International Journal of Bilingualism

Previous research has found that object marking with the Spanish particle a is variable among heritage Spanish speakers, based on data from offline experimental measures. The online self-paced reading method used for the present study has the advantage of being less metalinguistic, which may be important with heritage speakers. This incremental measure of sentence processing can also examine whether the single letter form a is simply skipped over during reading.

Thirty-two heritage Spanish speakers and 16 later Spanish-English bilinguals participated. Critical stimuli were 20 items testing a marking with direct objects and 20 items testing a marking of indirect objects in ditransitive constructions.

The data set included reading times from self-paced reading, accuracy for post-stimulus comprehension questions, and secondary data from an offline acceptability judgment, all of which were analyzed via ANOVAs by subject and by item.

Both groups exhibited robust sensitivity to a marking of indirect objects, sensitivity to a marking with inanimate direct objects, and no sensitivity to a marking with animate direct objects.

This is the first study to examine the real-time processing of object marking among heritage Spanish speakers. It is the second study to include a comparison group of late Spanish-English bilinguals in the US, as opposed to monolinguals residing abroad.

Incremental data from online processing indicate that the visual nonsalience of the marker a is not the sole or primary cause of variability in the marking of animate direct objects, because it was noticed in other written sentential contexts. In addition, the similarity between the two participant groups shows that variability with differential object marking is not limited to heritage speakers, but can also occur among US Spanish users educated abroad, where incomplete acquisition is not a question.

Heritage languages spoken by speakers in overseas communities can diverge significantly from the language spoken in the home country. Recent investigations have suggested that some grammatical structures or features are more vulnerable than others. This paper investigates the role of cross-linguistic influence, incomplete acquisition and attrition in heritage Cantonese in contact with English, focusing on the grammar of the pretransitive zoeng-construction in displacement contexts.

An elicited oral production task modelled on the fruit cart experiment was used to elicit displacement instructions in Cantonese. Fourteen heritage speakers and thirteen émigré speakers participated. All had acquired Cantonese as their first language but experienced a shift of language dominance to English due to immigration and education. Seventeen native speakers of Cantonese in Hong Kong served as the baseline.

The utterances were manually transcribed and coded. Production and error rates were calculated. Statistical results revealed quantitative differences among the three groups of Cantonese speakers. The baseline speakers preferred the zoeng-construction in displacement contexts, whereas the heritage and émigré speakers made greater use of canonical and topicalization structures. Nevertheless, the zoeng-sentences produced by the heritage and émigré speakers were all grammatical and felicitous.

The basic structure of the zoeng-construction is kept intact in less than half of the heritage and émigré speakers’ Cantonese grammar. The zoeng-construction is thus vulnerable to intergenerational language change induced by language contact and individual differences, which is partially attributable to cross-linguistic influence from English.

This is the first experimental study to investigate the grammar of heritage Cantonese.

The study provides new empirical evidence of structural vulnerability and variability of heritage grammar and sheds light on the role of incomplete acquisition, cross-linguistic influence and attrition in such vulnerability.

We compared the processing of morphologically complex derived vs. inflected forms in native speakers of German and highly proficient native Russian second language (L2) learners of German.

We measured morphological priming effects for derived and inflected German words. To ensure that priming effects were genuinely morphological, the design also contained semantic and orthographic control conditions.

40 native speakers of German and 36 native Russian learners of L2 German participated in a masked-priming lexical-decision experiment. For both participant groups, priming effects for derived vs. inflected words were compared using linear mixed effects models.

While first language (L1) speakers showed similar facilitation effects for both derived and inflected primes, L2 speakers showed a difference between the two prime types, with robust priming effects only for derived, but not for inflected forms.

Unlike in previous studies investigating derivation and inflection in L2 processing, priming effects for derived and inflected prime–target pairs were determined on the basis of the same target word, allowing for a direct comparison between the two morphological phenomena. In this respect, this is the first study to directly compare the processing of derived vs. inflected forms in L2 speakers.

The results are inconsistent with accounts predicting general L1/L2 differences for all types of morphologically complex forms as well as accounts assuming that L1 and L2 processing are based on the same mechanisms. We discuss theoretical implications for L2 processing mechanisms, and propose an explanation which can account for the data pattern.

Bilinguals tend to experience “difficulties” with contrasts specific to their nondominant language. This study investigates the discrimination of the /ʎ/-/ʒ/ contrast of Majorcan Catalan by two groups of Catalan–Spanish bilinguals differing in their linguistic experience, Catalan- versus Spanish-dominant.

Participants completed a categorical discrimination task to examine their perception of the following pairwise comparisons, relevant to assessing the perceptibility of the Majorcan Catalan /ʎ/-/ʒ/ contrast: [ʎ]-[ʒ], [ʎ]-[j], and [ʒ]-[j].

Data consisted of arcsine-transformed proportion-correct responses obtained by means of a categorical discrimination task using the odd-item-out AXB paradigm.

The results indicate that Spanish-dominant bilinguals are less accurate than Catalan-dominant ones in terms of their discrimination of the sounds involved in the /ʎ/-/ʒ/ contrast. Catalan-dominant participants discriminate any pairs involving [ʒ] very accurately. Interestingly, however, all participants find the [ʎ]-[j] pair difficult to discriminate.

This study examines perception of a contrast not examined before, and its results suggest a surprising pattern of asymmetry in phonological representations of the target contrast.

The results suggest that language dominance in the Catalan–Spanish contact community modulates discrimination of the /ʎ/-/ʒ/ contrast. The findings also suggest that Catalan-dominant listeners’ representation of /ʎ/ and /ʒ/ may be asymmetrical: The representation of /ʎ/ may be fuzzier than that of /ʒ/.

This study aimed to investigate how individuals’ inhibitory control (IC) ability affects language switching in the initial period of language learning.

Using a pretest/posttest design and event-related potential (ERP) methodology, we investigated the effect of IC on Chinese–English bilinguals during their language switching between Chinese (L1) and Korean (a language new to the participants, Lnew). All participants were required to name pictures (picture-naming task) in their L1 and Lnew in the pretest and posttest. Low-IC participants received an IC task training between the pretest and the posttest, while the high-IC group did not.

Analyses of both response latencies and ERP data were conducted by repeated-measures ANOVA.

Results showed that the high-IC group exhibited symmetrical switch costs in both the pretest and the posttest. Besides, a more obvious late positive component (LPC) was observed when the high-IC participants switched from L1 to Lnew than the other way around, indicating their ability to inhibit cross-language interference. In contrast, the low-IC group exhibited asymmetrical switch costs, and no amplitude difference when switching between Lnew and L1 in the pretest. However, in the posttest, the switch costs pattern and the LPC results of the low-IC group became similar to those of the high-IC group.

The present study was a first attempt to provide electrophysiological evidence that IC ability plays an important role during L1–Lnew switching.

These findings support the hypothesis that individuals’ IC ability plays a role of suppressing the non-target lexical access during language switching in the initial period of second language learning. The results also indicate that the relevant training in IC ability could contribute to the improvement of the language-switching efficiency in the initial period of language learning.

The threshold hypothesis is one of the most influential theoretical frameworks on the relation between bilingualism and cognition. This hypothesis suggests a bilingual cognitive disadvantage at a low proficiency level and a cognitive advantage at a high proficiency level in both languages. The aim of our study is to contribute to the operationalisation of the threshold hypothesis by analysing parental support for L1 and its influence on the cognitive development of bilingual children.

We analyse data from 100 Turkish–English successive bilingual children and from their parents, and investigate the relation between bilingualism and cognition. The data from the children are scores on receptive and productive vocabulary tests and a non-verbal intelligence test (Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices). In addition, the parents filled in a questionnaire on language use at home and a questionnaire on language dominance.

Our study shows a bilingual advantage for those children whose parents use more L1 at home and have higher dominance scores for L1. These children outperform the monolingual control groups in our study in terms of non-verbal intelligence scores.

The originality of the present study resides in the fact that, to our knowledge, for the first time parental support for L1 and dominance in L1 is linked to the cognitive development of the children.

In this way, we can operationalise the threshold hypothesis and get further insights in the relation between bilingualism and cognition. This will allow informed decisions on the use and support for L1 in bilingual families.

One limitation of the present study is the fact that our sample is only from middle-class families, and conclusions about other bilingual settings are therefore limited.

The goal of this study was to investigate diversity among Spanish–English bilingual university-level students’ reading outcomes and the impact of reading attitudes, motivation, and variation in language environment.

The current study included 50 Spanish–English bilingual undergraduate students, mean age 21.8 years, from a university in the western United States. Participants were administered a battery of standardized assessments including measures of executive function, English reading comprehension, working memory, non-verbal IQ, and questionnaires addressing language environment, language behaviour, and attitudes toward reading in English and Spanish.

Hierarchical linear regression models regressing reading performance on questionnaire responses were performed.

Spanish–English bilingual university students showed differential reading comprehension outcomes, which were significantly predicted by differences in attitudes toward reading, extrinsic and/or instrumental motivation, and environmental language usage. A combined model of IQ, working memory, perceived English reading skills, and composite of positive attitudes toward reading in Spanish and English accounted for the most variance in reading comprehension scores, 38.5%, F(2,502), p = .03. Greater Spanish use for workplace customer communication significantly predicted higher English reading comprehension.

Distinct from previous research, learners’ perceived value of Spanish reading and use of Spanish in the workplace accounted for variance in English reading outcomes.

Our findings that individual and environmental factors influence variation in reading outcomes indicates further heterogeneity among Spanish–English bilingual university students, with potential implications for reading development and university success.

This is a proof-of-concept study designed to evaluate the level of language anxiety among immigrants by assessing autonomic arousal associated with heritage language anxiety and majority language anxiety among three generations of Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands. It examines the possible relationship between physiology, bilingual speech, language background variables and language anxiety.

Two measures of electrodermal activity – skin conductance level (SCL) and skin conductance response (SCR) – were recorded during a video-retelling task in six experimental phases: baseline (2×), free (bilingual) mode (2×), monolingual heritage-language (Turkish) mode, and monolingual majority-language (Dutch) mode. Participants (n=30) ranked their level of language anxiety after the Turkish monolingual mode and Dutch monolingual mode. A Likert scale-based questionnaire was used to gather information on language background variables (i.e. age of acquisition, oral language proficiency and frequency of language use).

Third-generation bilinguals, to a greater extent than first- and second-generation bilinguals, demonstrated greater autonomic arousal during the Turkish monolingual mode than during the Dutch one. Participants’ SCLs/SCRs in monolingual modes were strongly correlated with their self-reports on heritage and majority language anxiety. Higher levels of SCLs/SCRs in the Turkish monolingual mode were negatively correlated with participants’ Turkish oral proficiency levels and frequency of daily use of Turkish. The correlations between SCLs/SCRs in the Dutch monolingual mode and participants’ Dutch oral proficiency levels and frequency of daily use of Dutch, on the other hand, were low to non-significant. These findings suggest that language anxiety is also related to social and psychological factors, rather than only self-perceived low language proficiency.

The outcome confirms the presence of language anxiety in immigrant contexts. An interdisciplinary approach that applies physiological measures together with social factors and self-reports can shed further light on language anxiety.

The study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of language anxiety in immigrant contexts and provides evidence for the relationship between anxiety, bilingual speech and autonomic arousal.

This study examines intra-speaker variation in code-switching (CS) by comparing the frequency and pattern of CS across two different interaction modes (interview speech and online posting) based on the same individuals. This study also explores the reasons why these speakers exploit their linguistic repertoire variably in different modes.

I interviewed 40 Chinese–English bilinguals based in London and collected their speech data by recording the semi-structured interviews. Written data were obtained by collecting the participants’ posts on Sinaweibo, a popular Chinese social media. A detailed questionnaire was also administered among the participants to gather information on their language attitudes and other social backgrounds.

For each participant, 30 minutes of the interview were analyzed and 50 posts were chosen for written CS analysis. Quantitative analyses were performed to describe the frequency and pattern of CS. The use of CS across interaction modes was further compared and analyzed against the specific characteristics of each mode and also against the participants’ language attitudes.

Results of quantitative analyses show that these participants used significantly more amount and more complex pattern of CS in their online posting. The suggested reason points to an elevated processing demand which is related to the nature of bilingualism and the level of synchronicity of interaction mode. Results of qualitative analyses also suggest that the participants’ positive attitudes towards CS and English language, both overtly expressed and covertly implied, contributed to the varying degree of CS use.

This study is among the first attempts to compare CS data across different interaction modes based on same individuals. Comparative data of this kind are quite scarce in the international literature.

The findings highlight and provide insights into the dynamic interactions between social, cognitive, and situational factors under the surface of linguistic practice.