Testing the Interface Hypothesis: heritage speakers’ perception and production of Spanish subject position with unergative and unaccusative verbs

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Ager Gondra
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Unaccusative Verbs ◽  
Interface Hypothesis

scholarly journals The Development of Subject Position in Dutch-Dominant Heritage Speakers of Spanish: From Age 9 to Adulthood

Languages ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
van Osch ◽  
García González ◽  
Hulk ◽  
Sleeman ◽  
Aalberse
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish ◽  
Language Literature

This exploratory study investigates the knowledge of word order in intransitive sentences by heritage speakers of Spanish of different age groups: 9-year-olds, 13-year-olds and adults. In doing so, we aim to fill a gap in the heritage language literature, which, to date, has mainly focused on adult heritage speakers and preschool bilingual children. The results from a judgment task reveal that child- and adolescent heritage speakers do not entirely resemble monolingual age-matched children in the acquisition of subjects in Spanish, nor do they assimilate adult heritage speakers. The data suggest that several different processes can occur simultaneously in the acquisition of word order in heritage speakers: monolingual-like acquisition, delayed acquisition, and attrition. An analysis of the influence of extraneous variables suggests that most of these effects are likely to be the consequence of quantitatively reduced input in the heritage language and increased input in the majority language.

scholarly journals Comparing anaphora resolution in early and late Brazilian Portuguese-European Portuguese bidialectal bilinguals

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 429-461
Author(s):  
Tammer Castro ◽  
Jason Rothman ◽  
Marit Westergaard
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Anaphora Resolution ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Interface Hypothesis ◽  
High Degree

The present study examines anaphora resolution in two groups of speakers exposed to Brazilian and European Portuguese (BP and EP, respectively), considering the different null subject distribution in these languages. Our research question is whether late BP-EP bilinguals (age of EP onset: 29.1) and heritage BP speakers raised in Portugal (age of EP onset 5.6), tested in both dialects, will pattern like the native controls or display some effects of EP in their native BP or vice-versa. This is an interesting question in light of the Interface Hypothesis, which claims that external interfaces should be subject to general bilingualism effects irrespective of language pairing and age (Sorace, 2011). The results show that age has an effect, as the heritage speakers do not perform like the late learners, and that the high degree of typological proximity between the two languages could hinder bidialectal acquisition.

Argument realization of psychological verbs

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Li
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Physical Force ◽  
Single Argument ◽  
Psych Verbs ◽  
Unaccusative Verbs ◽  
Argument Realization ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Psychological Verbs

Abstract By using data from nearly thirty languages of various families and regions, this paper examines the argument realization of three types of psychological verbs (i.e. causative bivalent, non-causative bivalent, and monovalent). It finds that, when compared with the argument realization of core transitive verbs like BREAK, causative bivalent psych verbs show crosslinguistic uniformity in that they pattern with core transitive verbs in argument realization. The same comparative approach finds that the argument realization of non-causative bivalent psych verbs shows a lot of crosslinguistic variation. As for monovalent psych verbs, the paper finds that they almost always pattern with the argument realization of unaccusative verbs. The findings of the paper are accounted for by using the Force-Control-Causality (FCC) model of verb meaning. Under this model, the uniformity in argument realization with respect to causative bivalent psych verbs is due to the prominence of the causative relationship expressed and the directionality of the causality from the Causer to the Causee. The variation in argument realization with respect to non-causative bivalent psych verbs can be attributed to the fact that such verbs express neither causation nor transmission of physical force. As for the near uniformity in argument realization with respect to monovalent psych verbs, it is due to the fact that they involve only one argument (thus no competition for the subject position) and this single argument shares the [−control] feature with the single argument of unaccusative verbs. This study points to the need of recognizing Causer and Causee as two core and highly-ranked thematic roles in a global thematic hierarchy.

scholarly journals Input effects across domains: The case of Greek subjects in child heritage language

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangelia Daskalaki ◽  
Vasiliki Chondrogianni ◽  
Elma Blom ◽  
Froso Argyri ◽  
Johanne Paradis
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
North America ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Heritage Language Acquisition ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Interface Hypothesis

A recurring question in the literature of heritage language acquisition, and more generally of bilingual acquisition, is whether all linguistic domains are sensitive to input reduction and to cross-linguistic influence and to what extent. According to the Interface Hypothesis, morphosyntactic phenomena regulated by discourse–pragmatic conditions are more likely to lead to non-native outcomes than strictly syntactic aspects of the language (Sorace, 2011). To test this hypothesis, we examined subject realization and placement in Greek–English bilingual children learning Greek as a heritage language in North America and investigated whether the amount of heritage language use can predict their performance in syntax–discourse and narrow syntactic contexts. Results indicated two deviations from the Interface Hypothesis: First, subject realization (a syntax–discourse phenomenon) was found to be largely unproblematic. Second, subject placement was affected not only in syntax–discourse structures but also in narrow syntactic structures, though to a lesser degree, suggesting that the association between the interface status of subject placement and its sensitivity to heritage language use among children heritage speakers is gradient rather than categorical.

scholarly journals Stages rather than ages in the acquisition of movement structures: Data from sentence repetition and 27696 spontaneous clauses

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naama Friedmann ◽  
Julia Reznick
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Crossing Over ◽  
Syntactic Movement ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Unaccusative Verbs ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Repetition Task

This study explored the order of acquisition of various types of syntactic-movement and embedding structures in Hebrew, using a sentence-repetition task, in which 60 children aged 2;2-3;10 repeated 80 sentences (with a total of 4800 sentences), and an analysis of the spontaneous speech of 61 children aged 1;6-6;1 (27,696 clauses). The sentence repetition task revealed a set order of acquisition of the various types of syntactic movement: A-movement is acquired first, then A-bar-movement, and finally movement of the verb to C. The analysis of spontaneous speech revealed the same order: A-movement of the object of unaccusative verbs to subject position appears first, together with simple SV sentences; then, wh-questions appear, then relative clauses and topicalization, which appear together with embedding of finite clauses, and lastly, V-to-C movement. Previous studies have shown that Hebrew speakers under age six have difficulty comprehending and producing sentences with A-bar-movement in which a lexically-restricted object crosses over a lexically-restricted subject. And indeed, whereas children produced A-bar structures very early (wh-questions from age 1;6, relative-clauses and topicalization from age 2;6), until age 5;8 these structures never included a lexical DP crossing over another lexical DP. Both tasks indicated that the order of structure acquisition is fixed, creating Guttman scales between structures, but different children acquire the same structure at very different ages. It seems that whereas the syntactic path and the stages of structure acquisition along it are constant between children, each child walks this path in their own pace.

Constraints on subject-verb agreement marking in Turkish-German bilingual speakers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serkan Uygun ◽  
Claudia Felser
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
General Preference ◽  
Advanced Proficiency ◽  
The One ◽  
Plural Subjects ◽  
Turkish German

Abstract Turkish 3rd person plural subjects normally appear with verbs that are unmarked for number. Following earlier findings which indicate that Turkish heritage speakers (HS) accept overt plural marking more readily compared to monolingually raised Turkish speakers, the present study investigates to what extent bilingual speakers are sensitive to grammatical, surface-level and semantic constraints on Turkish plural agreement marking. A scalar acceptability judgement task was carried out with non-bilingual Turkish speakers residing in Turkey and Turkish-German bilinguals residing in Germany. Our experimental design involved manipulating both subject animacy and subject position. Participants’ judgement patterns confirmed Turkish speakers’ general preference for unmarked verb forms, which was modulated both by subject animacy and by subject position. Significant differences were observed between lower proficiency HS on the one hand, and monolinguals and advanced proficiency HS on the other, suggesting that the relatively subtle interplay between different types of constraint on number agreement marking is affected by heritage language conditions. We found no evidence for simplification or optionality reduction in the lower proficiency HS’ judgements, however. We innovate on previous research by using Gradient Symbolic Computation modelling to capture between-group differences in the relative weightings of the constraints under investigation.

Vulnerability and Cross-linguistic Influence in Heritage Spanish: Comparing Different Majority Languages

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-366
Author(s):  
Brechje van Osch
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Speaker ◽  
Interesting Difference ◽  
Specific Vulnerability ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish ◽  
English Dominant

This paper compares Dutch-dominant and English-dominant heritage speakers of Spanish regarding their sensitivity to the various factors that play a role in subject position. An acceptability judgment task and an elicited production task demonstrated that both groups were sensitive to the effect of verb type on word order, but not to the effect of focus. To account for the specific vulnerability of focus, several possible accounts are proposed. An interesting difference occurred between the two heritage speaker groups regarding their knowledge of the effect of definiteness on word order. The Dutch-dominant group outperformed the English dominant group in this condition, arguably helped by the similarity between Dutch and Spanish regarding the definiteness effect on word order. This finding shows that properties inherent to the heritage language and cross-linguistic influence from the majority language are both crucial elements in explaining vulnerability in heritage grammars.

scholarly journals Interpretação Preferencial do Pronome Nulo em Falantes Bilíngues do Espanhol L2- Português Brasileiro L1 / Preferential Interpretation of the Null Pronoun in Spanish Bilingual Speakers L2- Brazilian Portuguese L1

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (57) ◽  
pp. 675-696
Author(s):  
Letícia Rafaele Da Silva Claudino ◽  
Rita de Cássia Freire de Melo
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Linguistic Processing ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Interface Hypothesis ◽  
Null Pronoun ◽  
The University ◽  
Anaphoric Expression

Resumo: Esta pesquisa analisou o processamento anafórico de pronomes nulos (caracterizado como pro), investigando como esse tipo de expressão anafórica é interpretada por falantes bilíngues espanhol L2- português brasileiro L1, e se as gramáticas, aqui entendidas como conhecimentos internalizados sobre determinadas línguas, nos termos de Chomsky (1981), interferem umas nas outras na interpretação preferencial nas frases ambíguas.  Tem-se como objetivo investigar a interpretação preferencial do pronome nulo na língua espanhola, analisando a preferência em frases ambíguas. Este estudo justifica-se por haver necessidade de dirimir controvérsias na literatura acerca das retomadas anafóricas, sobretudo em frases ambíguas, nas quais possivelmente há interferência dos mecanismos linguísticos da língua materna, utilizada pelo aprendiz. Muitos pesquisadores tentam compreender o funcionamento do processamento linguístico de uso da língua nos bilíngues, os quais falam duas línguas com competência igual ou similar a de um nativo (GONÇALVES, 2010). Ancoramos nossa hipótese nos princípios de Carminati (2005), que apontam que o pronome nulo em frases ambíguas estabelece preferencialmente a correferência com o antecedente em posição de sujeito, e também na a Hipótese da Interface de Sorace (2011), referente a influência da L1 na interpretação da correferência, já que os bilíngues estão sujeitos a utilizar os mesmos mecanismos de sua gramática L1 na L2 em situações de ambiguidade. A metodologia aplicada foi um teste off-line no Google forms, composto por perguntas sobre a preferência da retomada em frases ambíguas, associadas a frases distratoras, no qual participaram 08 voluntários bilíngues em nível avançado, estudantes do 9º período do curso de Letras – Português/Espanhol da Universidade de Pernambuco.  Os resultados encontrados corroboram com a Hipótese da Posição do Antecedente de acordo com Carminati (2005) e com a Hipótese de Interface de Sorace (2011). Palavras-chave: Bilinguismo. Correferência anafórica. Interpretação preferencial. Pronome nulo. Abstract: This research analyzed the anaphoric processing of null pronouns (characterized as pro), investigating how this type of anaphoric expression is interpreted by bilingual Spanish L2-Portuguese L1 speakers, and if the grammars, here understood as internalized knowledge about certain languages, in terms by Chomsky (1981), interfere with each other in the preferential interpretation of ambiguous sentences. The objective is to investigate the preferential interpretation of the null pronoun in Spanish, analyzing the preference in ambiguous sentences. This study is justified by the need to resolve controversies in the literature about anaphoric retakes, especially in ambiguous sentences, in which there is possibly interference from the linguistic mechanisms of the mother tongue, used by the learner. Many researchers try to understand the functioning of linguistic processing of language use in bilinguals, who speak two languages with equal or similar competence to a native (GONÇALVES, 2010). We anchor our hypothesis in the principles of Carminati (2005), which point out that the null pronoun in ambiguous sentences preferentially establishes the correlation with the antecedent in subject position, and also in the Interface Hypothesis of Sorace (2011), regarding the influence of L1 in the interpretation of the coreference, since bilinguals are subject to using the same mechanisms of their L1 grammar in L2 in situations of ambiguity. The methodology applied was an offline test on Google forms, consisting of questions about the preference of retaking ambiguous phrases, associated with distracting phrases, in which 08 bilingual volunteers at advanced level participated, students of the 9th period of the Language course - Portuguese /Spanish from the University of Pernambuco. The results found corroborate the Antecedents Position Hypothesis according to Carminati (2005) and the Interface Hypothesis of Sorace (2011).Keywords: Bilingualism. Anaphoric Coreference. Preferred interpretation. Null pronoun.

scholarly journals Language Interfaces in Adult Heritage Language Acquisition: A Study on Encoding of Nominal Reference in Mandarin Chinese as a Heritage Language

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Jin ◽  
Sihui Echo Ke ◽  
John Chi-Kin Lee
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Intermediate Group ◽  
Heritage Language Acquisition ◽  
Interface Hypothesis ◽  
External Interface ◽  
Discourse Interface ◽  
Interface Type ◽  
Better Than

According to the Interface Hypothesis in the field of bilingualism, the interface connecting a linguistic module with a language-external domain (e.g., syntax-discourse) will present prolonged difficulties for adult bilingual learners, as compared with the interface connecting language-internal modules (e.g., syntax-semantics). This study tested whether the Interface Hypothesis is applicable to the acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a heritage language. An internet-based acceptability judgment task (AJT) was administered to 58 advanced and intermediate adult Chinese heritage speakers to collect data in accuracy and reaction time to investigate the adult heritage speakers’ mastery of referential nominal expressions regulated at the syntax-semantics and syntax-discourse interfaces, respectively, in Mandarin Chinese. The target linguistic phenomena involved three nominal expressions (i.e., the bare N(oun), the [Cl(assifier)-N], and the [Num(eral)-Cl-N]) under four interface-regulated referential readings (i.e., type-denoting, quantity-denoting, indefinite individual-denoting, and definite individual-denoting). In terms of accuracy, the results showed that (i) for the N and the [Num-Cl-N], regardless of the interface type, the advanced group acquired the target phenomena to a nativelike level, who significantly outperformed the intermediate group; (ii) for the [Cl-N], the advanced group exhibited nativelike attainment at the syntax-discourse interface but not at the syntax-semantics interface, and performed significantly better than the intermediate group at both interfaces. Regarding reaction time, no significant differences were reported between the advanced group and the native group for the target structures at either the syntax-semantics or the syntax-discourse interface, while the advanced group performed significantly better than the intermediate group, regardless of the interface type and the structure type. The findings suggest that the nature of the language interface, i.e., whether it pertains to language-external domains (i.e., the external interface) or not (i.e., the internal interface), should not be a reliable factor for predicting the (im)possibility of nativelike attainment of bilingual grammar knowledge, contra the predictions of the Interface Hypothesis. The present study provides new empirical evidence to show that language-external interface properties are not necessarily destined for prolonged difficulties in heritage language acquisition, and that it is possible for adult heritage speakers to make developmental progress in both accuracy and processing efficiency at different types of interfaces.

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