Acquisition of clitics: A brief introduction

Grohmann, Kleanthes Κ.; Neokleous, Theoni

doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2015.05.001

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Generative approaches to Romance clitichood hypothesize that clitic promotion is an evidence of the Null Subject Parameter (e.g., Kayne, 1989). Provided that children start using clitics early in childhood (Grohmann & Neokleous, 2014;Larrañaga & Guijarro-Fuentes, 2012), it is possible that clitic climbing constructions could also be among the first parameters set in L1 acquisition (Wexler, 1996(Wexler, , 1998. Rodríguez-Mondoñedo et al (2005) found instances of clitic climbing constructions in the speech of five children as early as age 3;10.…”

Section: Clitic Climbing In L2 and Heritage Spanishmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of age and experience with input in the acquisition of clitic climbing in heritage and L2 Spanish

Gómez

2022

International Journal of Bilingualism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims and objectives: This study examines the role of age of first exposure and experience with input in the syntax of English–Spanish bilinguals. More specifically, I examine the production of clitic climbing constructions in Spanish (e.g., lo quiero ver “[I] want to see it” [Kayne; Rizzi]). Design/methodology: I compare two experimental groups of heritage speakers of Spanish ( n = 16) and L2 Spanish learners ( n = 17) from the United States (matched in proficiency) against a group of native Spanish speakers from Mexico ( n = 20). A sentence completion task was employed to elicit proclitic sentences across four verbal conditions: two in which clitic climbing is possible but with a higher or lower probability of occurrence, and two in which proclitic placement is agrammatical. Data and analysis: Results show a strong tendency to avoid clitic climbing constructions across all testing conditions. Two logistic regression analyses report no differences across all groups, who only favored the proclisis in highly grammaticalized verbs; proficiency among the experimental groups was a predictor in the production of these sentences. Findings/conclusions: A different time of onset of first exposure to the second language and a different experience with linguistic input (heritage language acquisition vs L2 acquisition) do not appear to affect the production of complex proclitic sentences in Spanish. Originality: Previous studies have employed a few selected periphrastic conditions to elicit clitic climbing constructions among English–Spanish bilinguals. This study further expands the range of verbal matrices employed in the four testing conditions and uses a more controlled testing environment. Significance: This study adds adult bilingual data to the ongoing debate on whether an early exposure to the second language results in advantages in the morphosyntactic domain.

show abstract