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"And is there any end to wisdom that we may hope to win it? Rather, the more we learn, shall we not thereby be able only to better compass out our ignorance?"
H.R. Haggard - She
My Background (CV)
1999-2003 - BA Hons French and Linguistics, University of Lancaster
2004-2005 - MSc Developmental Linguistics, University of Edinburgh
2005-2009 - PhD Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh
2009-2011 - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dept. of Psychology, University of Illinois
2011-2013 - Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellow, Dept. of Psychology, University of Edinburgh
2013-2014 - Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellow, Dept. of Psychology, University of Warwick
2013-2018 - Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of Warwick
2018-2023 - Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of Warwick
2023 - Honorary Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of Warwick.
Research
I am interested in people's, especially learners', ability to understand and produce sentences and how these abilities are acquired. I am particularly interested in how psycholinguistic methods can be used to gather more sensitive measures of children's linguistic representations and language processing, and how this can inform our understanding of language acquisition in monolingual and bilingual children. I am also interested in how individual differences in children and adults affect language processing and performance. This research is conducted in the Language Development Lab as part of the Warwick Research with Kids GroupLink opens in a new window.
More recently I have begun research examining sentence processing and language learning from syntactic priming in second language learners, tying in my personal interests and experiences as a language learner with my research interests.
Now published! Syntactic Priming in Language Acquisition: Representations, mechanisms and applicationsLink opens in a new window Trends in Language Acquisition Research, Volume 31.
Projects
2017 - 2021 PI: 'Syntactic priming as implicit learning: comparing second and first language speakers,' research project grant in collaboration with Ema Ushioda (Co-I) in Applied Linguistics, Warwick, funded by The Leverhulme Trust.
2018 - 2023 PI: 'How does language experience support language development? Short-term priming and long-term learningLink opens in a new window,' research grant in collaboration with Holly Branigan (Co-I) at University of Edinburgh, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
2020 - 2022 Co-I: 'The role of incorrect predictions in children’s comprehension of structural alternations,' small grant in collaboration with Chiara Gambi (PI) at Cardiff University, funded by The British Academy/Leverhulme Trust.
2020 - 2023 PI: 'Cross-linguistic influence and shared syntax in bilingual language development,' research project grant in collaboration with Ludo Serratrice (Co-PI) at University of Reading, funded by The Leverhulme Trust.
2023 - 2026 Co-I: 'The generality of expectation violation as a mechanism for language learning' research project grant in collaboration with Chiara GambiLink opens in a new window (PI) at University of Warwick, funded by The Leverhulme Trust.
PhD students
Marion CoumelLink opens in a new window conducted research on syntactic priming in English learners of L2 French. She completed her PhD in 2021 and successfully defended her thesis in 2022.
Noorin Rodenhurst researches bilingual sentence development in Gujurati-English bilingual children
I welcome contact from new students seeking to carry out postgraduate research in areas relating to language acquisition and language production, particularly syntactic priming; some sources of funding are described hereLink opens in a new window.
Publications and Work in progress
Buckle, L., Branigan, H., Lindsay, L., & Messenger, K. (in press). Now you see me, now you don't: Children learn grammatical choices during online socially contingent video and audio interactions. Accepted - Language Learning and Development.
Wesierska, M., Serratrice, L., Cieplinska, V., & Messenger, K. (in press). Investigating crosslinguistic representations in Polish-English bilingual children: Evidence from structural primingLink opens in a new window. Accepted - Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.
Coumel, M., Muylle, M., Messenger, K., & Hartsuiker, R. (in press) The role of explicit memory across L2 syntactic development: A structural priming study.Link opens in a new window Accepted - Language Learning.
Gambi, C., & Messenger, K. (2023) The role of prediction error in 4-year-olds' learning of English direct object dativesLink opens in a new window. Languages, 8(4), 276.
Coumel, M., Ushioda, E., & Messenger, K. (2023). Second language learning via syntactic priming: Investigating the role of modality, attention and motivationLink opens in a new window. Language Learning, 73, 231-265.
Messenger, K. (2022). Introduction to Syntactic priming in language acquisition: Representations, mechanisms and applications. In K. Messenger (Ed.) Trends in Language Acquisition Research, 31 Syntactic priming in language development: Representations, mechanisms and applications (pp. 1-14), John Benjamins.
Messenger, K., Branigan, H. P., Buckle, L., & Lindsay, L. (2022). How does syntactic priming experience support language development? In K. Messenger (Ed.) Trends in Language Acquisition Research, 31 Syntactic priming in language development: Representations, mechanisms and applications (pp. 57-81), John Benjamins.
Coumel, M., Ushioda, E., & Messenger, K. (2022). Learning multiple L2 syntactic structures via chat-based alignment: What is the role of learners’ prior knowledge and conscious decisions? System, 109, 102869.
Coumel, M., Hardy, S. M., & Messenger, K. (2022). The Art of conversation: How do we communicate successfully? Frontiers for Young Minds. 10:639598.
Darmasetiyawan, S., Messenger, K., & Ambridge, B. (2022). Is passive priming really impervious to verb semantics? A High-powered replication of Messenger et al. (2012)Link opens in a new window. Collabra: Psychology, 8 (1): 31055.
Messenger, K. (2021). The persistence of priming: Exploring long-lasting syntactic priming effects in children and adults. Cognitive Science, 45: e13005.
Messenger, K., Hardy, S., & Coumel, M. (2020). An exemplar model should be able to explain all syntactic priming phenomena: A commentary on Ambridge (2020)Link opens in a new window. First Language, 40, 616-620.
Messenger, K., & Fisher, C. (2018). Mistakes weren't made: Three-year-olds’ comprehension of novel-verb passives provides evidence for early abstract syntaxLink opens in a new window. Cognition, 178, 118-132.
Hardy, S. M., Messenger, K., & Maylor, E. A. (2017). Aging and syntactic representations: Evidence of preserved syntactic priming and lexical boostLink opens in a new window. Psychology and Aging, 32, 588-596.
Branigan, H. P., & Messenger, K. (2016). Consistent and cumulative effects of syntactic experience in children’s sentence production: Evidence for error-based implicit learningLink opens in a new window. Cognition, 157, 250-256.
Messenger, K., Yuan, S., & Fisher, C. (2015). Learning verb syntax via listening: New evidence from 22-month-oldsLink opens in a new window. Language Learning and Development, 11(4), 356-368.
Messenger, K., Branigan, H.P. & McLean, J.F. (2012). Is children's acquisition of the passive a staged process? Evidence from six- and nine-year-olds' productionLink opens in a new window. Journal of Child Language, 39(5), 991-1016.
Messenger, K., Branigan, H.P., McLean, J.F. & Sorace, A. (2012). Is young children's passive syntax semantically constrained? Evidence from syntactic primingLink opens in a new window. Journal of Memory and Language, 66(4), 568–587.
Messenger, K., Branigan, H.P. & McLean, J.F. (2011). Evidence for (shared) abstract structure underlying children's short and full passivesLink opens in a new window. Cognition, 121(2), 268-274.
Messenger, K. (2010). Dissertation notice: Syntactic priming and children's production and representation of the passive. Language Acquisition, 17 (1-2), 121-123.
Messenger, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2009). Semantic Factors in Young Children's Comprehension and Production of Passives. In J. Chandlee, M. Franchini, S. Lord & G-M. Rheiner, (Eds.) BUCLD 33: Proceedings of the 33rd annual Boston University Conference on Language Development. Cascadilla Press: 355-366.
Messenger, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2008). English-Speaking Children's Early Passives: Evidence from Syntactic Priming. In H. Chan, H. Jacob, & E. Kapia, (Eds.) BUCLD 32: Proceedings of the 32nd annual Boston University Conference on Language Development. Cascadilla Press: 275-286.
Thatcher, K., Branigan, H., McLean, J. & Sorace, A. (2008). Children's Early Acquisition of the Passive: Evidence from Syntactic Priming. In T. Marinis, A. Papangeli & V. Stojanovik (Eds.) Proceedings of the Child Language Seminar 2007 – 30th Anniversary. University of Reading: 195-205.