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- Volume 13, Issue 4, 2023
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism - Volume 13, Issue 4, 2023
Volume 13, Issue 4, 2023
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The use of default forms in codeswitching
Author(s): Ana de Prada Pérez, Nicholas Feroce and Lillian Kennedypp.: 439–467 (29)More LessAbstractThis paper examines the effects that codeswitching (CS) has on mood selection in restrictive relative clauses in the Spanish of heritage speakers (HSs). Spanish HS participants completed an online acceptability judgment task in which they rated monolingual (i.e., unilingual) and codeswitched sentences containing verbs in indicative and subjunctive mood in restrictive relative clauses manipulated for specificity of the antecedent. The results indicated an association of the subjunctive with non-specificity in monolingual sentences that was lost in the codeswitched sentences, although this effect was modulated by proficiency. These results are discussed in terms of the use of default forms in CS.
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Comprehension and production of non-canonical word orders in Mandarin-speaking child heritage speakers
Author(s): Jiuzhou Hao and Vasiliki Chondrogiannipp.: 468–499 (32)More LessAbstractAcross languages, structures with non-canonical word order have been shown to be problematic for both child and adult heritage speakers. To investigate the linguistic and child-level factors that modulate heritage speakers’ difficulties with non-canonical word orders, we examined the comprehension and production of three Mandarin non-canonical structures in 5- to 9-year-old Mandarin-English heritage children and compared them to age-matched Mandarin-speaking monolingual children and adults. Specifically, we examined how linguistic properties, such as linear word order, presence or absence of morphosyntactic cues, and surface structural overlap between languages, as well as child-level factors, such as chronological age and current home language use affect the acquisition of non-canonical structures in heritage children and their monolingual peers. Results showed that although heritage children could use morphosyntactic cues, they did not show monolingual-level sensitivity to passive-related morphology. Additionally, children produced more canonical SVO word order, which is shared between English and Mandarin, and preferred the reverse interpretations of non-canonical structures in comprehension. These responses were taken as evidence for cross-linguistic influence from the majority to the minority language. Finally, although non-canonical structures caused difficulties for child heritage speakers, their performance was modulated by structure and improved with age, over and above heritage language use.
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Codeswitching and the Egyptian Arabic construct state
Author(s): Yourdanis Sedarouspp.: 500–528 (29)More LessAbstractIn this paper, I assume a grammatical approach to codeswitching (MacSwan, 2012), which predicts a ban on codeswitching below the head level. Previous literature has analyzed this ban largely at the word-level, terming it a ban on word-internal codeswitching. In this paper I argue that the said ban can also be extended from the lexical domain to certain syntactic domains that act as one word. I test MacSwan’s theory in the context of codeswitching within construct state nominals, a genitive construction prevalent in Semitic languages. The construct state is particularly relevant for discussions on the syntax-phonology interface within codeswitching because it is a complex and productive syntactic structure that is mapped onto one word. The results of an acceptability judgment experiment show lowered acceptability for sentences where a codeswitch occurred within a construct state nominal vs. sentences where the codeswitch occurred outside of a construct state nominal. The lowered acceptability for such codeswitched judgments suggests that the ban on word-internal codeswitching is not in fact limited to words but can be extended to complex syntactic units that prosodically function as one word.
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Crosslinguistic influence from Catalan and Yucatec Maya on judgments and processing of Spanish focus
Author(s): Bradley Hoot and Tania Lealpp.: 529–575 (47)More LessAbstractAlthough a bilingual’s knowledge of one language can affect the other, crosslinguistic influence (CLI) is constrained: certain domains, such as the syntax-discourse interface, are more likely to be affected. Linguists have debated CLI’s nature and cause: the Structural Overlap Hypothesis identifies surface overlap between the languages as the key factor determining CLI, while the Interface Hypothesis highlights the role of processing overloads. Our study presents evidence from processing and judgments of a syntax-discourse interface property – information focus – in the Spanish of Yucatecan Spanish monolinguals, Yucatec Maya-Spanish bilinguals, and Catalan-Spanish bilinguals. The comparison across language dyads that realize information focus in different ways allows us to test predictions for language-specific effects of CLI. Using a forced-choice task to measure offline sentence preferences and a self-paced reading task to measure real-time processing, we find (i) language-specific CLI for Yucatec Maya bilinguals but (ii) no CLI for Catalan bilinguals and (iii) no significant differences in real-time processing. We conclude that these results provide partial support for the Structural Overlap Hypothesis but do not align with the Interface Hypothesis. We also examine the role of language dominance on CLI but find no such effects.
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Asymmetric transfer and development of temporal-aspectual sentence-final particles in English-Cantonese bilinguals’ L3 Mandarin grammars
Author(s): Yanyu Guo and Boping Yuanpp.: 576–606 (31)More LessAbstractAiming to shed new light on the discussion on transfer at initial stages of third language (L3) acquisition and development at later stages, this article reports on an empirical study of L3 acquisition of Mandarin temporal-aspectual sentence-final particles (SFPs) le, ne and láizhe by English speaking and English-Cantonese bilingual learners, at both low and high proficiency levels. Cantonese is typologically and structurally closer to Mandarin than English is. Our findings show obvious facilitative effects on le by its Cantonese counterpart in English-Cantonese bilingual learners’ L3 Mandarin, which supports the L3 models that advocate the deterministic role of structural similarity in the transfer source selection. A transfer asymmetry is observed between the cases of le and láizhe. No transfer effects are found in the L3 Mandarin data of láizhe, even though it has an equivalent SFP in Cantonese. This discrepancy is argued to be attributable to input factors and misleading forms. Moreover, patterns observed over different proficiency levels indicate that the quality and quantity of input and the register property of a particular SFP can greatly affect initial transfer and later development of L3 acquisition.
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