the level of input suggested by the groups
they had been broken in to for the purposes of this study. The results suggested that for dominant
languages there is no lagging for bilingual children as opposed to monolingual children. Thus,
for children who received more input in French than in English, they were considered to be at a
monolingual skill level for French, but would be found to be delayed in English. This again
suggests that amount of input is critical to acquisition thus supporting critical mass.
3
The Current Study
This study sought to produce situations in which the optional failure to perform SAI suggested
by Stromswold (1990) would occur. The analysis would show how a native language that does
not use SAI affected (potentially increasing) this optional failure and prolong the period of time
in which this failure would occur because of the fully formed grammar that does not require this
inversion. The purpose of this study was to see if a late bilingual speaker of English is going
through the same processes that a native language speaker in terms of acquiring question
formation skills. It was expected that for the bilingual speakers whose L1 is Hindi that Hindi
grammar techniques will be the basis by which they form questions. And that instead of inverting
the auxiliary and the subject NP, the expected result was that the bilingual will add the question
particle in English the way they would try to do in Hindi. However, since in English an
ungrammatical sentence would be formed if the question particle were to be added in the
beginning, the speaker will never choose to form that sentence. This ungrammatical tag
formation can be seen in the example below:
(9) *Right, you ate?
Then the only way that is grammatically acceptable in English for the speaker to
accomplish this is to attach the question particle to the end of the sentence in the form of the tag
questions that were discussed earlier.
(10)
You ate, right?
This form is more of a tag question than a typical yes/no question in English. For
example, we expect that a developed native speaker will use the form:
(11)
Did you eat?
This occurs because there is a grammatical structure that is solidified in the mind of the
bilinguals and cognitively it is far simpler for the speakers to continue to use those forms. Also,
theories of parallel activation, such as those suggested in Hartsuiker, Pickering and Veltkamp’s
(2004) study, suggest that a shared syntax account would lend towards the neural pathways for
question production activating both languages, allowing for the production of syntactic structures
from L1 while L2 is being produced. Thus our hypothesis is that the structures that already exist
in the mind of the bilingual will delay acquisition of SAI and promote this optional failure of
SAI for the bilingual speakers.
3.1 Methodology
Crain and Nakayama (1987) conducted a study that focuses on child’s question formation and to
see if children were using structure dependent or independent clauses. Their study was conducted
by having children pose questions to a doll, prompting them by providing them with sentences
that they could convert to questions to ask the doll. By asking yes/no questions the children
showed that their question formation pattern was in fact structure dependent. The current study is
incredibly similar to the one Crain and Nakayama conducted. The procedure was roughly the
same in practice.
In total there were 11 sequential Hindi-English bilinguals that participated in this study.
Each participant had to have acquired Hindi just after birth and English after the age of three thus
qualifying as sequential bilinguals. Age and gender were not considered when choosing
participants so long as participants were over the age of 18. There should be no bearing of gender
on this particular phenomenon. The choice of using adult participants was made because for the
specific language profile required for this study, that of Hindi first, English later, most children
who would fit that profile are still living in India until at least college years if not later.
Participants were all originally from India with Indian nationality, however the region of India
that the participants originated from and the other languages or home languages that they each
had were all unique.
Table 1
Participants and time spent in the U.S.
Participant
Years living in U.S.
Participant 1
2
Participant 2
4 months
Participant 3
4
Participant 4
5
Participant 5
3
Participant 6
6 months
Participant 7
8 months
Participant 8
1
Participant 9
8
Participant 10
2
Participant 11
1
Average
2.5
Participants were individually shown pictures of a scenes from Tom and Jerry cartoons.
In total there were five different scenes, each with a set of six prompted questions for a total of
30 trials. Each group of prompts for the scenes had four yes/no type questions and two content
questions. After each picture was shown, participants were asked to in brief describe the photo
they were seeing. This was merely a test to insure basic understanding of the task and to get
participants used to reading the prompts. Next the participants were prompted to ask a yes/no or
a content question in English by posing this question to the characters in the scene. This method
is an emulation of both Crain and Nakayama (1987) and Pozzan and Quirk (n.d.) . The
generation of this question is intentionally spontaneous and will show the natural formation
tendencies of the speakers. After the four yes/no generations, there were always two content
questions for each of the photos shown for a total of six question generations per image.
Participants were shown five different images in total, each participant was shown the same five
photos to allow for direct comparison within the smaller data set. This allowed for a total of 30
data points for comparison across the 11 participants involved in the study. The results were
audio recorded and then transcribed. However, unlike Crain and Nakayama (1987), the purpose
of this study will be to look more at the similarities and differences that appear between the
question formation in the group of late bilinguals that will be our participants and a native
English speaker (the experimenter)’s judgements. This comparison with well attested data allows
us to draw conclusions about the processes of second language acquisition and whether it is an
error in production or rather, merely an optional failure for SAI to occur in the speech of a
bilingual.
For the purposes of this study, there was a focus on yes/no questions primarily as yes/no
question formation was predicted to be where most of the significant data would be seen. Data
was also collected regarding Wh- formation to see if there is significant difference in question
formation there as well. Levels of fluency and language background were assessed by self-report
for the participants. The self-report was rated on a 7 point scale with 1 being that the speaker is
only familiar with a few words and 7 being that the speaker rates themselves as natively fluent in
a language. This scale was used to rate both understanding and speaking separately. Language
use was also tracked and the participant was asked to self-report their use of the languages they
are reporting in comparison to one another. If the participant spoke three languages then the
languages would be ranked first, second and third with the first being the language used most in
a particular setting and third being the language used least. If the language was not used in a
particular setting then it did not receive a ranking. The settings were home, school/work and
social (described as time with family and/or friends outside of the home.) This data was recorded
and taken in to account when looking at the spontaneously generated responses. Particularly, age
of acquisition of each participant as well as length of time outside of India. Most participants
were graduate students who had moved to Boston for school. There were only two outliers, both
working professionals living just outside Boston having moved with their families. Participants
were asked to submit a language background and language use survey to give us a better
understanding of some factors besides age of acquisition alone which may influence the
strategies used to produce yes/no questions.
4
Results
On average, the participants had a native English type question formations for 24.3 of the 30
possible responses in the trials. The rest of the questions, on average between 6-7 questions per
participant, utilized different strategies to avoid the more native English choices.
Table 2
Native and non-native responses
Participant
Native formations/possible
Non-native formations/possible
responses
responses
Participant 1
22/30
8/30
Participant 2
25/30
5/30
Participant 3
28/30
2/30
Participant 4
28/30
2/30
Participant 5
26/30
4/30
Participant 6
18/30
12/30
Participant 7
19/30
11/30
Participant 8
21/30
9/30
Participant 9
26/30
4/30
Participant 10
28/30
2/30
Participant 11
26/30
4/30
Average
24.3/30
5.7/30
The higher rates of non-native type forms were found in participants who came to the U.S. either
at time close to the point of testing or at a later age. The simple usage of tag questions as a
strategy for avoiding SAI was far less common than was initially expected. In fact, this strategy
was hardly used at all. Across participants, only one incidence which can be seen below in (1).
Participant 7 was one of the participants with the most deviations from native English in his
speech, with 19/30 questions being formed in a manner more consistent with a native English
speaker. This participant was 23 years old and had only just moved to the U.S. three months
before to begin graduate school. This participant rated himself as less fluent in English (4/7) than
did most of the other participants. Though this type of strategy was hypothesized to be the most
common, it only occurred once even in the other ten non-native type constructions in participant
7’s responses.
Table 3
Tag question strategy
Prompt
Native Speaker
Participant 7
Ask Jerry if his sword is sharp.
Jerry, is your sword
jerry your sword is
sharp?
sharp or not
When the questions were not asked in this way, different strategies were used to avoid the
use of SAI. One of the most common methods for avoiding this SAI was to use “do you think” as
the question marker in the sentence. This phrase was used in 12.7% percent of the overall trials
and was the most common strategy outside of proper SAI to be used by participants. This type of
phrase can be seen in Table 4, an excerpt from Participant 10. Participant 10 had recently
matriculated from graduate school in Boston and had spent several years in an American and
primarily English climate.
Table 4
“Do you think” strategy
Prompt
Native Speaker
Participant 10
Ask Tom if he thinks Jerry is in Tom, is jerry in the
hey do you really think
the mousehole.
jerry is in that
mousehole?
mousehole
Other strategies included a clause including the subject only followed by a typical SAI
clause with a pronoun rather than the actual subject as can be seen in Table 5 below. This type of
strategy was far less frequently, only occurring in natural speech in three participants. Participant
1 is a undergraduate student studying in Boston. In her first year, she also had spent less time in
the U.S. and thus had a slightly above average amount of optional failure of SAI at 22/30 trails
beings the standard SAI usage.
Table 5
“it” substitution strategy
Prompt
Native Speaker
Participant 1
Ask Jerry if the umbrella he is
Is the umbrella you are
jerry the umbrella
holding is yellow.
holding yellow?
you’re holding-is that
yellow
Frequently, the presence of incorrect morphology tainted the questions that were formed
to make them sound incorrect. Despite this, the syntactic structure of those sentences, where the
inflectional morphology fixed to be grammatical, was correct. These types of mistakes were
typically made in conjunction with more deviations from the typical SAI structure as well. Thus,
this type of response was primarily found in participants who self-reported a lower familiarity
and usage of their L2, English. An example of this can be seen in participant 6’s question
generation. These errors can be seen only in a handful of participant’s natural speech. Participant
6 and 7 traveled from India together.
Table 6
Ungrammatical error
Prompt
Native Speaker
Participant 6
Ask Tom if he bought the
Tom, did you buy this Tom do you bought
cheese for Jerry.
cheese for Jerry?
this cheese for Jerry
This question would, aside from the incorrect tense on the verbs in the sentence, is
syntactically similar to a native speaker’s syntactic form. Thus, these statements were not
counted in the final tally of incorrect statements, merely these forms are something to note for
future study. Beyond that, certain strategies appeared to be unique to specific participants which
could be a byproduct of many factors. These strategies will be discussed individually in the
discussion.
5
Discussion
Though the expected strategy of avoiding SAI altogether and using a tag question like a question
particle at the beginning or end of the sentence was not used as frequently as was expected, other
strategies were used to avoid typical native English question formation. As Stromswold (1990)
suggested, there was an optional failure of SAI to occur in some of the data collected from the 11
total participants measured. Though it did not manifest as frequently in the data as was
anticipated, the optional failure was present and is attributable to a reliance on native Hindi
grammars, acquired at birth.
For the purposes of this study, the participants had varied backgrounds which lead to
varied results. As stated earlier, the participants were all from different areas of India and had
different combinations of languages outside of Hindi and English. Thus, between the different
participants there were many differences in strategies as well as amounts of errors. The higher
rates of non-native type forms were found in participants who came to the U.S. either at time
close to the point of testing or at a later age. This suggests either that they were surrounded by
primarily Hindi or purely Indian dialects of English for a larger percentage of their lives.
Many participants that had less errors also had been attending a primarily English
medium high school. None of my participants had formal education in only one language or the
other, all had at least 12 years of both, if not more. The participants who attended these primarily
English based schools often had a stronger sense of prescriptive grammar for Standard American
English. One participant even went on to say that she was taught that asking tag questions was an
incorrect form. That being said, every participant had some variation in how the questions were
asked and all of the yes/no questions in particular were evaluated in comparison with the basic
SAI structure and judged by their deviation or resistance to that structure.
Though only one participant used the tag question strategy, many of the participants
during the debriefing portion of the experiment explained that not only did they notice the
phenomenon in natural speech of people with similar language backgrounds, but that their
parents often used such a construction. Thus, the phenomenon exists according to personal
testimony and perhaps it is only a more specific data set that would utilize this strategy more
than others. Further experiments would need to be run to confirm this phenomenon in an older
data set in order to see if the personal testimony of these participants has evidential support.
Most of the participants in this experiment were graduate students currently studying in the U.S.
though a few participants were just outside that range. All participants were under the age of 40.
One of the more interesting phenomena that occurred in the data was the frequency of the
“do you think” type phrase to act as a [+question] particle that would convert an otherwise
declarative sentence to a yes/no question. This question form utilizes a combination of creating
an embedded clause at the same time as using do-support to create a yes/no question. Though dosupport is structurally a different method than the addition of a question particle like kyaa, it is
possible that native Hindi speakers when coming in to contact with a new grammar interpreted
the do-support or the creation of a word from a null auxiliary filling the question particle space in
their syntactic structure while simultaneously avoiding movement of any kind, let alone
inversion. Despite the addition of the embedded clause it is entirely possible that this type of
phrase is a far more natural solution to avoiding SAI and relying on a native grammar that uses
question particles than expected. This type of strategy for question forming was often used with
either a yes/no question or a content question and seemed to be a strategy used for overall
question formation rather than for a specific type of question. This suggested misinterpretation of
do-support would require further study to prove the connection between the native Hindi
grammar and the use of do-support and a “do you think” type phrase to avoid SAI.
Another strategy that was frequently used across participants to avoid a typical yes/no
question was to name the subject and then ask a SAI yes/no question using the pronoun ‘it’ or
‘that’ as the subject of the SAI question. This can be seen in an example pulled from participant
1 (4.4) earlier. This type of question may be easier when fully acquiring SAI because only
certain exemplar setences have to be recalled such as ‘Is that…’ or ‘Is it…’
Participant 8 had a unique strategy of giving two options and then asking a content
question to avoid the formation of a yes/no question in the typical manner. An example of this
can be seen in Table 7. This unique strategy was not exhibited by other participants however, it
is still a grammatically acceptable way to avoid SAI in practice. Participant 8 was an older
participant, age 37, who had moved to America for work. His age at the time of moving may
have negated the effects of having lived in the U.S. longer, though this would require further
study.
Table 7
Content question strategy
Prompt
Native Speaker
Participant 8
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Tom, are you bored?
how’s the book is it
boring is it interestingwhat do you think tom
Finally, some questions where the prompt suggested an odd or atypical word order led
some of the participants to produce a word order that is atypical for both native Hindi and native
English speakers. The example given below in Table 8 was a prompt that many participants
struggled with producing correctly.
Table 8
Atypical word order
Prompt
Native Speaker
Participant 4
Ask Tom what color the
What color are the
What color the shutter
shutters are.
shutters?
is tom
This particular type of production caused an issue for several of the speakers, causing
them to put the auxiliary at the end of the sentence in what seems to be a tag question look a-like.
This may be an attempt to perform a grammatical failure of SAI.
The background given on critical mass suggests that the more exposure that bilinguals
have to a particular phenomenon earlier in life, the quicker that person will reach the critical
mass and adopt a linguistic phenomenon in to their syntactic repertoire. This notion suggests that
any participant with more background in English, either in a school setting, family or a media
type setting, would be less likely to require alternative and avoidant strategies for question
formation. This idea suggests that the participants that used more than average avoidant
strategies would have less background and perhaps not have reached critical mass for the form
they are attempting to produce. Those participants with less than average avoidant strategies
would have the opposite, either having reached critical mass or very nearly so. The results
suggested by Paradis (2007) would also suggest that for those that rated English as their
dominant language over Hindi and any other home language would perform better in the illicit
production tasks. This was supported by the data obtained in the self-report surveys received.
In short, the creative strategies used by the bilingual speakers in the study allowed them
to revert to the grammar of their L1, Hindi, as much English allows. These strategies were more
frequently implemented by speakers with a less exposure or, perhaps, an incomplete critical mass
of this L2, however each participant used at least one. Age of acquisition of the two languages
and subsequent experience/critical mass input of those languages clearly affects and enables the
participant’s reliability in producing native like structures. There is a lot of room for further
study of all the data, with norming data to be collected from children who are native speakers of
English as well as data to be collected from non-sequential bilinguals to compare the two data
sets and see if the reliance on the Hindi grammar is due to age of acquisition or if there is some
other factors involved.
6
Conclusion
This study endeavored to look at the effect that a native grammar could have on a
grammar that was formed later in the mind of a bilingual. The formation of yes/no questions in
English differs in structure from yes/no questions in Hindi and thus the structural choices that
Hindi-English bilinguals make while forming questions show how pronounced the effect that a
native grammar may have. What was discovered was that there seems to be a strong influence of
this native grammar, particularly with people who have less experience with the second language
(bilinguals who, perhaps, have not reached critical mass yet). For example, participants who
found themselves having attended more amounts of time of English schooling, were more likely
to implement SAI correctly rather than optionally fail to produce the inversion. It is believed
that, like native English speaking children who are acquiring the SAI feature of language, HindiEnglish bilinguals utilize this optional failure of SAI in order to remain with the grammar that is
already fully formed. However, since these bilingual speakers are adults with other language
skills, there are more varied strategies utilized by these speakers. Further study needs to be
conducted on participants who perhaps have had less experience in English medium schools or
English primary environments.
Appendix A-Complete transcripts of all 11 participants responding to the prompts.
Participant 1
22/30
So I can see that Tom and Jerry are reading a book
together and tom has a dreamy expression while Jerry
has a similar expression
Group 1: Reading
Describe
Yes/no
Ask if the book is blue.
hey Jerry is the book blue
Ask Jerry if he likes the
book.
Do you like the book?
Content
Group 2:
Dynamite
Yes/no
Content
Group 3: food
Yes/no
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Ask Jerry if Tom likes the
book.
Ask Jerry what the book
is about.
Ask Tom why they are
reading.
Describe
Ask Jerry if the match is
hot.
Ask Tom if he thinks that
Jerry is in the mousehole.
Ask Tom if his plan is
going to end well.
Ask Jerry if the dynamite
is red.
Ask Jerry which stick of
dynamite is bigger.
Ask Tom where Jerry is
right now.
Describe
Ask Tom if there is a
hamburger on the floor.
Ask Jerry if the walls are
green.
Ask Tom if he bought the
cheese for Jerry.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
cheese.
Tom are you bored
Jerry do you think Tom likes the book
Jerry what is the book about
Why are you guys reading this
Okay so um classic tom and jerry prank where tom is
lighting a- I don't know what you call it like a pipe
bomb-whatever in Jerry's home while blissfully
unaware of the fact that Jerry is doing the same thing
behind him
Hey jerry is the match hot
Tom do you really think Jerry is in there-in his home
Tom again do you think this is going to end well
Jerry is the dynamite red
Jerry which stick of the dynamite do you think is
bigger
Tom do you know where jerry is right now
Okay so this one appears to be tom setting a trap by
placing food trying to lure jerry out while again
unaware of the fact that he is actually on his head
is there a hamburger on the floor tom
jerry are the walls green
tom did you buy the cheese for jerry
jerry do you like cheese
Content
Group 4: Doll
house
Yes/no
Content
Group 5: Sword
fight
Yes/no
Content
Group 1: Reading
Yes/no
Ask Jerry what he is
holding.
Ask Tom what he will do
when he sees Jerry.
Describe
Ask Jerry if his umbrella is
yellow.
Ask Tom if his bow is too
tight.
Ask Tom how many
flowers there are in the
windowsill.
Ask Jerry if the house is
big.
Ask Jerry where he is
going.
Ask Tom what color the
shutters are.
Describe
Ask Tom if Jerry is braver
than him.
Ask Tom if his hat is
purple.
Ask Jerry if his sword is
sharp.
Ask Jerry if he is going to
win the fight.
Ask Jerry how he is going
to win.
Ask Tom where he got his
sword.
Describe
Ask if the book is blue.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
book.
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Ask Jerry if Tom likes the
book.
also jerry what are you holding
tom what do you plan on doing when you see jerry
aw this is sweet going back to a different time wherewell jerry appears to be the lady of the house while
tom appears to be the big baby- which makes sense
jerry the umbrella you’re holding-is that yellow
tom do you think the bow around your neck is a little
too tight
also tom how many flowers do you think there are in
the window sill
jerry is the house too big
also jerry where are you going
tom what color are the shutters
okay so they appear to be fighting- sword fighting um
I love toms purple outfit-it’s cute jerry looks like robin
hood which is even more adorable
tom do you think jerry is braver than you
also is your hat purple
jerry you have a much smaller sword is it at least sharp
jerry do you think you are going to win
also how are you going to win
tom where did you get a sword
Participant 2
Tom and jerry are reading a book together
is the blue-is the book blue jerry
do you like the book jerry
are you bored tom
tom do you like the book
25/30
Content
Group 2:
Dynamite
Yes/no
Content
Group 3: food
Yes/no
Content
Group 4: Doll
house
Yes/no
Content
Ask Jerry what the book
is about.
Ask Tom why they are
reading.
Describe
Ask Jerry if the match is
hot.
Ask Tom if he thinks that
Jerry is in the mousehole.
Ask Tom if his plan is
going to end well.
Ask Jerry if the dynamite
is red.
Ask Jerry which stick of
dynamite is bigger.
Ask Tom where Jerry is
right now.
Describe
Ask Tom if there is a
hamburger on the floor.
Ask Jerry if the walls are
green.
Ask Tom if he bought the
cheese for Jerry.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
cheese.
Ask Jerry what he is
holding.
Ask Tom what he will do
when he sees Jerry.
Describe
Ask Jerry if his umbrella is
yellow.
Ask Tom if his bow is too
tight.
Ask Tom how many
flowers there are in the
windowsill.
Ask Jerry if the house is
big.
Ask Jerry where he is
going.
what is the book about jerry
why are you reading tom
tom is trying to ignite the bomb before uh-jerry and
jerry’s doing that near his butt
jerry is the match hot
tom is jerry in the mousehole
do you think the plan is going to end well tom
jerry is the dynamite red
do you know which stick of dynamite is bigger jerry
tom do you know where jerry is right now
Jerry is on top of toms head and tom is-I think
scheming to hurt jerry
is there a hamburger on the floor tom
are the walls green jerry
uh tom did you buy that cheese for jerry
do you like cheese jerry
what are you holding jerry
what would you do when you see jerry tom
uh tom is dressed I don’t know as a little baby and
uh- jerry is uh dressed as a European elite lady with
a kind of an umbrella
is the umbrella yellow jerry
is your bow too tight tom
how many flowers are there in the windowwindowsill
is the house big jerry
where are you going jerry
Group 5: Sword
fight
Yes/no
Content
Group 1: Reading
Yes/no
Content
Group 2:
Dynamite
Yes/no
Content
Ask Tom what color the
shutters are.
Describe
Ask Tom if Jerry is braver
than him.
Ask Tom if his hat is
purple.
Ask Jerry if his sword is
sharp.
Ask Jerry if he is going to
win the fight.
Ask Jerry how he is going
to win.
Ask Tom where he got his
sword.
Describe
Ask if the book is blue.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
book.
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Ask Jerry if Tom likes the
book.
Ask Jerry what the book
is about.
Ask Tom why they are
reading.
Describe
Ask Jerry if the match is
hot.
Ask Tom if he thinks that
Jerry is in the mousehole.
Ask Tom if his plan is
going to end well.
Ask Jerry if the dynamite
is red.
Ask Jerry which stick of
dynamite is bigger.
Ask Tom where Jerry is
right now.
what color are the shutters tom
tom and jerry are preparing for a fight in costume
with swords in their hands
uh do you think jerry is braver than you tom
is the hat purple tom
is the sword sharp jerry
do you think you are going to win the fight jerry
how are you going to win jerry
where did you get your sword tom
Participant 3
28/30
so tom and jerry seem to be enjoying reading a book
hey jerry is this blook-is this book blue
hey jerry do you like the book
hey tom are you bored
hey jerry do you know if tom likes the book
hey jerry what is this book about
hey tom what are you and jerry reading
um-well tom and jerry seem to be playing with
firecrackers and one of them seems to be-is
apparently going to get hurt
hey jerry is the match hot
hey tom is jerry in the mousehole
hey tom is your plan going to end well
hey jerry is the dynamite red
hey jerry which stick of dynamite is bigger
hey tom do you know where jerry is right now
Group 3: food
Describe
Yes/no
Ask Tom if there is a
hamburger on the floor.
Ask Jerry if the walls are
green.
Ask Tom if he bought the
cheese for Jerry.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
cheese.
Ask Jerry what he is
holding.
Ask Tom what he will do
when he sees Jerry.
Describe
Content
Group 4: Doll
house
Yes/no
Content
Group 5: Sword
fight
Yes/no
Content
Ask Jerry if his umbrella is
yellow.
Ask if his bow is too tight.
Ask Tom how many
flowers there are in the
windowsill.
Ask Jerry if the house is
big.
Ask Jerry where he is
going.
Ask Tom what color the
shutters are.
Describe
Ask Tom if Jerry is braver
than him.
Ask Tom if his hat is
purple.
Ask Jerry if his sword is
sharp.
Ask Jerry if he is going to
win the fight.
Ask Jerry how he is going
to win.
Ask Tom where he got his
sword.
so tom and jerry seem to be having fun with food
and they are trying to catch someone by enticing to
come out of the mouse hole
hey tom is there a hamburger on the floor
hey jerry are the walls green
hey tom did you bring the cheese for jerry
hey jerry do you like the cheese
hey jerry what are you holding in your hand
hey tom what will you do when you see jerry
so tom and jerry seem to be dressed up as- maids
hey jerry is your umbrella yellow in color
hey tom is your bow too tight
hey tom how many flowers are there in the
windowsill
hey jerry is this house big
hey jerry where are you going
hey tom what color are the shutter
okay tom and jerry seem to be playing-role playing
with swords
hey tom is jerry braver than you
hey tom is your hat purple
hey jerry is your sword sharp
hey jerry are you gonna win the fight
hey jerry how are you going to win
hey tom where did you get this sword.
Group 1: Reading
Yes/no
Content
Group 2:
Dynamite
Yes/no
Content
Group 3: food
Yes/no
Content
Group 4: Doll
house
Describe
Ask if the book is blue.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
book.
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Ask Jerry if Tom likes the
book.
Ask Jerry what the book
is about.
Ask Tom why they are
reading.
Describe
Ask Jerry if the match is
hot.
Ask Tom if he thinks that
Jerry is in the mousehole.
Ask Tom if his plan is
going to end well.
Ask Jerry if the dynamite
is red.
Ask Jerry which stick of
dynamite is bigger.
Ask Tom where Jerry is
right now.
Describe
Ask Tom if there is a
hamburger on the floor.
Ask Jerry if the walls are
green.
Ask Tom if he bought the
cheese for Jerry.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
cheese.
Ask Jerry what he is
holding.
Ask Tom what he will do
when he sees Jerry.
Describe
Participant 4
--[Unintelligible]
Jerry is your book blue
Jerry if you-do you like the book
28/30
Are you bored tom
Jerry uh-does tom like the book
hey jerry what’s the book about
uh-tom why you are reading
okay oh my god uh- jerry is sitting on a bomb-uh
more of sentences um and uh tom is going to blow it
uh the other one- what are you doing jerry with the
bomb-bang and then…
oh okay- jerry is the match hot
he thinks that jerry is in the mousehole… uh jerry are
you in the mousehole
tom is your plan going to be well
jerry is your dynamite red
which stick of dynamite is bigger jerry
where is jerry-I have to ask tom, no-tom where is
jerry right now
okay tom is sitting on jerry’s head what is there in
the box…what are you eating what’s there on the
floor.
okay is there a hamburger on the floor
are the walls green jerry
tom did you uh bring cheese for jerry
jerry do you like cheese
jerry what are you holding
tom what will you do if you see jerry
oh it’s a beautiful house, who’s house is it what are
you trying to get snatch or steal there
Yes/no
Content
Group 5: Sword
fight
Yes/no
Content
Group 1: Reading
Yes/no
Content
Group 2:
Dynamite
Yes/no
Ask Jerry if his umbrella is
yellow.
Ask if his bow is too tight.
Ask Tom how many
flowers there are in the
windowsill.
Ask Jerry if the house is
big.
Ask Jerry where he is
going.
Ask Tom what color the
shutters are.
Describe
Ask Tom if Jerry is braver
than him.
Ask Tom if his hat is
purple.
Ask Jerry if his sword is
sharp.
Ask Jerry if he is going to
win the fight.
Ask Jerry how he is going
to win.
Ask Tom where he got his
sword.
Describe
Ask if the book is blue.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
book.
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Ask Jerry if Tom likes the
book.
Ask Jerry what the book
is about.
Ask Tom why they are
reading.
Describe
Ask Jerry if the match is
hot.
jerry is your umbrella yellow
is uh-tom is your bow too tight
tom how many- tom how many flowers are there in
the windowsill
is the house big jerry
jerry where are you going
what color the shutter is tom
describe picture-oh my god- uh- it’s a small sword
with tom, and uh jerry is going to kill with the bigger
sword
tom is jerry braver than you
tom is your-your hat is purple
jerry is your uh-sword sharp
jerry are you going to win the fight
jerry how he is going to win-how are you going to
win
tom where you got your sword from
Participant 5
Tom is reading a book to jerry
jerry is-is the book blue
jerry do you like the book
26/30
tom are you bored
uh jerry… jerry does tom like the book
jerry what is the book about
tom why are you reading this book
tom is trying to kill jerry with a dynamite and jerry is
doing the same to tom
jerry is your match hot
Content
Group 3: food
Yes/no
Content
Group 4: Doll
house
Yes/no
Content
Group 5: Sword
fight
Yes/no
Ask Tom if he thinks that
Jerry is in the mousehole.
Ask Tom if his plan is
going to end well.
Ask Jerry if the dynamite
is red.
Ask Jerry which stick of
dynamite is bigger.
Ask Tom where Jerry is
right now.
Describe
Ask Tom if there is a
hamburger on the floor.
Ask Jerry if the walls are
green.
Ask Tom if he bought the
cheese for Jerry.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
cheese.
Ask Jerry what he is
holding.
Ask Tom what he will do
when he sees Jerry.
Describe
Ask Jerry if his umbrella is
yellow.
Ask if his bow is too tight.
Ask Tom how many
flowers there are in the
windowsill.
Ask Jerry if the house is
big.
Ask Jerry where he is
going.
Ask Tom what color the
shutters are.
Describe
Ask Tom if Jerry is braver
than him.
Ask Tom if his hat is
purple.
Ask Jerry if his sword is
sharp.
tom do you think jerry is in the mousehole
tom do you think your plan is going to end well
jerry is the dynamite red
jerry which stick of dynamite is bigger
tom where is jerry right now
tom is trying to put some food for jerry and jerry is
sitting on top of tom
tom is there a hamburger on the floor
jerry is the wall green
tom did you buy this cheese- this cheese for jerry
jerry do you like cheese
jerry what are you holding
tom what will you do when you see jerry
tom and jerry are dressed like women and they are
doing some housecleaning stuff maybe
jerry is umbrella yellow
tom is bow too tight for you
tom how many flowers are there in the windowwills
jerry is this house big
jerry what are you doing-oh where are you going
tom what color are the shutters
Jerry and tom are having a sword fight
tom are you braver than jerry
tom is that a purple hat
jerry is your sword sharp
Content
Ask Jerry if he is going to
win the fight.
Ask Jerry how he is going
to win.
Ask Tom where he got his
sword.
Group 1: Reading
Describe
Yes/no
Ask if the book is blue.
Content
Group 2:
Dynamite
Yes/no
Content
Group 3: food
Yes/no
Ask Jerry if he likes the
book.
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Ask Jerry if Tom likes the
book.
Ask Jerry what the book
is about.
Ask Tom why they are
reading.
Describe
Ask Jerry if the match is
hot.
Ask Tom if he thinks that
Jerry is in the mousehole.
Ask Tom if his plan is
going to end well.
Ask Jerry if the dynamite
is red.
Ask Jerry which stick of
dynamite is bigger.
Ask Tom where Jerry is
right now.
Describe
Ask Tom if there is a
hamburger on the floor.
Ask Jerry if the walls are
green.
jerry are you going to win the fight
jerry how are you going to win
tom where did you get this sword from
Participant 6
18/30
this scene might be like they both are reading story
uh-from a book. Tom has some shape of skipping to
next page
um-ask jerry if the book is blue… uh so jerry uh what
color the book is.
so… do you like the book so far
tom are you bored of this book right now
ask jerry if tom likes the book- okay um… jerry do
you like –uh jerry do tom like the book you read
so jerry the book you read- can you tell me what is it
about?
tom um-why you and jerry are reading that book
this shows like tom was having to blast jerry’s hole
and right then jerry was trying to blast him
uh-ask jerry if the match is hot, jerry do you think the
match is hot
ask tom if he thinks that jerry is in the mousehole- uh
tom do you think right now jerry is in mousehole
so tom do you think that this plan is going to work
ask jerry if the dynamite is red- so… jerry what do
you think what’s the color of the dynamite
[mumbling] um…jerry what do you think which stick
is bigger, the one with tom or one with you
um tom do you know where is jerry
this again shows the- that tom is setting up a trap for
jerry but jerry is on top of him
ask tom if there is a hamburger-tom is that the
hamburger on the floor
ask jerry if the walls are green-so jerry do-uh is the
wall color is green
Content
Group 4: Doll
house
Yes/no
Content
Group 5: Sword
fight
Yes/no
Content
Group 1: Reading
Ask Tom if he bought the
cheese for Jerry.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
cheese.
Ask Jerry what he is
holding.
Ask Tom what he will do
when he sees Jerry.
Describe
Ask Jerry if his umbrella is
yellow.
Ask if his bow is too tight.
Ask Tom how many
flowers there are in the
windowsill.
Ask Jerry if the house is
big.
Ask Jerry where he is
going.
Ask Tom what color the
shutters are.
Describe
Ask Tom if Jerry is braver
than him.
Ask Tom if his hat is
purple.
Ask Jerry if his sword is
sharp.
Ask Jerry if he is going to
win the fight.
Ask Jerry how he is going
to win.
Ask Tom where he got his
sword.
Describe
tom if bought- for jerry- so tom do you bought this
cheese for jerry
ask jerry if he likes the cheese… jerry do you like this
cheese
hey jerry what’s that in your hand
[mumbling] so so tom what you are up to when you
will see jerry
okay so it seems like a small miniature house and
jerry’s dressed up some- like some pervert and tom is
baby, yeah
ask jerry if his umbrella is yellow- uh- jerry is your
umbrella color yellow
ask tom if his bow is too tight…um tom is your bow
too tight
how many there are in the windowsill- tom how
many flowers do you think are there in windowsill
ask jerry if the house is big- so jerry is the – uh is the
house big enough for you
ask jerry where he is going- so jerry where are you
heading to
ask tom what color the shutters are- tom can you tell
me what is the color of that shutter
describe the picture in a few sentences- it’s like uh
they are playing or fighting with the sword
ask tom if jerry is braver than him- tom do you think
jerry is braver than you
ask tom if his hat is purple- tom what’s the color of
your hat-is it purple
ask jerry if his sword is sharp-so jerry is your sword
sharp
ask jerry if he is going to win the fight- so jerry do
you think uh will you win this fight
[mumbling] so jerry have you had any plan to win
this
so tom where do you got that sword from
Participant 7
19/30
I think tom is like in his dreams-he’s not
concentrating on the book but jerry is like very
concentrating he’s concentrating on the book
Yes/no
Ask if the book is blue.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
book.
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Content
Group 2:
Dynamite
Yes/no
Content
Group 3: food
Yes/no
Content
Group 4: Doll
house
Yes/no
Ask Jerry if Tom likes the
book.
Ask Jerry what the book
is about.
Ask Tom why they are
reading.
Describe
Ask Jerry if the match is
hot.
Ask Tom if he thinks that
Jerry is in the mousehole.
Ask Tom if his plan is
going to end well.
Ask Jerry if the dynamite
is red.
Ask Jerry which stick of
dynamite is bigger.
Ask Tom where Jerry is
right now.
Describe
Ask Tom if there is a
hamburger on the floor.
Ask Jerry if the walls are
green.
Ask Tom if he bought the
cheese for Jerry.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
cheese.
Ask Jerry what he is
holding.
Ask Tom what he will do
when he sees Jerry.
Describe
Ask Jerry if his umbrella is
yellow.
Ask if his bow is too tight.
uh-Jerry do you think the book-the color of the book
is blue
jerry do you like the book- I don’t
Tom are you bored because you’re not looking at the
book you’re in your dreams
Jerry do you think tom likes the book-I don’t think so
Jerry tell me what the book is all about
Tom why are we reading, it’s so annoying
oh…Here tom is trying to blow the house of jerry but
jerry is trying to blow the a-s-s off tom is that okay
Jerry do you think the match is hot
tom do you think jerry is in the mousehole
tom do you really think the plan is going to end well
jerry do you think the dynamite is red
jerry which stick of the dynamite is bigger
tom where is jerry right now
here tom is trying to put a trap for jerry but jerry is
sitting on the head of tom
tom is there a hamburger on the floor, I want to eat
it
jerry are the walls we-green, I think it’s red
tom did you bought cheese for jerry
jerry did you like the cheese-I hate-I hate it
hey jerry what are you holding
tom what will you do when you are gonna see jerry
I think here tom is-tom was expecting something to
come out of that house but he got like amused when
he see jerry dressing like that-like some lady
jerry is your umbrella is yellow-I think it’s pink
tom do you think your bow is tight
Content
Group 5: Sword
fight
Yes/no
Content
Ask Tom how many
flowers there are in the
windowsill.
Ask Jerry if the house is
big.
Ask Jerry where he is
going.
Ask Tom what color the
shutters are.
Describe
Ask Tom if Jerry is braver
than him.
Ask Tom if his hat is
purple.
Ask Jerry if his sword is
sharp.
Ask Jerry if he is going to
win the fight.
Ask Jerry how he is going
to win.
Ask Tom where he got his
sword.
Group 1: Reading
Describe
Yes/no
Ask if the book is blue.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
book.
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Content
Group 2:
Dynamite
Ask Jerry if Tom likes the
book.
Ask Jerry what the book
is about.
Ask Tom why they are
reading.
Describe
hey tom, how many flowers are there in your
windowsill
jerry do you think your house is big
hey jerry where are you going
tom what colors the shutters are
so here they are getting together fight now and I like
that toms hat and jerry’s like hitting total-uh- you
know, I’m pretty sure that tom fight…
tom do you really think jerry is braver than you
tom what’s the color of your hat is it purple
jerry your sword is sharp or not
jerry are you going to win the fight, I think you will
what are your plans jerry how are you going to win
the fight
hey tom where did you get your sword
Participant 8
21/30
so I see like tom and jerry are trying to be very
friendly and trying to read the book together and uhtom sees very goofy but jerry seems to be more
serious and sullen
ask jerry if the book is blue-so oh, okay jerry is the
book blue in color
ask jerry if he likes the book-jerry how do you find
the book, is it good for you-what’s your comments
on the book
how’s the book is it boring is it interesting-what do
you think tom
oh okay tom what do you think, jerry likes the book
hey jerry what’s the book about
why they are reading-hey tom why are you reading
this book-don’t you have anything better to do
describe the picture- oh okay- okay uh I have to
describe this picture- so tom is trying to set up the
Yes/no
Content
Group 3: food
Yes/no
Content
Group 4: Doll
house
Yes/no
Content
Ask Jerry if the match is
hot.
Ask Tom if he thinks that
Jerry is in the mousehole.
Ask Tom if his plan is
going to end well.
Ask Jerry if the dynamite
is red.
Ask Jerry which stick of
dynamite is bigger.
Ask Tom where Jerry is
right now.
Describe
Ask Tom if there is a
hamburger on the floor.
Ask Jerry if the walls are
green.
Ask Tom if he bought the
cheese for Jerry.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
cheese.
Ask Jerry what he is
holding.
Ask Tom what he will do
when he sees Jerry.
Describe
Ask Jerry if his umbrella is
yellow.
Ask if his bow is too tight.
Ask Tom how many
flowers there are in the
windowsill.
Ask Jerry if the house is
big.
Ask Jerry where he is
going.
Ask Tom what color the
shutters are.
bomb and uh- jerry is probably trying to set up the
tom
the match is hot- jerry what do you think is the
match hot for you
hey tom do you really think jerry is in the mousehole.
hey tom is the plan going well for you
is the dynamite red in color
which stick of dynamite is bigger- hey jerry which
stick of the dynamite is bigger
hey tom where do you think is jerry right now
describe the picture in a few sentences- okay- this
looks confusing or is that really oh it seems like there
is a burger lying in front of tom and he’s probably
planning to have it but it looks like jerry has some
other plans
hey tom do you think-it’s a hamburger or something
else-oh that’s fine okay
ask jerry if- hey jerry are the walls green in color
hey tom is the cheese uh lying there for jerry
jerry do you really like the cheese
hey jerry what are you holding
tom what are your plans when you see jerry
so it seems like jerry is probably going out for an
outing he’s very well dressed and probably even tom
is surprised to see jerry in such a nice dress
hey jerry is your umbrella yellow in color
tom is the bow too tight
hey tom how many flowers do you see in the
windowsill
jerry is the house big enough for you
hey jerry where are you going
hey tom what color the shutters are
Group 5: Sword
fight
Describe
Yes/no
Ask Tom if Jerry is braver
than him.
Ask Tom if his hat is
purple.
Ask Jerry if his sword is
sharp.
Ask Jerry if he is going to
win the fight.
Ask Jerry how he is going
to win.
Ask Tom where he got his
sword.
Content
Group 1: Reading
Describe
Yes/no
Ask if the book is blue.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
book.
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Ask Jerry if Tom likes the
book.
Ask Jerry what the book
is about.
Ask Tom why they are
reading.
Describe
Content
Group 2:
Dynamite
Yes/no
Content
Ask Jerry if the match is
hot.
Ask Tom if he thinks that
Jerry is in the mousehole.
Ask Tom if his plan is
going to end well.
Ask Jerry if the dynamite
is red.
Ask Jerry which stick of
dynamite is bigger.
so it looks like uh- there is a battle setting up
between tom and jerry and they both don’t seem to
compete with each other and I think the end result is
not going to be too feel good for them
hey tom is jerry braver than you
hey tom is your hat purple in color
jerry do you think your sword is sharp enough
jerry do you really think you can win this fight
how are you planning to win jerry
tom from where did you buy this sword
Participant 9
26/30
Um tom and jerry are playing and reading a book and
it looks like tom is plotting something uh and poor
jerry is unaware and unafraid
jerry is the book blue in color
jerry do you like the book
tom are you bored
jerry do you think tom likes the book
jerry what is the book about
tom why are you both reading
okay um tom is uh trying to light a dynamite in to
jerry’s home but what he doesn’t realize is that jerry
is also lighting a dynamite behind his butt
Jerry is the match hot
tom do you think jerry is in the mouse hole
tom do you think your plan is going to end well
jerry is the dynamite red in color
jerry which stick of dynamite is bigger
Group 3: food
Yes/no
Content
Group 4: Doll
house
Yes/no
Content
Group 5: Sword
fight
Yes/no
Content
Ask Tom where Jerry is
right now.
Describe
Ask Tom if there is a
hamburger on the floor.
Ask Jerry if the walls are
green.
Ask Tom if he bought the
cheese for Jerry.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
cheese.
Ask Jerry what he is
holding.
Ask Tom what he will do
when he sees Jerry.
Describe
Ask Jerry if his umbrella is
yellow.
Ask if his bow is too tight.
Ask Tom how many
flowers there are in the
windowsill.
Ask Jerry if the house is
big.
Ask Jerry where he is
going.
Ask Tom what color the
shutters are.
Describe
Ask Tom if Jerry is braver
than him.
Ask Tom if his hat is
purple.
Ask Jerry if his sword is
sharp.
Ask Jerry if he is going to
win the fight.
Ask Jerry how he is going
to win.
tom do you know where jerry is right now
okay uh jerry is okay tom is uh looks like he is setting
a trap for jerry there is uh a slice of cheese and a
burger and a piece of fruit on the ground and jerry is
actually standing or sitting on tom’s head
uh tom is there a hamburger on the floor
jerry are the walls green in color
tom did you bring the cheese for jerry
jerry do you like the cheese
jerry what are you holding
tom what are you going to do when you see jerry
um tom is dressed like a baby wearing a diaper and a
head scarf and jerry is dressed like an old lady um
wearing a beautiful yellow robe wearing a pink
umbrella wearing pink heels
jerry is your is the color of the umbrella yellow
tom is your bow on too tight
tom how many flowers are there in the windowsill
jerry is the house too big
jerry where are you going
tom what color are the shutters
um tom and jerry look like they’re about to duel
they’re both holding a sword each and…uh
tom is jerry braver than you
tom is your hat purple
jerry is your sword sharp
jerry are you going to win this fight
jerry how are you going to win this fight
Ask Tom where he got his
sword.
Group 1: Reading
Describe
Yes/no
Ask if the book is blue.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
book.
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Ask Jerry if Tom likes the
book.
Ask Jerry what the book
is about.
Ask Tom why they are
reading.
Describe
Content
Group 2:
Dynamite
Yes/no
Content
Group 3: food
Yes/no
Content
Ask Jerry if the match is
hot.
Ask Tom if he thinks that
Jerry is in the mousehole.
Ask Tom if his plan is
going to end well.
Ask Jerry if the dynamite
is red.
Ask Jerry which stick of
dynamite is bigger.
Ask Tom where Jerry is
right now.
Describe
Ask Tom if there is a
hamburger on the floor.
Ask Jerry if the walls are
green.
Ask Tom if he bought the
cheese for Jerry.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
cheese.
Ask Jerry what he is
holding.
Ask Tom what he will do
when he sees Jerry.
tom where did you get this sword
Participant 10
28/30
jerry trying to read a book which tom is reading as
well
hey jerry is the book blue
did you like it jerry
hey tom are you bored
did you like the book tom
hey jerry what is the book about
hey tom why are you reading the book
so both tom and jerry are trying to- trouble them
with a fire cracker
hey jerry is the match hot
hey do you really think jerry is in that mousehole
hey tom do you really think your plan is gonna work
hey jerry is the dynamite red
hey jerry which stick of the dynamite is bigger
hey tom where is jerry right now
okay how long… um tom is trying to lure jerry with a
piece of cheese
hey tom is there a hamburger on the floor
if the walls are green-hey jerry are the walls green
bought the cheese for jerry- hey tom did you get the
cheese for jerry
hey jerry do you like cheese
hey jerry what are you holding
hey tom what would you-do uh hey tom hey tom
what would you do when you see when you see jerry
Group 4: Doll
house
Yes/no
Content
Group 5: Sword
fight
Yes/no
Content
Describe
I think tom and jerry are trying to act like babies
Ask Jerry if his umbrella is
yellow.
Ask if his bow is too tight.
Ask Tom how many
flowers there are in the
windowsill.
Ask Jerry if the house is
big.
Ask Jerry where he is
going.
Ask Tom what color the
shutters are.
Describe
hey jerry is your umbrella yellow
Ask Tom if Jerry is braver
than him.
Ask Tom if his hat is
purple.
Ask Jerry if his sword is
sharp.
Ask Jerry if he is going to
win the fight.
Ask Jerry how he is going
to win.
Ask Tom where he got his
sword.
hey tom is jerry braver than you
Group 1: Reading
Describe
Yes/no
Ask if the book is blue.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
book.
Ask Tom if he is bored.
Ask Jerry if Tom likes the
book.
Ask Jerry what the book
is about.
Ask Tom why they are
reading.
Content
hey tom is your bow too tight
hey tom how many flowers are there in the window
hey jerry do you find the house big
hey jerry where are you going
hey tom what color the shutters are
tom and jerry are trying to have a sword fight
hey tom is your hat purple
hey jerry is your sword sharp
hey jerry are you going to win the fight
hey jerry-how is- how are you going to win the fight
hey tom where you got that sword from
Participant 11
26/30
okay so uh tom and jerry are trying to read a book
and they seem engrossed in reading the book
um hey jerry is the book blue
uh do you like the book jerry
tom are you getting bored
jerry do you like the book
hey jerry what is the book about
tom why are we reading
Group 2:
Dynamite
Yes/no
Content
Group 3: food
Yes/no
Content
Group 4: Doll
house
Yes/no
Content
Group 5: Sword
fight
Describe
Ask Jerry if the match is
hot.
Ask Tom if he thinks that
Jerry is in the mousehole.
Ask Tom if his plan is
going to end well.
Ask Jerry if the dynamite
is red.
Ask Jerry which stick of
dynamite is bigger.
Ask Tom where Jerry is
right now.
Describe
Ask Tom if there is a
hamburger on the floor.
Ask Jerry if the walls are
green.
Ask Tom if he bought the
cheese for Jerry.
Ask Jerry if he likes the
cheese.
Ask Jerry what he is
holding.
Ask Tom what he will do
when he sees Jerry.
Describe
Ask Jerry if his umbrella is
yellow.
Ask if his bow is too tight.
Ask Tom how many
flowers there are in the
windowsill.
Ask Jerry if the house is
big.
Ask Jerry where he is
going.
Ask Tom what color the
shutters are.
Describe
okay jerry is trying to play some prank with tom and
uh they are basically doing some mischief
hey jerry is the match stick hot
uh hey tom is jerry inside the mouse hole
hey tom is this plan gonna end well
hey jerry is the dynamite ra-red
jerry do you know which stick of the dynamite is
bigger
hey tom where is jerry right now
Oh-this looks uhhhhh-oh I’m trying to think what
they are doing- uh… I don’t know it doesn’t make any
sense to me. Um… okay let me think …. they are
trying to restrain themselves from eating all the food
and concentrating on the reading
hey tom is there a hamburger on the floor
hey jerry are the walls green
hey tom did you get the cheese for jerry
hey jerry did you like the cheese
hey jerry what are you holding
hey tom what will you do if you see jerry
oh that’s good uh tom and jerry trying to wear some
baby attire
hey jerry is your umbrella yellow
hey tom is the bow too tight
hey tom how many flowers are there in the
windowsill
hey jerry what do you think the house is big
hey jerry where are you going
hey tom what do you think the shutters are
uh they are having a ferocious fight with swords
Yes/no
Content
Ask Tom if Jerry is braver
than him.
Ask Tom if his hat is
purple.
Ask Jerry if his sword is
sharp.
Ask Jerry if he is going to
win the fight.
Ask Jerry how he is going
to win.
Ask Tom where he got his
sword.
KEY
BLUE: “do you think”
YELLOW: failure of SAI
GREEN: Pronoun replacement in SAI
RED: incorrect
hey tom do you think jerry is more brave than me.
hey tom is your hat purple
hey jerry do you think your sword is sharp
hey jerry do you think you’ll win the fight
hey jerry how do you think you’re going to win
hey tom where did you get your sword
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