Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics - Volume 29, Issue 2, 2016

This study assesses the scope of the Crosslinguistic Influence (CLI) hypothesis’ predictions with regard to early bilingual acquisition. To this end, we analyze longitudinal corpus data from four bilinguals attesting the acquisition of subjecthood (null versus overt; preverbal versus postverbal) and the pragmatic adequacy of early null and overt subjects in a null-subject language (i.e., Spanish) in combination with a language differing in its pro-drop parameter setting (i.e., English). Our results indicate that CLI barely affects the development of subjects in the null-subject language at the initial stages, namely at the outset of null and overt subjects, and in turn support the Separate Development Hypothesis. Our bilingual cohort patterns with their Spanish-acquiring monolingual peer in that both groups display comparable proportions of null subjects as well as acquisitional trajectories of null and overt subjects at the early stages of acquisition. Much like monolinguals, bilinguals begin to produce preverbal and postverbal subjects concurrently. The bilingual children and the monolingual child of this study actually produce extremely high rates of pragmatically appropriate covert and overt subjects, which are for the most part target-like from the start, thus pointing to the absence of CLI effects. In light of monolingual and bilingual data, the paper also revisits the hotly debated issue of the ‘no overt subject’ stage of Grinstead (1998, et seq.), its existence in child Spanish being questionable.

The present study examines whether, as proposed by the Interface Hypothesis (Sorace, 2011), the syntax-discourse interface is especially vulnerable to non-native optionality even at very advanced levels. I focus on the acquisition of Clitic Left Dislocation in Spanish (CLLD), a structure that involves both syntax and discourse, when it combines with other structures at the left periphery (iterative topics, Fronted Focus, and wh-constructions). CLLD is a realization of topicalization requiring the integration of syntactic and discourse knowledge. This study provides data from an audio-visual rating task completed by 120 learners of Spanish of different proficiency levels and 27 monolingual native speakers. Results showed evidence that the most advanced learners had acquired the restrictions of these structures in a native-like way and supports López’s (2009) syntactic analysis of CLLD, whereby CLLD is generated through movement so that the pragmatic features [+anaphor]/[+contrast] can be assigned to the dislocated element.

The present study examines anaphora resolution in two groups of speakers exposed to Brazilian and European Portuguese (BP and EP, respectively), considering the different null subject distribution in these languages. Our research question is whether late BP-EP bilinguals (age of EP onset: 29.1) and heritage BP speakers raised in Portugal (age of EP onset 5.6), tested in both dialects, will pattern like the native controls or display some effects of EP in their native BP or vice-versa. This is an interesting question in light of the Interface Hypothesis, which claims that external interfaces should be subject to general bilingualism effects irrespective of language pairing and age (Sorace, 2011). The results show that age has an effect, as the heritage speakers do not perform like the late learners, and that the high degree of typological proximity between the two languages could hinder bidialectal acquisition.

We examine the acquisition of the semantic values of the Spanish present tense among second language learners and Spanish heritage speakers, an area so far underexplored. We predict bilingualism effects evidenced in lower patterns of use, acceptance and preference of the simple present with an ongoing meaning, as well as preference for the progressive in ongoing and habitual contexts. Furthermore, we expect the heritage speakers to outperform the L2 learners, and to behave closer to native speakers. In contrast to our expectations, we found overextension of the simple present to ongoing situations and to contexts where the present progressive is preferred. The heritage speakers behaved closer to the native speakers, suggesting age-related effects in language development. We argue for morphosemantic convergence towards the less aspectually restrictive configuration.

There is a strong line of research on mood selection of the Spanish subjunctive (e.g., relative, argument, and adverbial clauses), but little attention has been paid to the Spanish pluperfect subjunctive in second language (L2) acquisition. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the acquisition of the Spanish pluperfect subjunctive in conditional clauses. This study aims to demonstrate what is easier and what is more difficult to acquire, as well as what the results can tell us in terms of interfaces. Forty-five participants (n=24 adult Spanish learners and n=21 native speakers) completed a proficiency test and four linguistic tasks. The results show variation by native speakers in their use of the subjunctive, while Spanish learners had difficulty with the morphology, but not with the semantics or pragmatics. These results are consistent with hypotheses that recognize that difficulty stems from morphology. The findings also suggest that the use of the Spanish pluperfect subjunctive involves multiple interfaces that interact simultaneously at the moment of the morphological realization.

This paper reports on an experiment investigating the processing of accurate gender assignment in canonical and non-canonical inanimate nouns in Spanish by native speakers of Basque with nativelike proficiency in Spanish. 33 Basque/Spanish bilinguals and 32 native speakers of Spanish completed an online and an offline gender assignment task. Participants assigned gender to inanimate nouns with canonical (-o; -a) and non-canonical word endings (-e; consonants). The results revealed that the Basque/Spanish bilingual group obtained high accuracy scores in both tasks, similar to the Spanish native speaker group. Interestingly, unlike the Spanish group, the Basque speakers showed faster reaction times with feminine nouns than masculine ones. Canonicity seems to be a strong cue for both groups, since all participants were more accurate and faster with canonical word endings. Even though quantitatively Basque/Spanish bilinguals and Spanish monolinguals’ gender assignment accuracy rates do not differ, qualitatively, the Basque/Spanish bilinguals’ assignment patterns seem to differ somewhat from those of the native Spanish speakers.

Direct object clitics in Spanish are morphological markers at the interfaces of syntax, phonology, morphology, and information structure (Zwicky, 1985; Ordóñez & Repetti, 2006; Belloro, 2007; Spencer & Luís, 2012). They play an important part in argument morphology in Spanish and are subject to variability in bilingual acquisition (McCarthy, 2008). In this paper we explore the morphology-syntax-information structure mapping of direct object clitics in clitic structures in a range of speakers that includes Quechua-dominant bilinguals and Spanish monolingual individuals along a continuum of language contact situations. Our findings indicate clear dissociation between syntactic properties and marking of morphological features. They also indicate a progression from default gender marking in clitics to a scalar system of clitic forms based on animacy and informational value along the continuum of speakers. Finally, while clitics in liberal clitic doubling varieties receive a focus interpretation (Sánchez, 2010; Sánchez & Zdrojewski, 2013), our data indicate that in some Spanish contact varieties they denote the primary object and secondary topic (Sánchez, 2003; Dalrymple & Nikolaeva, 2011; Mayer, 2008, 2013, forthcoming). The findings of this exploratory study support the view that while clitics exhibit common syntactic properties across a continuum of speakers, they may vary in morphological marking and informational value.

This study describes the phenomenon of negative doubling in Chipilo, Mexico. It has been hypothesized that Italo-Mexican bilinguals who speak Veneto (L1) and Spanish (L2) have transferred a second final no (no fui no ‘I did not go NEG’) from their L1 into Spanish, a language that does not allow a repetition of the same negator in the postverbal position. This study analysed the data of 49 participants (Chipileños, mixed groups, and monolingual speakers) classified into two sex groups and four ethnicity groups, who performed a preference forced choice task and a repetition task. The results suggest a transfer effect from L1 to L2 in the bilinguals’ speech, specifically in the discourse of males. Second negative mention and verbs as previous constituents had a strong effect on elicitation of negation doubling.

The role of first language (L1) skills in second language (L2) achievement is often investigated to assist learners in acquiring their L2. There are several factors that may influence potential relations among Spanish and English measures (e.g., age of L2 acquisition, social status, among others). This study investigates relations among L1 and L2 variables for language learners. Specifically, it focuses on relations among oral language (vocabulary), reading (word reading and reading comprehension) variables and sociocultural variables (language dominance, acculturation, socio-economic status) in Spanish-English bilinguals, all of whom were attending school in a large metropolitan, English-speaking region in Canada. Results showed that in both English and Spanish, reading and oral language variables were related. Reading comprehension was related to word reading and vocabulary in the given language. Additionally, reading comprehension in Spanish was related to dominance in that language and to affiliation with the heritage culture.