Meaning and Structure in Second Language Acquisition: In Honor of Roumyana Slabakova

✍ Scribed by Jacee Cho (editor), Michael Iverson (editor), Tiffany Judy (editor), Tania Leal (editor), Elena Shimanskaya (editor)

• Publisher: John Benjamins
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 329
• Series: Studies in Bilingualism 55
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This volume presents a range of studies testing some of the latest models and hypotheses in the field of second/third language acquisition, such as the Bottleneck Hypothesis (Slabakova, 2008, 2016), the Scalpel Model (Slabakova, 2017), and the Interface Hypothesis (Sorace & Serratrice, 2009) to name a few. The studies explore a variety of linguistic properties (e.g., functional morphology, linguistic properties at the syntax-discourse interface) by focusing on distinct populations (L2 acquisition, L3/LN acquisition, Heritage Speakers), while also considering the links between experimental linguistic research, generative linguistics, and, in some cases, language pedagogy. Dedicated to Roumyana Slabakova, each chapter can be directly linked to her work in terms of the empirical testing of extant hypotheses, the formulation of new models and ideas, and her efforts to advance the dialogue between different disciplines and frameworks. Overall, the contributions in the volume bear evidence of Slabakova’s enduring influence in the field as a collaborator, teacher, and researcher.

✦ Table of Contents

Meaning and Structure in Second Language Acquisition
Editorial page
Title page
LCC data
Table of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
References
Part I. Second Language Acquisition
1. Testing the morphological congruency effect in offline comprehension
Theoretical background
Specificity in the scope of negation
Crosslinguistic analysis of grammaticalization of specificity
Grammaticalization of specificity in Russian: Genitive of negation
Grammaticalization of specificity in Korean: Two forms of negation
The study
Research questions
Methodology
Participants
Instruments and procedures
Results
Data analysis
Native controls
L1-English L2-Russian learners
L1-Korean L2-Russian learners
Discussion and conclusions
Native speaker data: Discrepancy between theory and empirical data
L2 Learner data
RQ 1. Do L1-English speakers, whose L1 is morphologically incongruent with L2 Russian with respect to scopal specificity, differentiate between accusative object NPs and genitive object NPs in L2 Russian in their offline comprehension?
RQ 2. Do L1-Korean speakers, whose L1 is morphologically congruent with L2 Russian with respect to scopal specificity differentiate between accusative object NPs and genitive object NPs in L2 Russian in their offline comprehension?
RQ 3. What is the role of proficiency in overcoming the morphological congruency effect in offline performance?
Conclusions
References
2. Mapping at external interfaces
Structure under study
CLLD in Romance
CLLD and specificity
CLLD in embedded clauses
Learning tasks
Research question
Methods
Proficiency test
Background questionnaire
Clitic-knowledge test
Audio-visual rating task
Results
Proficiency test and background questionnaire
Clitic task
Audio-visual rating task
The contribution of study abroad
Discussion
Conclusion
References
3. Another look at L2 acquisition of French clitics and strong pronouns
French and English object pronouns
Previous L2 studies
Experiment 1
Method
Materials
Participants
Results
Grammatical sentences
Ungrammatical sentences
Discussion of Experiment 1
Experiment 2
Materials
Participants
Results
Discussion of Experiment 2
General discussion and conclusion
References
4. Animacy-based processing loads in anaphora resolution in (non-native) French
Grammatical architecture and anaphora in French
The study
The activation of animacy: PIRH claims
Capturing activation patterns: Methods
Predictions
Procedures and participants
Results
Experiment 1
Experiment 2
Summary and discussion
Conclusion
References
Part II. The Bottleneck Hypothesis
5. The Bottleneck Hypothesis as applied to the Spanish DP
DP syntax in Romance and Germanic
The Romance Determiner Phrase: Word order, semantics, and phi-features
The Germanic Determiner Phrase
The learning task
Previous research: Rothman, Iverson, Judy & Guijarro-Fuentes (2009)
Research questions and predictions
Experimental and control participants
Experimental tasks
Grammaticality Judgment/Correction Task
Semantic Interpretation Task
Context-based Collocation Task
The data: A closer look
Results of Grammaticality Judgment Correction Task (GJCT)
Results of Semantic Interpretation Task
Results of Context-based Collocation Task (CBCT)
The data: A cross-task comparison
Discussion
Conclusion
References
6. The Bottleneck Hypothesis extends to heritage language acquisition
Introduction
The Bottleneck Hypothesis in L2 acquisition
Heritage language acquisition
Semantics
Syntax
Morphology
How the bottleneck may arise in heritage languages
Conclusion
References
Part III. The Scalpel Model and L3 acquisition
7. Testing the predictions of the Scalpel Model in L3/Ln acquisition
The Scalpel Model
Null and overt subjects
Null subjects (NS)
Overt subjects (OS)
Hypotheses
The study
Participants
Pre-test
Methodology
Data analyses
Results
Written production task
Pronoun interpretation task
Discussion
Conclusion
References
Appendix
8. Proficiency and transfer effects in the acquisition of gender agreement by L2 and L3 English learners

Transfer effects in L3 learners’ developing interlanguage
Gender and possession in Basque, Spanish and English
Previous research on gender agreement in L2 English
The present study
Participants
Experimental materials and tasks
Procedure
Data coding
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
References
9. Language dominance and transfer selection in L3 acquisition
Models of L3/Ln transfer
A privileged role of the L1
L2 Status Factor
The Cumulative Enhancement Model
The Typological Primacy Model
The Linguistic Proximity Model
The Scalpel Model
Linguistic background
English negative quantifiers
Catalan and Spanish negative concord items
Summary of the properties
The present study
Participants
Materials
Procedure
Results
Discussion and conclusions
Acknowledgement
References
Appendix A
Appendix B
Part IV. Applied SLA
10. What is easy and what is hard
Early approaches
What we don’t need to teach
Learnability considerations
Effects of negative evidence in the classroom
Inappropriate or misleading classroom input
Linked properties
Acquisition order
Parametric clusters
The Bottleneck Hypothesis
Conclusion
References
11. Generative second language acquisition and language teaching
Applied GenSLA research
Applied GenSLA intervention studies
Applied GenSLA investigations of teaching applications for generative linguistic research
Teacher–researcher engagement activities
Network events
Focus groups
Concluding discussion
Acknowledgement
References
Subject Index