The production and comprehension of Spanish se use in L2 and heritage Spanish

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832110165
Author(s):  
Aída García-Tejada ◽  
Alejandro Cuza ◽  
Eduardo Gerardo Lustres Alonso
Keyword(s):  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Psych Verbs ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Why Questions ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers ◽  
L1 English

Previous studies in the acquisition of clitic se in Spanish have focused on the syntactic processes needed to perform detransitivization. However, current approaches on event structure reveal that se encodes aspectual information which is crucial for its acquisition. We examine the use, intuition and interpretation of the aspectual features constraining the clitic se in Spanish with physical change of state verbs and psychological verbs in declarative sentences, and in a set of why-questions. Twenty Spanish heritage speakers (HSs), 20 English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish, and 20 Spanish monolingual speakers participated in the study. Results showed a clear advantage among the HSs over the L2 learners across conditions. In general, the use of se with change of state verbs at advanced levels of proficiency seems to be harder to acquire than with psych verbs due to the aspectual morphological marking in L1 English. Interestingly, L2 learners and HSs were less sensitive to the [+inchoative] feature with psych verbs in why-questions. Results are also discussed in terms of the age of onset of bilingualism as an affecting factor on the acquisition of the aspectual values of inchoative se.

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.

On the role of experience and age-related effects: Evidence from the Spanish CP

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Cuza ◽  
Joshua Frank
Keyword(s):  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Age Related ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Preference Task ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

The present study examines and compares the extent to which advanced L2 learners of Spanish and Spanish heritage speakers acquire the syntactic and semantic properties that regulate the grammatical representation of double complementizer questions in Spanish, a CP-related structure not present in English. Results from an aural sentence completion task, an acceptability judgment task, and a preference task indicate significant differences between the two experimental groups and the monolingual controls. However, the heritage speakers outperformed the L2 learners in their target use and interpretation, which suggests a linguistic benefit for earlier exposure and use of Spanish during childhood. We propose that the differences observed among the L2 learners and the heritage speakers can be accounted for in terms of cross-linguistic influence from the dominant language as well as language experience and age of onset of bilingualism as an interrelated dimension in L2 and heritage language development.

Morphological awareness of separable words among Chinese L2 learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-195
Author(s):  
Helen H. Shen
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Major Error ◽  
Error Type ◽  
American University ◽  
Credit Hours ◽  
Chinese Study ◽  
Study Results ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Second Year

AbstractThis study investigated English-speaking Chinese L2 learners’ familiarity with, awareness, and conditional production of 12 high-frequency separable words in six commonly employed separable-use structures (AXB) at an American university. The participants included 60 students from first- to third-year Chinese classes. The results showed that students were exposed to the six high-frequency AXB structures from the beginning stage of their study and that this exposure increased linearly across three instructional levels. However, a significant increase in awareness and comprehension of the six AXB structures was not observed until students had completed 20 credit hours of Chinese study. Judging from the rewriting of erroneous sentences, the development of the accurate production of the six AXB structures was slow. The accuracy rate only reached 41% for students who had completed 26 credit hours of Chinese study. The major error that the first- and second-year students committed in rewriting the six AXB structures was to correct irrelevant components in the sentence. For the third-year students, the major error type was avoiding the use of AXB structures. Regression analysis showed that successful comprehension of AXB structures is the strongest predictor for their accurate production. Based on the study results, pedagogical interventions for improving the learning efficiency of separable words are recommended.

Acoustic Correlates of the Spanish Tap-Trill Contrast: Heritage and L2 Spanish Speakers

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Amengual
Keyword(s):  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Apical Constriction ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Phonological Contrast ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
L2 Spanish ◽  
English Dominant ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

The present study investigates the acoustic correlates of the Spanish tap-trill phonological contrast (/ɾ/-/r/) in the production of 40 Spanish heritage speakers and 20 L2 Spanish learners in Northern California. The acoustic analyses examined the number of occlusions and overall duration in the production of phonemic trills, while the phonetic variants of the phonemic tap were based on the degree of apical constriction: true tap, approximant tap, and perceptual tap. The results from a reading-aloud task indicate that most speakers produced non-canonical phonemic trills with one or zero occlusions and maintain the Spanish tap-trill phonological contrast largely by means of segmental duration, and that this is especially true for L2 learners and English-dominant heritage speakers. In contrast, Spanish-dominant heritage speakers produced the majority of their trills with two or three brief occlusions between the tongue apex and the alveolar ridge. These data confirm that heritage speakers are a heterogeneous group and that variance in their rhotic production is a result of language dominance: English-dominant heritage speakers and L2 learners are most likely to exhibit a modified system to maintain the rhotic phonological contrast in comparison to Spanish-dominant heritage speakers. The findings of this study add to our understanding of the sources of variation in heritage and L2 pronunciation by investigating a largely understudied bilingual population that has traditionally been ignored in bilingual phonetic research.

How similar are adult second language learners and Spanish heritage speakers? Spanish clitics and word order

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
SILVINA MONTRUL
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Family Language ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

ABSTRACTRecent studies of heritage speakers, many of whom possess incomplete knowledge of their family language, suggest that these speakers may be linguistically superior to second language (L2) learners only in phonology but not in morphosyntax. This study reexamines this claim by focusing on knowledge of clitic pronouns and word order in 24 L2 learners and 24 Spanish heritage speakers. Results of an oral production task, a written grammaticality judgment task, and a speeded comprehension task showed that, overall, heritage speakers seem to possess more nativelike knowledge of Spanish than their L2 counterparts. Implications for theories that stress the role of age and experience in L2 ultimate attainment and for the field of heritage language acquisition and teaching are discussed.

scholarly journals Heritage speakers’ use of prosodic strategies in focus marking in Spanish

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 986-1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji-Young Kim
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Multiple Strategies ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Linguistic Strategies ◽  
Language Research ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Early Peak ◽  
Focus Marking ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

Aims and objectives: The present study investigates how focus is prosodically realized by Spanish heritage speakers, and whether they show different patterns from Spanish monolinguals and English second language (L2) learners of Spanish. Design: Prompt questions were auditorily presented to elicit participants’ production of sentences with different scopes and locations of focus. Data and analysis: Relative prosodic prominence between focused and non-focused constituents, as well as tonal alignment, were acoustically analyzed and compared across the groups. Additional strategies that participants used are also presented. Findings: The results revealed that all three groups used multiple strategies, both prosodic and non-prosodic, to express focus in Spanish. However, the specific cues that were used differed in each group. Monolinguals and L2 learners clearly differed from each other in that the former preferred non-prosodic strategies (e.g., cleft constructions, complementizer que ‘that’), while the latter used various prosodic strategies (e.g., relative prosodic prominence, early peak alignment, post-focal deaccenting). Heritage speakers, on the other hand, used a mix of strategies that were observed in both monolinguals’ and L2 learners’ speech. Originality: Prosody is an understudied area in heritage language research. This is one of few studies that examined Spanish heritage speakers’ use of prosodic cues in the realization of focus in Spanish and the first to extensively analyze various acoustic correlates of focus produced by Spanish heritage speakers. Implication: The findings suggest that heritage speakers are flexible in their use of linguistic strategies as they are able to extract resources from their two language systems.

Discrepancy between heritage speakers' use of suprasegmental cues in the perception and production of Spanish lexical stress

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Young Kim
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Early Exposure ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Suprasegmental Cues ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

AbstractThis study investigates Spanish heritage speakers' perception and production of Spanish lexical stress. Stress minimal pairs in various prosodic contexts were used to examine whether heritage speakers successfully identify the stress location despite varying suprasegmental cues (Experiment 1) and whether they use these cues in their production (Experiment 2). Heritage speakers' performance was compared to that of Spanish monolinguals and English L2 learners. In Experiment 1, the heritage speakers showed a clear advantage over the L2 learners and their performance was comparable to that of the monolinguals. In Experiment 2, both the heritage speakers and the L2 learners showed deviating patterns from the monolinguals; they produced a large overlap between paroxytones and oxytones, especially in duration. The discrepancy between heritage speakers' perception and production suggests that, while early exposure to heritage language is beneficial for the perception of heritage language speech sounds, this factor alone does not guarantee target-like production.

Is Grammar Instruction Beneficial for Heritage Language Learners? Dative Case Marking in Spanish

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-73
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul ◽  
Melissa Bowles
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Heritage Language Learners ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Heritage Learners ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Dative Case ◽  
Psych Verbs ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

Spanish heritage speakers have been shown to have incomplete knowledge of dative case marking with both animate direct objects (also known as differential object marking (DOM) or a-personal) and dative experiencers with gustar-psych verbs in oral and written modes (Montrul, 2004; Montrul & Bowles, in press). In general, Spanish objects that are animate and specific are obligatorily marked with the preposition a (Juan conoce a tu hermana “Juan knows your sister”). Inanimate objects are unmarked (Juan compró un perro “Juan bought a dog”, Juan escuchó la radio “Juan listened to the radio”). Gustar-type psych verbs take dative experiencers obligatorily marked with the dative preposition a and a dative clitic (A Juan le gusta el rugby “Juan likes rugby”). This study investigated the effects of instruction on the acquisition of DOM and gustarverbs for heritage language learners. A total of 45 2nd generation Spanish heritage speakers participated in the study, completing a pre-test, instructional treatment, and a post-test. The instructional treatment consisted of an explicit grammatical explanation of the uses of a followed by three practice exercises, for which participants received immediate, explicit feedback, including negative evidence. Results of the heritage learners' pre-test confirmed that their recognition and production of a with animate direct objects and dative experiencers is probabilistic, compared with a baseline group of 12 native speakers of Spanish. Post-test results revealed highly significant gains by heritage learners in both intuitions and production, suggesting that instruction, including both positive and negative evidence, facilitates classroom heritage language acquisition, at least in the short term.

scholarly journals Gender in Unilingual and Mixed Speech of Spanish Heritage Speakers in The Netherlands

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Ivo Boers ◽  
Bo Sterken ◽  
Brechje van Osch ◽  
M. Carmen Parafita Couto ◽  
Janet Grijzenhout ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Translation Equivalent ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish ◽  
Switching Mode ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

This study examines heritage speakers of Spanish in The Netherlands regarding their production of gender in both their languages (Spanish and Dutch) as well as their gender assignment strategies in code-switched constructions. A director-matcher task was used to elicit unilingual and mixed speech from 21 participants (aged 8 to 52, mean = 17). The nominal domain consisting of a determiner, noun, and adjective was targeted in three modes: (i) Unilingual Spanish mode, (ii) unilingual Dutch mode, and (iii) code-switched mode in both directions (Dutch to Spanish and Spanish to Dutch). The production of gender in both monolingual modes was deviant from the respective monolingual norms, especially in Dutch, the dominant language of the society. In the code-switching mode, evidence was found for the gender default strategy (common in Dutch, masculine in Spanish), the analogical gender strategy (i.e., the preference to assign the gender of the translation equivalent) as well as two thus far unattested strategies involving a combination of a default gender and the use of a non-prototypical word order. External factors such as age of onset of bilingualism, amount of exposure and use of both languages had an effect on both gender accuracy in the monolingual modes and assignment strategies in the code-switching modes.

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