2L1 Simultaneous Bilinguals as Heritage Speakers

2019 ◽  
pp. 457-469
Author(s):  
Tanja Kupisch
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Heritage Speaker ◽  
Bilingual Language Development ◽  
Autonomous Development

The chapter is concerned with simultaneous bilinguals (2L1s) assuming that they are a subtype of the heritage speaker (HS). The chapter summarizes major findings with regard to their morpho-syntactic and phonological characteristics, starting with the two competing views on bilingual language development that postulated fused language systems as opposed to autonomous development several decades ago. In the 1990s, when the idea of separate systems had been widely accepted, research has concentrated on the question under which conditions the two languages of bilingual children show unidirectional or bidirectional influence—a question which is also relevant in the current literature on adult HSs. The present chapter relates findings from developing heritage bilinguals and adult HSs, discussing divergent acquisition outcomes that diverge from those of monolingual with regard to cross-linguistic influence, age of onset, input and language dominance, as well as distance to the homeland.

Syntax–pragmatic and morphology–pragmatic interfaces in sequential bilingual language acquisition: The case of Russia-Turkish and English-Turkish bilingual children

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1137-1158
Author(s):  
Elena Antonova-Ünlü
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
First Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Bilingual Language Development ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Cross Sectional Design ◽  
Case Markers

Aims: This study examines sequential bilingual language development focusing on the acquisition of two domains that interact with pragmatics, precisely, post-predicate constituents and case marking for direct objects in Turkish, which are cases of syntax–pragmatic and morphology–pragmatic interface, respectively, by Russian-Turkish and English-Turkish sequential bilinguals who had been acquiring Turkish as their child second language (cL2). Design: A cross-sectional design was adopted in the study. Methods: Narratives were used as a method of data collection. The use of post-predicate constituents and case markers for direct objects produced by the sequential bilinguals in their cL2 Turkish was compared with that of Turkish monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children. Conclusions: The study provides evidence that cL2 may be similar to monolingual and bilingual first language acquisition in some domains, while the other domains may be affected by age of onset and cross-linguistic influence from the other language that has developed to a certain extent.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Evidence for Simultaneous Bilingual Language Development With Shifting Language Dominance, and How to Explain It

2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (S2) ◽  
pp. 20-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary M. Oppenheim ◽  
Zenzi Griffin ◽  
Elizabeth D. Peña ◽  
Lisa M. Bedore
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Bilingual Language Development

Heritage language development: Connecting the dots

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 530-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Structural Development ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Adult Immigrants ◽  
Connecting The Dots ◽  
Heritage Language Development

To date, the vast majority of research on the linguistic abilities of heritage speakers has focused on young adults whose heritage language is no longer developing. These adults began their journey as bilingual children acquiring the heritage language with the majority language simultaneously since birth or sequentially, as a second language. If longitudinal studies are not always feasible, linking research on the structural development of bilingual pre-school children with research on young adult heritage speakers adds a much needed perspective to understand the initial state and the end state of heritage language development. The purpose of this study is to connect the beginning of heritage language development with its ultimate attainment by comparing the expression of subjects in Spanish in 15 school-age bilingual children and 29 young adult heritage speakers, all of them simultaneous bilinguals with English as the dominant language and Spanish as the weaker language. The oral production of null and overt subjects by child and adult heritage speakers was compared to that of age-matched monolingual speakers in Mexico (20 children, 20 adults). To provide a wider context the study includes a group of 21 adult immigrants, who could also potentially influence the input to the heritage speakers. The results confirm that discourse pragmatic properties of subject expression in Spanish are vulnerable to incomplete acquisition and permanent optionality in child and adult bilingual grammars.

scholarly journals Language combinations, subtypes, and severity in the study of bilingual children with specific language impairment

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence B. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Comparison Groups ◽  
Bilingual Language Development ◽  
Conducting Research

I commend Johanne Paradis not only for her interesting Keynote Article but also for the careful research that she has conducted along with her collaborators in the area of bilingual language development and disorders. Her contributions have been significant and are sure to shape our theoretical as well as clinical understanding of specific language impairment (SLI). In this Commentary, I focus on three issues. The first stems quite directly from ideas raised in the Keynote Article; the second and third deal with factors that we need to consider when conducting research involving comparison groups of bilingual and monolingual children with SLI.

scholarly journals Structure complexity effects in child heritage Spanish: The case of the Spanish personala

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1333-1357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Cuza ◽  
Lauren Miller ◽  
Rocio Pérez Tattam ◽  
Mariluz Ortiz Vergara
Keyword(s):  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Strong Correlations ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Language Play ◽  
Personal A ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Structure Complexity

Aims and objectives:This study examines the acquisition of Differential Object Marking (DOM) in heritage Spanish children born in the USA and the potential role of structure complexity and chronological age.Design:Bilingual children were compared with monolingual children matched by age and long-term immigrants (children’s parents) via an Elicited Production task. We elicited the distribution of personal a in simple and Clitic Left Dislocated (CLLD) structures.Data and analysis:Results were entered into repeated analyses of variance measure with type of structure and group as dependent variables and chronological age as a covariate.Conclusions:Results show decreased production of personal a among the bilingual children, especially in CLLD contexts. We also found strong correlations between target use and type of structure, but no correlations with developmental age among the bilingual children. Parents and monolingual children behaved at ceiling with matrix questions but showed variable behavior with CLLD structures. We argue for incomplete specification of the animacy and specificity features constraining DOM and structure complexity effects affecting child bilingual grammars.Originality:This study highlights that heritage speakers do not necessarily become less native-like with age and increased exposure to English. The comparison of the bilingual children to both monolingual children and their parents was essential to mitigate the effects of dialect and cognitive development.Implications:Given that age was not the determining factor in bilingual children’s production of DOM in Spanish, it would seem that exposure to and use of the heritage language play a larger role. Additionally, for theories of language acquisition, these findings suggest that an early age of onset of acquisition is not a sufficient condition for native-like attainment, especially when input is lacking.

Deutsch als schwächere Sprache bei deutsch-polnisch bilingualen Kindern: Studie zur Negation- und Verbstellung

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-297
Author(s):  
Aldona Sopata ◽  
Kamil Długosz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Use ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Striking Difference ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Development Characteristic ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
Constrained Input

AbstractThis article examines the acquisition of German as the weaker language in the cases of German-Polish bilingual children. Focusing on negation and verb position, phenomena that have frequently been taken as diagnostic when distinguishing between the course of language development characteristic for first (L1) and second language acquisition (L2), we analyse experimental and productive data from six simultaneously bilingual children. Due to the constrained input, German is their weaker language. The results in Forced Choice and Grammaticality Judgements tasks are compared with the results of monolingual children. We show that in the area of negation the acquisition of German as the weaker language resembles L1, and in the area of inversion and verb final position the development of the weaker language is delayed. The striking difference between bilinguals’ results in the experimental vs. productive tasks points to specific processing mechanisms in bilingual language use. In narrative contexts of the production tasks the language of the performance is activated, while the other is inhibited, which leads to a target-like performance. Structural properties of the stronger language tend to be activated, however, in the experimental tasks involving the weaker language, resulting in non-target-like responses.

scholarly journals Cross-linguistic influence in simultaneous and early sequential bilingual children: a meta-analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Chantal VAN DIJK ◽  
Elise VAN WONDEREN ◽  
Elly KOUTAMANIS ◽  
Gerrit Jan KOOTSTRA ◽  
Ton DIJKSTRA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Effect Size ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Uniform Method ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Average Effect ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Average Effect Size ◽  
Comprehensive Theory ◽  
Bilingual Development

Abstract Although cross-linguistic influence at the level of morphosyntax is one of the most intensively studied topics in child bilingualism, the circumstances under which it occurs remain unclear. In this meta-analysis, we measured the effect size of cross-linguistic influence and systematically assessed its predictors in 750 simultaneous and early sequential bilingual children in 17 unique language combinations across 26 experimental studies. We found a significant small to moderate average effect size of cross-linguistic influence, indicating that cross-linguistic influence is part and parcel of bilingual development. Language dominance, operationalized as societal language, was a significant predictor of cross-linguistic influence, whereas surface overlap, language domain and age were not. Perhaps an even more important finding was that definitions and operationalisations of cross-linguistic influence and its predictors varied considerably between studies. This could explain the absence of a comprehensive theory in the field. To solve this issue, we argue for a more uniform method of studying cross-linguistic influence.

scholarly journals Auditory Processing of Gender Agreement across Relative Clauses by Spanish Heritage Speakers

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Daniel Vergara ◽  
Gilda Socarrás
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Auditory Task ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

Processing research on Spanish gender agreement has focused on L2 learners’ and—to a lesser extent—heritage speakers’ sensitivity to gender agreement violations. This research has been mostly carried out in the written modality, which places heritage speakers at a disadvantage as they are more frequently exposed to Spanish auditorily. This study contributes to the understanding of the differences between heritage and L2 grammars by examining the processing of gender agreement in the auditory modality and its impact on comprehension. Twenty Spanish heritage speakers and 20 intermediate L2 learners listened to stimuli containing two nouns with gender mismatches in the main clause, and an adjective in the relative clause that only agreed in gender with one of the nouns. We measured noun-adjective agreement accuracy through participants’ responses to an auditory task. Our results show that heritage speakers are more accurate than L2 learners in the auditory processing of gender agreement information for comprehension. Additionally, heritage speakers’ accuracy is modulated by their Spanish language proficiency and age of onset. Participants also exhibit higher accuracies in cases in which the adjective agrees with the first noun. We argue that this is an ambiguity resolution strategy influenced by the experimental task.

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