Chapter 10. The influence of structural distance in cross-linguistic transfer

This study examines the role of cross-linguistic transfer versus general processing strategy in two groups of heritage speakers ( n = 28 per group) with the same heritage language – Russian – and typologically different dominant languages: English and Estonian. A group of homeland Russian speakers ( n = 36) is tested to provide baseline comparison. Within the framework of the Competition model (MacWhinney, 2012), cross-linguistic transfer is defined as reliance on the processing cue prevalent in the heritage speaker’s dominant language (e.g. word order in English) for comprehension of heritage language. In accordance with the Isomorphic Mapping Hypothesis (O’Grady and Lee, 2005), the general processing strategy is defined in terms of isomorphism as a linear alignment between the order of the sentence constituents and the temporal sequence of events. Participants were asked to match pictures on the computer screen with auditorily presented sentences. Sentences included locative or instrumental constructions, in which two cues – word order (basic vs. inverted) and isomorphism mapping (isomorphic vs. nonisomorphic) – were fully crossed. The results revealed that (1) Russian native speakers are sensitive to isomorphism in sentence processing; (2) English-dominant heritage speakers experience dominant language transfer, as evidenced by their reliance primarily on the word order cue; (3) Estonian-dominant heritage speakers do not show significant effects of isomorphism or word order but experience significant processing costs in all conditions.

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The Role of Emergent Bilingualism in the Development of Morphological Awareness in Arabic and Hebrew

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2016_jslhr-l-14-0363 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 59 (4) ◽

pp. 797-809 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Mila Schwartz ◽

Haitham Taha ◽

Hanan Assad ◽

Ferdos Khamaisi ◽

Zohar Eviatar

Keyword(s):

Morphological Awareness ◽

Home Language ◽

Linguistic Features ◽

Initial Exposure ◽

Word Structure ◽

Arabic Speakers ◽

Semitic Language ◽

Target Languages ◽

Linguistic Transfer

Purpose The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of dual language development and cross-linguistic influence on morphological awareness in young bilinguals' first language (L1) and second language (L2). We examined whether (a) the bilingual children (L1/L2 Arabic and L1/L2 Hebrew) precede their monolingual Hebrew- or Arabic-speaking peers in L1 and L2 morphological awareness, and (b) 1 Semitic language (Arabic) has cross-linguistic influence on another Semitic language (Hebrew) in morphological awareness. Method The study sample comprised 93 six-year-old children. The bilinguals had attended bilingual Hebrew−Arabic kindergartens for 1 academic year and were divided into 2 groups: home language Hebrew (L1) and home language Arabic (L1). These groups were compared to age-matched monolingual Hebrew speakers and monolingual Arabic speakers. We used nonwords similar in structure to familiar words in both target languages, representing 6 inflectional morphological categories. Results L1 Arabic and L1 Hebrew bilinguals performed significantly better than Arabic- and Hebrew-speaking monolinguals in the respective languages. Differences were not found between the bilingual groups. We found evidence of cross-linguistic transfer of morphological awareness from Arabic to Hebrew in 2 categories−bound possessives and dual number−probably because these categories are more salient in Palestinian Spoken Arabic than in Hebrew. Conclusions We conclude that children with even an initial exposure to L2 reveal acceleration of sensitivity to word structure in both of their languages. We suggest that this is due to the fact that two Semitic languages, Arabic and Hebrew, share a common core of linguistic features, together with favorable contextual factors and instructional factors.

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The acquisition of lexical tones by Cantonese–English bilingual children

Journal of Child Language ◽

10.1017/s0305000918000260 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 45 (6) ◽

pp. 1357-1376 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Peggy Pik Ki MOK ◽

Albert LEE

Keyword(s):

Stress Pattern ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Phonological Development ◽

Lexical Tones ◽

English Bilingual ◽

Pitch Pattern ◽

Linguistic Transfer ◽

Auditory Analysis ◽

Early Interaction ◽

Time Point

AbstractPrevious studies on bilingual children found intact tonal development at the initial stages of interaction between Cantonese and English in successive bilingual children, whereas children exposed to both languages from birth have not been studied in this regard. We examined the production of Cantonese tones by five simultaneous bilingual children longitudinally at 2;0 and 2;6, and compared them with age-matched monolingual children using auditory analysis. Our results showed that some bilingual children had a delay at 2;0, compared to their monolingual peers. Some bilingual children also exhibited a ‘high–low’ template in their production, resembling the pitch pattern of English trochaic words. These findings suggest a possible early interaction of the Cantonese and English prosodic systems in which bilingual children adopted the English stress pattern in Cantonese production. The time-point along the trajectory of phonological development is important in modulating whether cross-linguistic transfer can be observed.

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The processing of number and gender agreement in Spanish: An event-related potential investigation of the effects of structural distance

Brain Research ◽

10.1016/j.brainres.2012.03.057 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 1456 ◽

pp. 49-63 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

José Alemán Bañón ◽

Robert Fiorentino ◽

Alison Gabriele

Keyword(s):

Event Related Potential ◽

Gender Agreement ◽

Structural Distance ◽

And Gender

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Cross-Linguistic Transfer of Writing Strategies

10.21832/9781788929752 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Karen Forbes

Keyword(s):

Writing Strategies ◽

Linguistic Transfer

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On the nature of cross-linguistic transfer: A case study of Andean Spanish

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728912000247 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 111-131 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

ANTJE G. MUNTENDAM

Keyword(s):

Language Contact ◽

Long Distance ◽

Andean Spanish ◽

Pragmatic Transfer ◽

Elicitation Study ◽

Linguistic Transfer ◽

Syntactic Properties ◽

Elicitation Studies ◽

Long Distance Movement

This paper presents the results of a study on cross-linguistic transfer in Andean Spanish word order. In Andean Spanish the object appears in preverbal position more frequently than in non-Andean Spanish, which has been attributed to an influence from Quechua (a Subject–Object–Verb language). The high frequency of preverbal objects could be explained by focus fronting. The main syntactic properties of focus fronting in Spanish are weak crossover and long distance movement. Two elicitation studies designed to test for these properties in non-Andean Spanish, Andean Spanish and Quechua show no evidence of syntactic transfer from Quechua into Andean Spanish. Rather, the analysis of naturalistic data and an elicitation study on question–answer pairs show that there is pragmatic transfer from Quechua into Andean Spanish. The study has implications for theories of syntax and language contact, and especially for the debate on the nature of cross-linguistic transfer.

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