ISMBS 2025 Plenary Lectures

Juana M. Liceras, PhD
Distinguished Professor

Modern Languages and Literatures
University of Ottawa
Canada

Non-typical Language Development, Artificial Language and Linguistic Universals in the Spotlight

i would like to share with you the research that we have carried out on two topics that can open up new perspectives in the field of bilingualism in general and bilingual speech in particular: (i) the use of an artificial language to investigate second language acquisition by non-typical populations; and (ii) the testing of the psychological reality of a typological universal which establishes a close relationship between prosody and word order. Research on the acquisition and use of second or additional languages by populations with non-typical language development and, specifically, with genetic syndromes is scarce and, to the best of our knowledge, has not addressed the methodological challenges and potential advantages that having to learn an artificial language may pose. We discuss here the methodological challenges that we have encountered when teaching the artificial language Japañol (Rivera et al. 2022) to Spanish monolinguals with Down Syndrome and with Prader-Willi Syndrome (Liceras & Romero, 2024). We pay specific attention to issues such as how implicit input is to be presented and/or manipulated as well as the level of abstraction that explicit input could involve. In relation to the Prosody of Coordination and Word Order typological universal (Haspelmath, 2007; Stassen, 2000), and using experimental data, we discuss the extent to which native speakers of SVO and SOV languages have clear-cut intuitions about the relationship between SVO and prosodic proclisis as in the English sentence Amaya ate apples —and–oranges versus the relationship between SOV and prosodic enclisis as in the corresponding Japanese sentence Amaya ringo–to—mikan-o tabeta. We further discuss languages such as Basque, an SOV language, wHere the relationship between SOV and enclisis, does not hold, since Basque conjunctive coordination requires proclisis as in Amaya sagarrak —eta–laranjak jaten zituen. We discuss the implications of our findings as well as whether and how phonology and syllable structure may interact with this a priori rather strong typological universal.

Viorica Marian, PhD
Ralph and Jean Sundin Endowed Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders

School of Communication
Northwestern University
United States of America

The Power of Language: How the Codes We Use to Think, Speak, and Live Transform Our Minds

Bilingualism and multilingualism have profound consequences for individuals and societies. Learning multiple languages changes not only how we use language, but also how we perceive the world, what we remember, how we learn, our creativity, decision making, and identity. I will present eye-tracking, mouse-tracking, and neuroimaging evidence showing that multiple languages continuously interact in the mind. I will conclude with a call for placing the study of language-mind interaction and multilingualism among the core areas of scientific investigation if we are to gain an accurate understanding of humanity’s potential.

Sharynne McLeod, PhD
Distinguished Professor

Children's Voices Center
Charles Sturt University
Australia  

Multilingual Minds are Unlocking Global Knowledge, γνώση, 认识, إدراك, דַעַת, ज्ञान …

Global understandings of speech, language, and communication encompass knowledge from 7,000+ languages. Communication professionals who read English have access to research and evidence-based resources, assessments, and interventions in approximately 100 languages. Critiques of psychology and linguistics report that research has focussed on English, northern hemisphere Indo-European languages (Draper et al., 2023; Kidd & Garcia, 2022), and “Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies” (Henrich et al., 2010). This presentation will commend the work of multilingual minds (researchers, professionals, and translators) who provide English-language access to global knowledge about speech, language, and communication. It will outline the decade of work of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech, and knowledge contained within global initiatives including:
• The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World
• Multilingual Children’s Speech 
• Crosslinguistic Phonology Project 
• Multilingual Families - Lab Familles Multilingues
• CHILDES, Phon
The presentation will conclude by challenging our reliance on English as the medium for knowledge dissemination and acknowledging the future potential of our connected multilingual world for greater understandings of speech, language, and communication.