The Phonetic and Morphosyntactic Dimensions of Grammatical Gender in Spanish Heritage Language Acquisition (original) (raw)
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Gender Acquisition in Bilingual Spanish
2005
Tests with L1 and early L2 learners have indicated that gender assignment and agreement is acquired easily in French and Spanish, which is plausibly guided by the formal properties that distinguish gender-based noun classes in these languages (Karmiloff-Smith 1978, Pérez Pereira 1991, Möhring 2001). Case studies of bilingual French-German and Italian-German children (Müller 1987, Cantone 1999) have shown that these children develop each gender system independently; no clear evidence for transfer has been found. The present study investigates the early emergence of Spanish gender assignment and agreement in the spontaneous speech of bilingual Spanish-German children at the one-word stage and at the beginning of the two-word stage. It will be shown that although the morphosyntactic aspects of gender assignment and agreement are not directly affected, agreement within the DP manifests later in the productions of the bilingual children than in the productions of a monolingual control group. This observation can be related to a delay in certain aspects of prosodic acquisition, whereas the formally less transparent German gender system seems to have no impact on the development of the Spanish agreement system.
A Phonetic Account of Spanish-English Bilinguals' Divergence with Agreement
Languages, 2020
Does bilingual language influence in the domain of phonetics impact the morphosyntactic domain? Spanish gender is encoded by word-final, unstressed vowels (/a e o/), which may diphthongize in word-boundary vowel sequences. English neutralizes unstressed final vowels and separates across-word vocalic sequences. The realization of gender vowels as schwa, due to cross-linguistic influence, may remain undetected if not directly analyzed. To explore the potential over-reporting of gender accuracy, we conducted parallel phonetic and morphosyntactic analyses of read and semi-spontaneous speech produced by 11 Monolingual speakers and 13 Early and 13 Late Spanish-English bilinguals. F1 and F2 values were extracted at five points for all word-final unstressed vowels and vowel sequences. All determiner phrases (DPs) from narratives were coded for morphological and contextual parameters. Early bilinguals exhibited clear patterns of vowel centralization and higher rates of hiatuses than the other groups. However, the morphological analysis yielded very few errors. A follow-up integrated analysis revealed that /a and o/ were realized as centralized vowels, particularly with [+Animate] nouns. We propose that bilinguals' schwa-like realizations can be over-interpreted as target Spanish vowels. Such variable vowel realization may be a factor in the vulnerability to attrition in gender marking in Spanish as a heritage language.
Early language experience facilitates gender processing in Spanish heritage speakers
Proceedings Supplement of the 35th Boston University Conference on Language Development, 2011
Do heritage speakers (HS) have advantages over L2 learners (L2ers) in morphosyntax? Because results of recent studies are mixed, we revisited this question in three spoken word recognition experiments on gender agreement. 23 Spanish native speakers (NS), 29 HS, and 33 proficiency-matched L2ers completed an aural grammaticality judgment task (GJT), an aural gender-monitoring task (GMT), and an oral repetition task (RT). The results of the GJT and the GMT revealed significant grammaticality effects for all groups, suggesting that they all use gender cues in the noun phrase for noun recognition. Noun ending was not significant for the NS, while HS and L2ers were slower and less accurate with non-canonical ending nouns. In the RT, however, NS and HS showed a grammaticality effect while L2ers did not, suggesting that L2ers may not have the same type of implicit knowledge of gender tested by this task. These results confirm that HS have an advantage over L2ers in less metalinguistically explicit tasks and in oral production.
Early language experience facilitates gender agreement processing in Spanish heritage speakers
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2014
We examined how age of acquisition in Spanish heritage speakers and L2 learners interacts with implicitness vs. explicitness of tasks in gender processing of canonical and non-canonical ending nouns. Twenty-three Spanish native speakers, 29 heritage speakers, and 33 proficiency-matched L2 learners completed three on-line spoken word recognition experiments involving gender monitoring, grammaticality judgment, and word repetition. All three experimental tasks required participants to listen to grammatical and ungrammatical Spanish noun phrases (determiner–adjective–noun) but systematically varied the type of response required of them. The results of the Gender Monitoring Task (GMT) and the Grammaticality Judgment Task (GJT) revealed significant grammaticality effects for all groups in accuracy and speed, but in the Word Repetition Task (WRT), the native speakers and the heritage speakers showed a grammaticality effect, while the L2 learners did not. Noun canonicity greatly affected processing in the two experimental groups. We suggest that input frequency and reduced language use affect retrieval of non-canonical ending nouns from declarative memory in L2 learners and heritage speakers more so than in native speakers. Native-like processing of gender in the WRT by the heritage speakers is likely related to context of acquisition and particular experience with oral production.
Gender Agreement and Assignment in Spanish Heritage Speakers: Does Frequency Matter
Languages, 2020
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.
Gender in Unilingual and Mixed Speech of Spanish Heritage Speakers in The Netherlands
Languages, 2020
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.
Gender Assignment to Spanish Pseudowords by Monolingual and Basque-Spanish Bilingual Children
Languages, 2019
This study examines gender marking in the Spanish of Basque-Spanish bilingual children. We analyze data collected via a production task designed to elicit 48 DPs, controlling for gender of referents and for number and types of morphological cues to grammatical gender. The goals were to determine the extent to which participants rely on biological cues (female referent =>FEM gender, male referent =>MASC gender) and morpho-phonological cues (-a ending =>FEM,-o ending =>MASC, others =>MASC or FEM) to assign gender to pseudowords/novel words; and whether bilinguals' language dominance (Spanish strong/weak) has an effect. Data were collected from 49 5-to 6-year-old Spanish-speaking children-28 monolingual L1 Spanish (L1 Sp) and 21 Basque-dominant (L1 Basque-L2 Spanish) bilinguals (BDB). Results reveal a general preference for MASC gender across conditions, especially in BDB children, who produced masculine modifiers for 83% of items, while the L1 Sp children did so for only 63% of items. Regression analyses show that for both groups, morphological cues have more weight than the nature of the referent in participants' assignment of gender to novel words, and that the L1 Sp group is more attentive to FEM morphological markers than the BDB group, pointing towards the existence of differences in the strength of cue-patterns for gender marking.
Lingua, 2008
In this paper we analyze spontaneous and experimental data involving code-mixed DPs made up of English Determiners + Spanish Nouns (the casa ''house'') and Spanish Determiners + English Nouns (la [the/feminine] house) from child English/Spanish simultaneous bilinguals and from L1 speakers of English, French and Spanish with different levels of proficiency in their respective L2s (Spanish in the case of L1 English and French; English in the case of L1 Spanish). We show that early child bilinguals and adult simultaneous bilinguals (production data) and L1 speakers of Spanish (experimental data) favor mixings where Spanish provides the functional category, the Determiner, over mixings where English does. We also show that when confronted with these mixed DPs adult L1 Spanish speakers and non-native speakers share a preference for the English D followed by a preference for the default gender marking in Spanish, the masculine (el [the/masculine] house). In the case of the L1 Spanish speakers, this preference is overridden by the ''analogical criterion'', (la [the/feminine] house), which consists of assigning the gender of the Spanish translation equivalent (''casa'' is feminine) to the English Noun. We provide a linguistic account of www.elsevier.com/locate/lingua Lingua 118 (2008) 827-851 § The general issues that we discuss here are related to the joint research program on language development and these preferences based on the intrinsic Gender feature of the Spanish Noun and the intrinsic Gender Agreement feature or the Spanish Determiner and argue that the cognitive mechanisms employed by the bilingual, the Spanish L1 speaker and the Spanish L2 speaker in spontaneous production and in the grammaticality judgments task make different use of these linguistic units. #
Cross-linguistic influences in the acquisition of grammatical gender?
2008
Grammatical gender is claimed to be easily acquired in Romance languages, especially in Italian and Spanish. This can be observed in the early manifestations of gender agreement and in the low rate of agreement errors. In contrast, German gender is acquired relatively late, and children make more errors. Previous studies with data from our project have shown that, despite the easy acquisition of the Spanish gender system, bilinguals differ from monolinguals. Fillers and protoarticles are less frequent in the Spanish bilingual utterances; this concerns the first utterances until the age of around 2 years (Lleó 2003, Kuchenbrandt 2005). The lower frequency of nouns with (proto-)determiners can be attributed to the delayed acquisition of the required prosodic structures, which is independently attested in the bilingual Spanish data (Lleó 2002). In this study, we want to contrast the two languages, and we will address the question whether we find a Spanish influence on German as well. Following Kupisch (2006), the acquisition of Romance determiners by a bilingual may bootstrap the acquisition of determiners in his Germanic language, leading to an earlier convergence to the target system. In previous research, no difference has been found between monolinguals and bilinguals with respect to the acquisition of higher prosodic domains and the development of (proto-)articles in German (Lleó 2002). However, we have not yet focused directly on the development of determiners. This study shows a slight accelerating effect in bilingual German.
Gender Agreement in L3 Spanish Production among Speakers of Typologically Different Languages
Languages, 2023
Grammatical gender presents persistent difficulty for adult learners of Spanish in L2 acquisition; however, there is a literature gap in L3 acquisition of gender, specifically of topologically different languages. In this project, we investigate the acquisition of Spanish gender agreement by Russian (L1)/Mandarin (L1)-English (L2) speakers of Spanish (L3) and compare the findings with English(L1) speakers of Spanish (L2). Studying these languages is particularly interesting because some exhibit an explicit gender system (Spanish and Russian) while others do not (English and Mandarin). In order to examine the effect of L1/L2 influence of these languages on L3 Spanish acquisition, 55 participants completed two tasks: a picture identification task and a grammatically judgement task. Results indicate that advanced learners of Spanish of all L1 backgrounds performed at or near ceiling. All beginner learners performed better with canonically marked masculine nouns than noncanonical feminine nouns, thus corroborating previous findings. Regarding L1 influence, Russian participants outperformed the other two groups, especially in Task 1 (Picture Identification), thereby indicating that they may be transferring to some degree the grammatical gender system of their L1. Overall, this research provides evidence that multiple factors, including structural typology and L3 proficiency level, play a role in L3 acquisition.