scholarly journals TERMINOLOGY CHOICE IN GENERATIVE ACQUISITION RESEARCH

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Domínguez ◽  
Glyn Hicks ◽  
Roumyana Slabakova
Keyword(s):  
General Public ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Validity ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Incomplete Acquisition

AbstractPascual y Cabo and Rothman (2012) and Kupisch and Rothman (2018) argue against the use of termincompleteto characterize the grammars of heritage speakers, claiming that it reflects a negative evaluation of the linguistic knowledge of these bilingual speakers. We examine the reasons for and against the use of “incomplete” across acquisition contexts and argue that its use is legitimate on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Our goal is to present arguments for using the term, not to evaluate the scientific validity of incomplete acquisition over other possible accounts. Although our conclusion is that the term should not be abandoned, we advocate a position whereby researchers consider the possible negative impact of the terminology they use and how they use it. This position aims to resolve the tension between the need to prioritize scientific effectiveness and the need to avoid terminology that can be negatively misconstrued by the general public.

scholarly journals Comparing the Outcomes of Early and Late Acquisition of European Portuguese: An Analysis of Morpho-syntactic and Phonetic Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Flores ◽  
Esther Rinke ◽  
Anabela Rato
Keyword(s):  
Minority Language ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Knowledge ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
L2 Learners

The present paper compares the linguistic competence of German-Portuguese bilinguals with upper-intermediate German L2 learners (L2ers) of EP (European Portuguese) and with monolingual Portuguese speakers. The bilingual speakers are heritage speakers (HSs), who were raised bilingually with EP as the minority language and German as the majority language. The aim of our comparison is to verify in which way different input sources and maturational effects shape the speakers’ linguistic knowledge. The findings of two studies, one focused on the morpho-syntactic knowledge of clitics and the other on global accent, corroborate the assumption that L2ers and HSs behave differently, despite superficial similarities observed in the morpho-syntactic study. In contrast to that of the L2ers’, the accent of the HSs is perceived as being native-like, whereas their morpho-syntactic competence is mainly shaped by their dominant exposure to colloquial Portuguese and reduced contact with formal registers.

Syllable weight in monolingual and heritage Spanish

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-427
Author(s):  
Michael Shelton ◽  
Hannah Grant
Keyword(s):  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
General Effect ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Quantity Sensitivity ◽  
Analysis Of Error

AbstractThis study presents two experiments employing a naming task that test the modulation of stress assignment by syllable structure in Spanish. The first replicates the findings of a previous study in which words containing arguably heavy penultimate diphthongs provoke higher error rates than putatively light monophthong controls when marked for antepenultimate stress. This result is interpreted as support for quantity sensitivity in the language. This experiment also replicates a subtler finding of differential patterning between rising and falling diphthong in their interaction with Spanish stress, suggesting gradient sensitivity to patterns in the lexicon. The second experiment presents the results of an identical task with Spanish-English heritage speakers in which the general effect of syllable weight is replicated, while the effect of diphthong type does not emerge. An analysis of error types suggests that varying levels of reading proficiency among heritage speakers may have led to the lack of the latter result, while still revealing sensitivity to frequencies in the lexicon. The combined results are offered as further evidence of quantity sensitivity among both monolingual and bilingual speakers of Spanish and provide further data in the understudied subfield of heritage phonotactics.

How “Native” Are Heritage Speakers?

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
Incomplete Acquisition

One of the chief characteristics of heritage speakers is that they range in proficiency from “overhearers” to “native” speakers. To date, the vast majority of linguistic and psycholinguistic studies have characterized the non-target-like linguistic abilities of heritage speakers as a product of incomplete acquisition and/or attrition due to reduced exposure and opportunities to use the language during childhood. This article focuses on the other side of the problem, emphasizing instead the high incidence of native-like abilities in adult heritage speakers. I illustrate this issue with recent experimental evidence from gender agreement in Spanish, a grammatical feature that is mastered at almost 100% accuracy in production by native speakers;yet it is one of the most difficult areas to master for non-native speakers, including near-natives.I discuss how age of acquisition and language-learning experience explain these effects.

Assessing Differences and Similarities between Instructed Heritage Language Learners and L2 Learners in Their Knowledge of Spanish Tense-Aspect and Mood (TAM) Morphology

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul ◽  
Silvia Perpiñán
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
Classic Problem ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Advanced Proficiency ◽  
L1 Acquisition

The acquisition of the aspectual difference between the preterit and imperfect in the past tense and the acquisition of the contrast between subjunctive and indicative mood are classic problem areas in second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish by English-speaking learners (Collentine, 1995, 1998, 2003; Salaberry, 1999; Slabakova & Montrul, 2002; Terrell, Baycroft & Perrone, 1987). Similarly, Spanish heritage speakers in the U.S exhibit simplification of the preterit/imperfect contrast and incomplete acquisition/attrition of subjunctive morphology (Merino, 1983; Montrul, 2002, 2007; Potowski, Jegerski & Morgan-Short, 2009; Silva-Corvalán, 1994). This raises the question of whether the linguistic knowledge of a developing L2 learner is similar to incomplete L1 acquisition in heritage language (HL) learners. Because heritage speakers are exposed to the heritage language from infancy whereas L2 learners begin exposure much later, Au et al. (2002, 2008) have claimed that heritage speakers are linguistically superior to L2 learners only in phonology but not in morphosyntax. The present study reexamines this claim by focusing on the interpretation of tense, aspect and mood (TAM) morphology in 60 instructed HL learners and 60 L2 learners ranging from low to advanced proficiency in Spanish. Results of four written tasks showed differences between the groups both in tense and aspect and in mood morphology, depending on proficiency levels. Implications of these findings for heritage language instruction are discussed.

scholarly journals Morphosyntactic knowledge of clitics by Portuguese heritage bilinguals

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 681-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
ESTHER RINKE ◽  
CRISTINA FLORES
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Almost All

This paper focuses on the linguistic competence of adult Portuguese–German bilinguals in their heritage language, European Portuguese (EP), which they acquired at home in early childhood in the context of German as the majority language. Based on a grammaticality judgment test, we investigate their morphosyntactic knowledge of clitics. The central questions are whether possible deviations from native monolinguals may be traced back to a) lack of contact with the formal register; b) reduced input after preschool age; and c) cross-linguistic influence. The results reveal qualitative differences between the heritage speakers and a group of monolingual controls in almost all test conditions. We conclude that although the linguistic knowledge of the heritage bilinguals investigated in this study differs from that of monolinguals, it is not “deficient” but “different” and “innovative”, because it is primarily based on the spoken variety of the language and because it promotes linguistic changes which are inherent in the speech of native monolinguals.

scholarly journals Between syntax and discourse

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Laleko ◽  
Maria Polinsky
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Structure Level ◽  
Different Types ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Status ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract This article examines the knowledge of topic and subject particles in heritage speakers and L2 learners of Japanese and Korean. We assume that topic marking is mediated at the syntax-information structure interface, while subject marking pertains to narrow syntax. In comparing phenomena mediated at different levels of linguistic organization, we provide evidence for the hypothesis that information structure-level phenomena present greater challenges for bilingual speakers than those mediated within syntax. While these results may be interpreted as evidence of generalized interface-related deficits, we show that such a global explanation is not supported. Instead, a more nuanced account is developed, based on the recognition of different types of topic (anaphoric, generic, and contrastive) and different types of subject (descriptive and exhaustive). Under the proposed account, non-native speakers’ deficits follow from three unrelated effects: the status of topic as an interface category, structural complexity, and the memory demands necessary for its interpretation in context.

Online processing of subject pronouns in monolingual and heritage bilingual speakers of Mexican Spanish

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
GREGORY D. KEATING ◽  
JILL JEGERSKI ◽  
BILL VANPATTEN
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Mexican Spanish ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
Overt Pronouns ◽  
English Dominant ◽  
Reading Study ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

In this self-paced reading study, we first tested the cross-linguistic validity of the position of antecedent strategy proposed for anaphora resolution in Italian (Carminati, 2002) in a Latin American variety of Spanish. We then examined the application of this strategy by Spanish heritage speakers of the same dialect who were largely English dominant. Forty-five monolingual speakers of Mexican Spanish and 28 Spanish heritage speakers of Mexican descent read sentences in which null and overt subject pronouns were biased for and against expected antecedent biases. Our results suggest that Mexican monolinguals display distinct antecedent biases for null and overt pronouns. Furthermore, the Spanish heritage speakers, though not monolingual-like, did not violate discourse constraints on the resolution of overt pronouns, contra the findings of offline research (see Keating, VanPatten & Jegerski, 2011). We discuss the findings in terms of a processing-based account.

scholarly journals Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thibault Le Texier
Keyword(s):  
General Public ◽  
Scientific Validity ◽  
Validity Data ◽  
Demand Characteristics ◽  
The Past ◽  
Scientific Merit ◽  
Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) is one of psychology’s most famous studies. It has been criticized on many grounds, and yet a majority of textbook authors have ignored these criticisms in their discussions of the SPE, thereby misleading both students and the general public about the study’s questionable scientific validity. Data collected from a thorough investigation of the SPE archives and interviews with 15 of the participants in the experiment further question the study’s scientific merit. These data are not only supportive of previous criticisms of the SPE, such as the presence of demand characteristics, but provide new criticisms of the SPE based on heretofore unknown information. These new criticisms include the biased and incomplete collection of data, the extent to which the SPE drew on a prison experiment devised and conducted by students in one of Zimbardo’s classes 3 months earlier, the fact that the guards received precise instructions regarding the treatment of the prisoners, the fact that the guards were not told they were subjects, and the fact that participants were almost never completely immersed by the situation. Possible explanations of the inaccurate textbook portrayal and general misperception of the SPE’s scientific validity over the past 5 decades, in spite of its flaws and shortcomings, are discussed.

scholarly journals Qualitative and Quantitative Analyses of COVID-19 Dynamics

Axioms ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 210
Author(s):  
Taye Samuel Faniran ◽  
Leontine Nkague Nkamba ◽  
Thomas Timothee Manga
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
General Public ◽  
Deterministic Model ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Transmission Rate ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Epidemic Curve ◽  
Underlying Diseases

COVID-19 is a highly contagious disease which has spread across the world. A deterministic model that considers an important component of individuals with vertically transmitted underlying diseases (high-risk susceptible individuals), rather than the general public, is formulated in this paper. We also consider key parameters that are concerned with the disease. An epidemiological threshold, R0, is computed using next-generation matrix approach. This is used to establish the existence and global stability of equilibria. We identify the most sensitive parameters which effectively contribute to change the disease dynamics with the help of sensitivity analysis. Our results reveal that increasing contact tracing of the exposed individuals who are tested for COVID-19 and hospitalizing them, largely has a negative impact on R0. Results further reveal that transmission rate between low-risk/high-risk susceptible individuals and symptomatic infectious individuals β and incubation rate of the exposed individuals σ have positive impact on R0. Numerical simulations show that there are fewer high-risk susceptible individuals than the general public when R0<1. This may be due to the fact that high-risk susceptible individuals may prove a bit more difficult to control than the low-risk susceptible individuals as a result of inherited underlying diseases present in them. We thus conclude that high level of tracing and hospitalizing the exposed individuals, as well as adherence to standard precautions and wearing appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) while handling emergency cases, are needed to flatten the epidemic curve.

scholarly journals The Assumptions underlying the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Their Implications

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-42
Author(s):  
Aidan Hehir
Keyword(s):  
Local Control ◽  
General Public ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Endogenous Factors ◽  
Political Interference ◽  
External Actors ◽  
Witness Intimidation

Since 1999 international actors have presented Kosovo’s problems as stemming exclusively from endogenous factors that locals cannot solve. International oversight is thus as essential and benign; the ksc is the latest initiative premised on this assumption. I argue, however, that the idea that international oversight is more efficient than local control is questionable given that since 1999 international judicial mechanisms have endured corruption, witness intimidation, and political interference. Additionally, the fact that the ksc’s creation was driven by external actors has had a negative impact on its legitimacy amongst the general public within Kosovo; this will influence their response to its proceedings. Finally, I argue that those who supported the establishment of the ksc advanced a narrative that implies they were in no way culpable for the crimes committed between 1998–2000; in fact, both unmik and kfor manifestly failed in their duty to provide security in Kosovo.

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