Resolving Indeterminacy in Gender Agreement: Comparing Heritage Speakers and L2 Learners of Russian

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-182
Author(s):  
Oksana Laleko
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Gender Categorization ◽  
Different Types ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Two Populations

Cross-linguistically, both heritage language (HL) speakers and second language (L2) learners have been shown to experience difficulty in producing and interpreting linguistic structures characterized by indeterminacy, or lack of an invariable and transparent relationship between meaning and form. This article compares two populations of Russian-English bilinguals on their strategies of resolving ambiguity within the system of grammatical gender in Russian, with a particular focus on indeterminacy in gender agreement with animate nouns. As a result of complex interactions among lexical, morpho-phonological, and discourse-level gender categorization cues, the agreement behavior of animate nouns in Russian is not fully uniform. The results of a scaled acceptability ratings study demonstrate that gender agreement in transparent and non-ambiguous contexts is largely unproblematic for both bilingual groups; however, contexts that require conflict resolution between different types of cues and those characterized by underspecification represent two areas where HL speakers and L2 learners diverge from monolingual Russian-speaking controls. Across all experimental conditions, bilingual speakers demonstrate a higher reliance on morpho-phonological gender categorization cues and assign less weight to lexical and referential factors in gender assignment than monolinguals. The results further show that the two populations of bilinguals are not fully alike with respect to dealing with different types of indeterminacy. In particular, HL speakers exhibit an advantage over L2 learners in conflict resolution; however, both bilingual groups struggle with constructions that give rise to referential ambiguity due to underspecification. These results expand our understanding of the problem of indeterminacy in bilingual acquisition of gender and offer implications for theories of language acquisition and language instruction.

scholarly journals What is Difficult about Grammatical Gender? Evidence from Heritage Russian

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Laleko
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Gender Categorization ◽  
Heritage Language Acquisition ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Discourse Interface ◽  
Heritage Language Speakers ◽  
Allocation Strategies

The paper examines the role of lexical, morphological, and discourse-referential factors in gender assignment with animate nouns in heritage Russian in order to explore the extent to which these different interfaces are challenging in heritage language acquisition. The analysis of concordant and discordant agreement patterns with nouns representing each type of gender categorization mechanism points to unequal difficulty associated with different types of gender allocation strategies. In particular, heritage speakers converge with baseline speakers in rating possible and impossible agreement combinations in the presence of fixed and transparent lexical and morphological gender categorization cues; however, they display non-target-like judgments of unmarked and underspecified forms characterized by variable agreement behavior (i.e., hybrid nouns and common gender nouns). Problems with forms whose gender reference is disambiguated at the level of discourse point to the syntax-discourse interface as a locus of systematic difficulty for heritage language speakers.

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.

Assessing Differences and Similarities between Instructed Heritage Language Learners and L2 Learners in Their Knowledge of Spanish Tense-Aspect and Mood (TAM) Morphology

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul ◽  
Silvia Perpiñán
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
Classic Problem ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Advanced Proficiency ◽  
L1 Acquisition

The acquisition of the aspectual difference between the preterit and imperfect in the past tense and the acquisition of the contrast between subjunctive and indicative mood are classic problem areas in second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish by English-speaking learners (Collentine, 1995, 1998, 2003; Salaberry, 1999; Slabakova & Montrul, 2002; Terrell, Baycroft & Perrone, 1987). Similarly, Spanish heritage speakers in the U.S exhibit simplification of the preterit/imperfect contrast and incomplete acquisition/attrition of subjunctive morphology (Merino, 1983; Montrul, 2002, 2007; Potowski, Jegerski & Morgan-Short, 2009; Silva-Corvalán, 1994). This raises the question of whether the linguistic knowledge of a developing L2 learner is similar to incomplete L1 acquisition in heritage language (HL) learners. Because heritage speakers are exposed to the heritage language from infancy whereas L2 learners begin exposure much later, Au et al. (2002, 2008) have claimed that heritage speakers are linguistically superior to L2 learners only in phonology but not in morphosyntax. The present study reexamines this claim by focusing on the interpretation of tense, aspect and mood (TAM) morphology in 60 instructed HL learners and 60 L2 learners ranging from low to advanced proficiency in Spanish. Results of four written tasks showed differences between the groups both in tense and aspect and in mood morphology, depending on proficiency levels. Implications of these findings for heritage language instruction are discussed.

scholarly journals Between syntax and discourse

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Laleko ◽  
Maria Polinsky
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Structure Level ◽  
Different Types ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Status ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract This article examines the knowledge of topic and subject particles in heritage speakers and L2 learners of Japanese and Korean. We assume that topic marking is mediated at the syntax-information structure interface, while subject marking pertains to narrow syntax. In comparing phenomena mediated at different levels of linguistic organization, we provide evidence for the hypothesis that information structure-level phenomena present greater challenges for bilingual speakers than those mediated within syntax. While these results may be interpreted as evidence of generalized interface-related deficits, we show that such a global explanation is not supported. Instead, a more nuanced account is developed, based on the recognition of different types of topic (anaphoric, generic, and contrastive) and different types of subject (descriptive and exhaustive). Under the proposed account, non-native speakers’ deficits follow from three unrelated effects: the status of topic as an interface category, structural complexity, and the memory demands necessary for its interpretation in context.

The role of experience in the acquisition and production of diminutives and gender in Spanish: Evidence from L2 learners and heritage speakers

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul ◽  
Israel de la Fuente ◽  
Justin Davidson ◽  
Rebecca Foote
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Advanced Proficiency

This study examined whether type of early language experience provides advantages to heritage speakers over second language (L2) learners with morphology, and investigated knowledge of gender agreement and its interaction with diminutive formation. Diminutives are a hallmark of Child Directed Speech in early language development and a highly productive morphological mechanism that facilitates the acquisition of declensional noun endings in many languages (Savickienė and Dressler, 2007). In Spanish, diminutives regularize gender marking in nouns with a non-canonical ending. Twenty-four Spanish native speakers, 29 heritage speakers and 37 L2 learners with intermediate to advanced proficiency completed two picture-naming tasks and an elicited production task. Results showed that the heritage speakers were more accurate than the L2 learners with gender agreement in general, and with non-canonical ending nouns in particular. This study confirms that early language experience and the type of input received confer some advantages to heritage speakers over L2 learners with early-acquired aspects of language, especially in oral production.

scholarly journals Nominal agreement in the interlanguage of Dutch L2 learners of Spanish

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paz Gonzalez ◽  
Damaris Mayans ◽  
Huub van den Bergh
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Number Agreement ◽  
Language Research ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Nominal Agreement ◽  
And Gender

Abstract Inflectional morphology causes persistent difficulties for second language (L2) learners (Montrul, Silvina & Kim Potowski. 2007. Command of gender agreement in school-age Spanish-English bilingual children. International Journal of Bilingualism 11(3). 301–328; Montrul, Silvina, Israel de la Fuente, Justin Davidson & Rebecca Foote. 2013. The role of experience in the acquisition and production of diminutives and gender in Spanish: Evidence from L2 learners and heritage speakers. Second Language Research 29(1). 87–118). Learners operate with a default gender value, and overgeneralize the masculine forms of determiners and modifiers (White, Lydia, Elena Valenzuela, Martyna Kozlowska-Macgregor & Ingrid Leung. 2004. Gender and number agreement in nonnative Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics 25(1). 105–133; Schlig 2003). 111 essays written were collected containing 799 correct uses and 281 errors from Dutch students whose written ability in Spanish is A2 (Common European Framework). The results show that singular masculine nominal agreement marking at the determiner is significantly better produced by Dutch L2 learners of Spanish than when the marking of nominal agreement is plural, feminine or at the adjective. This study corroborates the previous results where learners operate with a default gender value and overgeneralize the masculine forms of determiners. Also these results show that L2 learners of Spanish are significantly less accurate in gender agreement with adjectives than with determiners.

scholarly journals Gender Agreement and Assignment in Spanish Heritage Speakers: Does Frequency Matter?

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Esther Hur ◽  
Julio Cesar Lopez Otero ◽  
Liliana Sanchez
Keyword(s):  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Lexical Knowledge ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Lexical Frequency ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish ◽  
English Dominant ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

Gender has been extensively studied in Spanish heritage speakers. However, lexical frequency effects have yet to be explored in depth. This study aimed to uncover the extent to which lexical frequency affects the acquisition of gender assignment and gender agreement and to account for possible factors behind heritage language variability. Thirty-nine English-dominant heritage speakers of Spanish completed a lexical knowledge screening task (Multilingual Naming Test (MiNT)) along with an elicited production task (EPT), a forced choice task (FCT), and a self-rating lexical frequency task (SRLFT). Heritage speakers performed more successfully with high-frequency lexical items in both the EPT and the FCT, which examined their acquisition of gender assignment and gender agreement, respectively. Noun canonicity also affected their performance in both tasks. However, heritage speakers presented differences between tasks—we found an overextension of the masculine as well as productive vocabulary knowledge effects in the EPT, whereas the FCT showed an overextension of the feminine and no productive vocabulary knowledge effects. We suggest that lexical frequency, determined by the SRLFT, and productive vocabulary knowledge, as measured by the MiNT, account for the variability in the acquisition of gender assignment but not on gender agreement, supporting previous claims that production is more challenging than comprehension for bilinguals.

scholarly journals The problematic issue of grammatical gender in Arabic as a foreign language

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima A. Alkohlani
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Considerable Difficulty ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Problematic Issue ◽  
Demonstrative Pronouns ◽  
Gender System

AbstractMany languages of the world have a grammatical gender system that divides all nouns into gendered categories. The gender assigned to a given noun requires gender agreement with associated items in the sentence, such as: determiners, adjectives, and demonstrative pronouns. Research in the area of grammatical gender acquisition has found that this grammatical category poses considerable difficulty for L2 learners. However, rarely was this area of difficulty the focus of L2 studies in Arabic. The present study focuses on the problematic issue of grammatical gender in Arabic as a foreign language. It examines advanced Arabic L2 learners’ written errors of gender assignment and agreement in the Arabic Learner Corpus (ALC) v2, compiled by Alfaifi, Atwel, and Hedaya (2014). Based on the classification and analysis of the errors, possible factors of the difficulty facing L2 learners in assigning the correct gender are discussed, and recommendations to reduce their effects are suggested.

scholarly journals Instruction on Metaphors During a Study-Abroad Program: Students' Perceptions and Understandings

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 625-642
Author(s):  
C. Cecilia Tocaimaza-Hatch
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Study Abroad Program ◽  
Metaphorical Structures

It has been observed that language learners struggle to gain access to the metaphorical structures that are part of the target language and culture. In this study, six Spanish L2 learners and nine Spanish heritage speakers from the United States completed a study abroad program in Spain in which language instruction was supplemented with a module on the subject of metaphors. This article seeks to describe this module and present learners’ perceptions of its implementation and of the learnings resulting from it, as reflected in learners’ weekly reflections and exit questionnaire. The analysis of these data indicated that most participants became aware of metaphors in every-day language. However, they were not fully able to produce metaphors themselves. Pedagogical implications of this experience include differentiated metaphor instruction for heritage speakers and L2 learners, and fostering not just metaphor awareness but competence.

Spanish gender agreement under complete and incomplete acquisition: Early and late bilinguals' linguistic behavior within the noun phrase

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
IRMA V. ALARCÓN
Keyword(s):  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Heritage Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Advanced Proficiency ◽  
Linguistic Behavior

The present study explores knowledge of Spanish grammatical gender in both comprehension and production by heritage language speakers and second language (L2) learners, with native Spanish speakers as a baseline. Most L2 research has tended to interpret morphosyntactic variability in interlanguage production, such as errors in gender agreement, as a lack of native-like representation in the learner's grammar because of maturational constraints. From this perspective, adult English-speaking learners of Spanish are incapable of acquiring gender fully, whereas heritage Spanish speakers, who have been exposed to the language from birth, can attain complete gender acquisition. However, results of two tasks, one measuring written comprehension and the other oral production, show that advanced proficiency L2 learners, as well as advanced proficiency heritage speakers, have gender in their underlying grammars, and that the errors in oral production that L2 learners occasionally produce are due to difficulties in the surface manifestations of the abstract features of gender, i.e., the “mapping problem” (Lardiere, 2007).

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