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.

Is the heritage language like a second language?

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina A. Montrul
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Family Language

Many heritage speakers (bilinguals in a minority language context) turn to the second language (L2) classroom to expand their knowledge of the heritage language. Critical questions arise as to how their linguistic knowledge compares to that of post puberty L2 learners. Focusing on recent experimental research on grammatical domains typically affected in both L2 learners and heritage speakers, this article addresses whether exposure to the family language since birth even under reduced input conditions leads to more native-like linguistic knowledge in heritage speakers as opposed to L2 learners with a later age of acquisition of the language, how differences in input and language learning experience determine the behavioral manifestations of linguistic knowledge, and whether formal instruction in the classroom is beneficial to heritage speakers. I argue that the extension of theoretical frameworks and methodologies from SLA has significantly advanced the field of heritage language acquisition, but deeper understanding of these speakers will also need more fruitful integration of the psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic factors that contribute to the acquisition and maintenance of heritage languages.

‘I me Mine’ The Acquisition of Dutch Pronominal Possessives by L1 Children, L2 Children and L2 Adults

2008 ◽  
Vol 155 ◽  
pp. 23-52
Author(s):  
Elma Nap-Kolhoff ◽  
Peter Broeder
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Young Children ◽  
First Language ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Possessive Constructions ◽  
Speech Data ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Dutch Language ◽  
L1 Acquisition

Abstract This study compares pronominal possessive constructions in Dutch first language (L1) acquisition, second language (L2) acquisition by young children, and untutored L2 acquisition by adults. The L2 learners all have Turkish as L1. In longitudinal spontaneous speech data for four L1 learners, seven child L2 learners, and two adult learners, remarkable differences and similarities between the three learner groups were found. In some respects, the child L2 learners develop in a way that is similar to child L1 learners, for instance in the kind of overgeneralisations that they make. However, the child L2 learners also behave like adult L2 learners; i.e., in the pace of the acquisition process, the frequency and persistence of non-target constructions, and the difficulty in acquiring reduced pronouns. The similarities between the child and adult L2 learners are remarkable, because the child L2 learners were only two years old when they started learning Dutch. L2 acquisition before the age of three is often considered to be similar to L1 acquisition. The findings might be attributable to the relatively small amount of Dutch language input the L2 children received.

scholarly journals DOMAIN-GENERAL AUDITORY PROCESSING EXPLAINS MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF L2 ACQUISITION IN ADULTHOOD

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Kazuya Saito ◽  
Hui Sun ◽  
Magdalena Kachlicka ◽  
John Robert Carvajal Alayo ◽  
Tatsuya Nakata ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Primary Determinant ◽  
Proficiency Scores ◽  
L1 Acquisition

ABSTRACT In this study, we propose a hypothesis that domain-general auditory processing, a perceptual anchor of L1 acquisition, can serve as the foundation of successful post-pubertal L2 learning. This hypothesis was tested with 139 post-pubertal L2 immersion learners by linking individual differences in auditory discrimination across multiple acoustic dimensions to the segmental, prosodic, lexical, and morphosyntactic dimensions of L2 proficiency. Overall, auditory processing was a primary determinant of a range of participants’ proficiency scores, even after biographical factors (experience, age) were controlled for. The link between audition and proficiency was especially clear for L2 learners who had passed beyond the initial phase of immersion (length of residence > 1 year). The findings suggest that greater auditory processing skill benefits post-pubertal L2 learners immersed in naturalistic settings for a sufficient period of time by allowing them to better utilize received input, which results in greater language gains and leads to more advanced L2 proficiency in the long run (similar to L1 acquisition).

scholarly journals Eye-movement benchmarks in Heritage Language reading

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-82
Author(s):  
Olga Parshina ◽  
Anna K. Laurinavichyute ◽  
Irina A. Sekerina
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Adult Readers ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Fixation Durations ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Reading Patterns ◽  
Eye Movements During Reading

AbstractThis eye-tracking study establishes basic benchmarks of eye movements during reading in heritage language (HL) by Russian-speaking adults and adolescents of high (n = 21) and low proficiency (n = 27). Heritage speakers (HSs) read sentences in Cyrillic, and their eye movements were compared to those of Russian monolingual skilled adult readers, 8-year-old children and L2 learners. Reading patterns of HSs revealed longer mean fixation durations, lower skipping probabilities, and higher regressive saccade rates than in monolingual adults. High-proficient HSs were more similar to monolingual children, while low-proficient HSs performed on par with L2 learners. Low-proficient HSs differed from high-proficient HSs in exhibiting lower skipping probabilities, higher fixation counts, and larger frequency effects. Taken together, our findings are consistent with the weaker links account of bilingual language processing as well as the divergent attainment theory of HL.

scholarly journals The Sound Pattern of Heritage Spanish: An Exploratory Study on the Effects of a Classroom Experience

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Rajiv Rao ◽  
Zuzanna Fuchs ◽  
Maria Polinsky ◽  
María Luisa Parra
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Classroom Experience ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Sound System ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Voiceless Stop ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish

While heritage Spanish phonetics and phonology and classroom experiences have received increased attention in recent years, these areas have yet to converge. Furthermore, most research in these realms is cross-sectional, ignoring individual or group changes across time. We aim to connect research strands and fill gaps associated with the aforementioned areas by conducting an individual-level empirical analysis of narrative data produced by five female heritage speakers of Spanish at the beginning and end of a semester-long heritage language instruction class. We focus on voiced and voiceless stop consonants, vowel quality, mean pitch, pitch range, and speech rate. Our acoustic and statistical outputs of beginning versus end data reveal that each informant exhibits a change in between three and five of the six dependent variables, showing that exposure to a more formal register through a classroom experience over the course of a semester constitutes enough input to influence the heritage language sound system, even if the sound system is not an object of explicit instruction. We interpret the significant changes through the lenses of the development of formal speech and discursive strategies, phonological retuning, and speech style and pragmatic effects, while also acknowledging limitations to address in future related work.

scholarly journals Morphosyntactic knowledge of clitics by Portuguese heritage bilinguals

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 681-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
ESTHER RINKE ◽  
CRISTINA FLORES
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Almost All

This paper focuses on the linguistic competence of adult Portuguese–German bilinguals in their heritage language, European Portuguese (EP), which they acquired at home in early childhood in the context of German as the majority language. Based on a grammaticality judgment test, we investigate their morphosyntactic knowledge of clitics. The central questions are whether possible deviations from native monolinguals may be traced back to a) lack of contact with the formal register; b) reduced input after preschool age; and c) cross-linguistic influence. The results reveal qualitative differences between the heritage speakers and a group of monolingual controls in almost all test conditions. We conclude that although the linguistic knowledge of the heritage bilinguals investigated in this study differs from that of monolinguals, it is not “deficient” but “different” and “innovative”, because it is primarily based on the spoken variety of the language and because it promotes linguistic changes which are inherent in the speech of native monolinguals.

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.

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.

Knowledge of Forms of Address in Polish Heritage Speakers

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-144
Author(s):  
Izolda Wolski-Moskoff
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Limited Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Third Person

Limited knowledge of formal registers has been deemed one of the common characteristics of heritage speakers (Polinsky & Kagan, 2007). Because their exposure to the heritage language is generally limited to contact with immediate family, the language of heritage speakers may lack the elements normally acquired in formal settings. Polish formal forms of address, i.e., addressing all strangers and non-relative adults as pan “mister” or pani “madam,” as well as all the grammatical rules governing their use, such as third-person verbal morphology and the vocative case, are examples of such elements. The present study investigated receptive knowledge of formal forms of address in Polish heritage speakers in the United States. In this study, nine heritage speakers, four L2 learners, and six native speakers of Polish judged the acceptability of utterances addressed to various persons in various formal situations. The results indicate that heritage speakers exhibit limited knowledge of formal forms of address, both in terms of the grammar involved and the social contexts that call for them – with the latter divergence, in particular, potentially attributable to transfer from English. The responses of heritage speakers differ significantly not only from those of native speakers, but also of L2 learners of Polish, who outperformed heritage speakers in this task. Since the use of formal forms of address and the vocative case in contemporary Polish is limited to formal settings, the limited knowledge of these forms in heritage speakers may result from the insufficient input they receive.

scholarly journals Second language acquisition and first language loss in adult early bilinguals: exploring some differences and similarities

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
First Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Usa ◽  
English Dominant

This study compares the linguistic knowledge of adult second language (L2) learners, who learned the L2 after puberty, with the potentially ‘eroded’ first language (L1) grammars of adult early bilinguals who were exposed to the target language since birth and learned the other language simultaneously, or early in childhood (before age 5). I make two main claims: (1) that the L1 grammar of bilinguals at a given stabilized state (probably endstate) resembles the incomplete (either developing or stabilized) grammars typical of intermediate and advanced stages in L2 acquisition; and (2) that despite similar patterns of performance, when language proficiency is factored in, early bilinguals are better than the L2 learners, probably due to exposure to primary linguistic input early in childhood. I offer empirical evidence from an experimental study testing knowledge of the syntax and semantics of unaccusativity in Spanish, conducted with English-speaking L2 learners and English-dominant Spanish heritage speakers living in the USA. I consider recent treatments of unaccusativity and language attrition within the generative framework (Sorace, 1999; 2000a; 2000b), that offer a unifying account of the formal parallels observed between these two populations I discuss how input, use and age may explain differences and similarities in the linguistic attainment of the two groups.

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