Crosslinguistic influence in early child bilingualism

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 135-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natascha Müller
Keyword(s):  
Computational Complexity ◽  
Developmental Stage ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Romance Language ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
German Child ◽  
Verb Placement ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Bilingual Individual ◽  
Finite Verb

Previous approaches to early bilingualism have argued either that children exposed to two languages from birth are not able to separate their two languages and experience massive cross-linguistic influence or that they do separate their languages from birth and lack crosslinguistic influence. The present paper assumes that both early language separation and crosslinguistic influence coexist in one bilingual individual during the same developmental stage for different grammatical phenomena. The goal of the present paper is to show that how crosslinguistic influence manifests itself depends on particular grammatical properties and is independent of language dominance. The direction of the influence is related to computational complexity (in the sense of Jakubowicz 2000). Data from a bilingual Italian/German child are discussed with respect to argument omissions, V2, and finite verb placement in subordinate clauses. For argument omissions, the Germanic language influences the Romance language and has a delaying effect. For V2 and finite verb placement in subordinate clauses, the Romance language has an accelerating effect on the Germanic language in the case of V2 and a delaying effect in the case of finite verb placement in subordinate clauses.

Acceleration and delay in bilingual, trilingual and multilingual German-Romance children

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 530-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laia Arnaus Gil ◽  
Natascha Müller
Keyword(s):  
Production Test ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Romance Language ◽  
Verb Placement ◽  
Finite Verb

Abstract A production test with 91 bilingual, trilingual and multilingual children (who acquire more than three languages) elicited finite verbs in German. In comparison with monolinguals, the children were accelerated with respect to finite verb placement in main clauses. Following Biberauer & Richards (2006), the EPP feature of T can be satisfied in different ways across languages: If a DP is necessary, which is the case for adult German, it can either be raised from Spec,vP to Spec,TP (in which case the finite verb surfaces in non-clause-final position) or it is pied-piped to Spec,TP. In the latter case, the whole vP is placed in the specifier of TP, giving rise to V-final patterns. The bilingual, trilingual and multilingual children prefer Spec-raising to Spec-pied-piping. We argue that the choice of the means for EPP satisfaction in the German of the multilingual children is influenced by the respective Romance language (French/Spanish).

Ambiguity and transfer in bilingual first language acquisition?

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEANINE TREFFERS-DALLER
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
First Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Correct Position ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
German Child ◽  
Finite Verb

Natascha Müller presents a very interesting analysis of the structure of the German subordinate clause in bilingual first language acquisition. The main issue in this paper is to explain the fact that some bilingual children – but not all of them – display non-target language structures in German subordinate clauses. That is, the finite verb does not appear in the final position of the subordinate clause. These non-target structures can in part be explained by transfer, but this cannot be the whole story, because some monolingual children produce these structures as well. Bilingual children, though, appear to have problems with the German subordinate clause more frequently than monolingual children. Interestingly, acquiring the target structures is a slow process for children who produce non-target structures. Ivar, the French-German child Müller discusses in most detail, for example, needs two years to acquire the correct position of the finite verb in German subordinate clauses. Müller argues that the problems arise because the input children receive is ambiguous: the finite verb does not always appear in the finite position in German subordinate clauses in adult speech. The ambiguity of this situation opens the way to transfer. In their uncertainty, the children turn to their other language as a relief strategy.

A typological analysis of the Chained-Aorist construction in Ayt Atta Tamazight (Berber)

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 198-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Mauri
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Finite Verb

Clause-linking mechanisms are subject to cross-linguistic variation. As far as non-subordinate clauses are concerned, any combination of two clauses may show two predicates mutually equal or different in terms of finiteness: these are known as co-ranking and clause-chaining structures, respectively (Longacre 2007: 375). Clause-chaining constructions show two structural possibilities, namely medial-final and initial-medial chaining, depending on whether the more-finite verb follows or precedes the less-finite one. Clause-chaining constructions are found in unrelated language families scattered across the globe, including Afroasiatic (Longacre 1990). However, the existing typological literature on the topic has totally neglected Berber, another Afroasiatic language. This work focuses on a clause-linking strategy found in Ayt Atta Tamazight (Berber, henceforth AAT) and in other Berber languages, the so-called Chained-Aorist construction (henceforth C-AOR). Stemming from my fieldwork on AAT, this paper provides an innovative typological analysis of C-AOR, analysing it in terms of initial-medial clause chaining.

Subordinate clauses

2019 ◽  
pp. 237-288
Author(s):  
Jan Terje Faarlund
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Infinitival Clauses ◽  
Finite Verb ◽  
Nominal Clauses

In subordinate clauses, the C position is occupied by a complementizer word, which may be null. The finite verb stays in V. SpecCP is either empty or occupied by a wh-word, or by some other element indicating its semantic function. Nominal clauses are finite or non-finite. Finite nominal clauses are declarative or interrogative. Declarative nominal clauses may under specific circumstances have main clause word order (‘embedded V2’). Infinitival clauses are marked by an infinitive marker, which is either in C (Swedish), or immediately above V (Danish). Norwegian has both options. Relative clauses comprise several different types; clauses with a relativized nominal argument are mostly introduced by a complementizer; adverbial relative clauses relativize a locative or temporal phrase, with or without a complementizer; comparative clauses relativize a degree or identity. Under hard-to-define circumstances depending on language and region, subordinate clauses allow extraction of phrases up into the matrix clause.

Late Placement of the Finite Verb in Old Norse Fornyrðislag Meter

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haukur Þorgeirsson
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
West Germanic ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Difference ◽  
Finite Verb

In Old Norse poetry, there is a syntactic difference between bound clauses (subordinate clauses and main clauses introduced by a con-junction) and unbound clauses (main clauses not introduced by a conjunction). In bound clauses, the finite verb is often placed late in the sentence, violating the V2 requirement upheld in prose. In unbound clauses, the V2 requirement is normally adhered to, but in fornyrðislag poetry, late placement of the finite verb is occasionally found. Hans Kuhn explained these instances as a result of influence from West Germanic poetry. The present article argues that these instances can be explained as a remnant of the Proto-Norse word order, and that this explanation is better supported by the data.*

scholarly journals On correlation between the emergence of finite verbs and the development of utterances in Russian and German

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 13-38
Author(s):  
Natalia Vladimirovna Gagarina ◽  
Dagmar Bittner
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Order ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Verb Morphology ◽  
Verb Inflection ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
German Child ◽  
Finite Verb

The study examines the hypotheses that the acquisition of the finite verb is an indispensable and linking constituent of the development of SVO utterances. Four apparently separate or at least separable processes are analysed over 6 months in one Russian and one German child: a) the emergence of verbs in the child’s utterances, b) the occurrence of correctly inflected (finite) verb forms, c) the development of multi-component utterances containing a verb, and c) the emergence of (potential) subjects and objects. Russian and German exhibit rich verb morphology, and in both languages finiteness is strongly correlated with inflectional categories like person, number and tense. With both children we find a correlation in the temporal order of these four processes and – what is more relevant for our study – a dependency of a certain development on the utterance level on the emergence of finite verbs. Further, our investigation shows that language-specific development comes in to play already when children start to acquire verb inflection and becomes more contrastive when we observe the onset of the production of the SVO utterances.  

To hón ich imma insistieat

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Flores ◽  
Esther Rinke ◽  
Claudia Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
German Language ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Syntactic Variation ◽  
General Stability ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Verb Placement ◽  
South Brazil

Abstract This paper investigates syntactic variation in Hunsrückisch German, spoken in a language enclave in South Brazil over eight generations. The aim is to analyse whether this heritage language maintains asymmetric verb placement, i.e. verb-second in main clauses and verb-final in subordinate clauses, a prominent syntactic feature of German varieties. The analysis is based on a sample of 5000 sentences, produced by participants belonging to two generations of Hunsrückisch speakers: 10 older speakers (age: 55–75), and 10 younger adults (age: 25–40). The results show a general stability of asymmetric verb placement in both speaker groups, as has also been observed for other German language islands. This stability is a consequence of the active use of this minority language, not only by the older, but also by the younger generation of speakers, who are dominant in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Variation to verb-second and verb-final order is conditioned by the same factors as in colloquial and dialectal German, and cannot be attributed to cross-linguistic influence from BP.

scholarly journals Structural variation in Old English root clauses

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Pintzuk ◽  
Eric Haeberli
Keyword(s):  
Structural Analysis ◽  
Old English ◽  
Structural Variation ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Structural Position ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Traditional Assumption ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Basic Constituent ◽  
Finite Verb

AbstractA standard observation concerning basic constituent order in Old English (OE) is that the position of finite verbs varies by clause type. In root clauses, the finite verb tends to occur toward the beginning of the clause, and we frequently find Verb Second (V2) order. In contrast, in subordinate clauses, finite verbs generally occur toward the end of the clause, and these clauses are frequently verb-final. We challenge the traditional assumption that verb-final orders and, hence, the occurrence of the finite verb in a head-final structural position are rare in OE root clauses. We present new data demonstrating that the frequency of head-final structure in OE root clauses is much higher than previously acknowledged. We then explore some of the implications of this finding for the general structural analysis of OE.

Bilingual first language acquisition at the interface between syntax and pragmatics

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 52-78
Author(s):  
Natascha Müller
Keyword(s):  
Computational Complexity ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Complex Analysis ◽  
First Language ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Language Mixing ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence

The present article provides an overview of some recent research in bilingual first language acquisition with special reference to Romance languages. It addresses two language contact phenomena, language mixing at the lexical level and crosslinguistic influence at the syntactic level. For both contact phenomena, there is evidence that they are unrelated to language dominance (as measured in terms of MLU). Language mixing is negatively correlated with the number of utterances per minute, a measure for language fluency. Cross-linguistic influence at the syntactic level is due to computational complexity which is caused for example by the invasive interplay of pragmatics and syntax. This kind of interplay will be discussed on the basis of the presence or absence of the null-subject property, comparing Italian and German, and by studying the presence or absence of object clitics, comparing French and German. Since cross-linguistic influence affects bilingual individuals to different degrees (sometimes referred to as individual variation), we discuss the assumption that the degree to which the influence manifests itself differs as a function of fluency (measured in words produced per minute). The more fluent the child is in the language with the computationally complex analysis, the less the effect of cross-linguistic influence. In sum, the language which exhibits influence is determined by computational complexity as defined, for example, by the invasive interplay between pragmatics and syntax. The degree of manifestation of the influence depends on fluency in the computationally complex language.

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