Cross-linguistic influence of L2 on L1 in late Chinese-English bilinguals

Liu, Ying; Qi, Ruying; Biase, Bruno Di

doi:10.1075/jsls.00014.liu

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…However, only very few studies have considered bilinguals acquiring null-subject languages without rich inflection (e.g., Chinese, Korean, and Japanese: Chen and Lei (2012) on Chinese-English bilinguals, as discussed above; Blais et al (2010) on Japanese-French bilinguals). Liu et al (2020) confirmed the overproduction of subjects in Chinese-English bilinguals but the participants were late bilinguals. Kang (2013) investigated subject realization in Korean-English bilingual children but their strong dominance in Korean made the study less comparable with others in the current analysis.…”

Section: Crosslinguistic Influence (Cli) In Bilingual Children's Refe...supporting

confidence: 60%

Is Referent Reintroduction More Vulnerable to Crosslinguistic Influence? An Analysis of Referential Choice among Japanese–English Bilingual Children

Mishina-Mori,

Nakano,

Yujobo

et al. 2024

Languages

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This study aims to examine whether a crosslinguistic influence (CLI) is exerted on the referring expressions of the spoken narratives of Japanese–English bilingual children in different discourse contexts. Thirteen early bilingual (school-age) children separately presented Japanese and English narratives for a wordless picture book and a speechless video clip. Further, seven Japanese and nine English monolingual children participated as controls. The linguistic devices that the children adopted to introduce, reintroduce, and maintain the topic were compared with those of their monolingual controls to detect any CLI. As predicted, CLI for English on Japanese was observed but not vice versa. In Japanese, bilinguals utilize significantly more noun phrases (NPs) compared with their monolingual counterparts. More crucially, this was observed only in the referent reintroduction context, indicating that only discourse contexts that require the integration of much pragmatic information may be vulnerable to English influence. Null forms are barely utilized in English narratives; thus, no influence from Japanese was observed. We present the referential choice patterns in the elicited spoken narratives of bilingual school-age children acquiring an under-researched language pair. By controlling for the discourse context, we demonstrate that CLI is more likely to manifest in the reintroduction context. These findings offer additional evidence for the interface and structural overlap hypothesis, further highlighting the criticality of considering information structure as an influencing condition.

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Section: Crosslinguistic Influence (Cli) In Bilingual Children's Refe...supporting

confidence: 60%

Is Referent Reintroduction More Vulnerable to Crosslinguistic Influence? An Analysis of Referential Choice among Japanese–English Bilingual Children

Mishina-Mori,

Nakano,

Yujobo

et al. 2024

Languages

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“…The interface hypothesis further argues that syntactic structures located at the syntax-pragmatics interface are vulnerable to cross-linguistic influence, but not those that interface with semantics (Chamorro & Sorace, 2019). There is consistent evidence for cross-linguistic influence at the syntax-pragmatics interface Contemori et al, 2019;Ergün, 2021;Foryś-Nogala et al, 2020;Jachimek et al, 2022;Liu et al, 2020;Sopata, 2021;Sopata et al, 2021;Torregrossa et al, 2021;Van Dijk et al, 2022;Zhou et al, 2021). However, evidence for influence at the syntax-semantics interface is mixed (Bolonyai, 2007;Jachimek et al, 2022;Lebkuecher & Malt, 2021).…”

Section: L2 Influence On L1 Syntaxmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Syntax-semantics interface, late bilingualism, cross-linguistic influence, Japanese, Korean First-language (L1) syntax was traditionally considered impervious to influence from a second language (L2; Chomsky, 1986;Schmid, 2011). However, there is mounting evidence for L2 influence on L1 syntax (Azaz & Frank, 2018;Ben-Rafael, 2004;Bosch & Unsworth, 2021;Dussias & Sagarra, 2007;Gürel, 2004;Lebkuecher & Malt, 2021;Liu et al, 2020;López Otero, 2022;Ramirez, 2003;Ribbert & Kuiken, 2010;Stolberg & Munch, 2010;Wolff & Ventura, 2009). A common explanation for these observations of L2 influence is that they reflect errors in retrieval rather than altered representation of syntax (Chamorro & Sorace, 2019;Schmid, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does L2 influence on use of L1 animacy constraints depend on alignment of syntactic and semantic features?: Evidence from Japanese–English bilinguals

Lebkuecher

Malt

2023

International Journal of Bilingualism

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Aims and Objectives: English allows inanimate objects to be sentence subjects (e.g., “The knife cut the bread”) but Korean and Japanese restrict subjects of causal sentences on the basis of animacy. In previous work, we found that Korean speakers relaxed their native grammatical animacy constraint when immersed in English (e.g., found knives to be acceptable sentence subjects in Korean). We suggested this L2 influence occurred because the Korean animacy constraint does not map cleanly onto the semantic representation of animacy—some inanimate objects (e.g., “fire”) can be subjects of causal sentences. In the current study, we further test this idea by examining the case of Japanese–English bilinguals. We predict that because the Japanese animacy constraint aligns well with the semantic representation of animacy, it will be less susceptible to L2 influence. Methodology: We first independently assessed the semantic representation of animacy by comparing animacy ratings from native speakers of Korean, Japanese, and English for 60 objects. We then asked Japanese–English bilinguals and Japanese monolinguals to provide grammaticality judgments for sentences that varied in subject animacy. Data and Analysis: We analyzed participants’ animacy ratings and grammaticality judgments using mixed-effects models. Findings: Animacy ratings supported a closer correspondence between semantic representation of animacy and the grammatical animacy constraint for Japanese grammar than for Korean grammar. In contrast to previous results for Korean speakers, Japanese–English bilinguals’ grammaticality judgments did not significantly differ from those of Japanese monolinguals. Originality: The current study is unique in that it suggests the vulnerability of structures at the syntax–semantics interface to L2 influence varies across different language groups based on the alignment between syntactic and semantic features. Implications: The current findings support the possibility that representations at the syntax–semantics interface may only be vulnerable to influence when syntax is incongruent with semantic features.

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“…e L1-L2 similarity (or congruence). Although cross-linguistic similarities do not always mean ease for L2 acquisition and differences do not necessarily cause difficulties, ample research has shown that some inter-linguistic differences, including those in functional morphology, pose serious challenges (Liu and Gleason, 2002;Liu et al, 2020;Montrul, 2001;Odlin, 1989). In other words, while complete congruence between learners' L1 and L2 can lead to positive L1 transfer, incongruence may often cause negative transfer, resulting in learning difficulties.…”

Section: Key Linguistic/input Variables Affecting the Acquisition Of ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing the Bottleneck Hypothesis: Chinese EFL learners’ knowledge of morphology and syntax across proficiency levels

Liu

2022

Second Language Research

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This study tests the Bottleneck Hypothesis (BH) that functional morphology presents the greatest difficulty in second language acquisition by examining Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ knowledge of both functional morphological properties and core syntactic properties across three language proficiency levels. Specifically, this study compares Chinese EFL learners’ grasp of subject–verb agreement (a functional morphological property) vs. their grasp of the syntactic formation rules (properties) of WH-questions including WH-movement, WH- do-insertion (i.e. the insertion of the auxiliary do), and WH- do-inversion (subject–auxiliary inversion): three core syntactic transformation rules. Analyses of the experimental results using generalized mixed-effects models yield complex results that generally support the BH. While subject–verb agreement was found to be persistently more difficult than WH-movement and WH- do-inversion, it was shown to pose essentially the same level of difficulty as WH- do-insertion due to the fact that the latter also involves the application of the functional features of SV-agreement and tense, i.e. the high level of difficulty of WH- do-insertion likely lies in its accompanying application of functional features. Possible explanations for the complex results and their implications are discussed.

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Cross-linguistic influence of L2 on L1 in late Chinese-English bilinguals

Cited by 4 publications

References 51 publications

Is Referent Reintroduction More Vulnerable to Crosslinguistic Influence? An Analysis of Referential Choice among Japanese–English Bilingual Children

Is Referent Reintroduction More Vulnerable to Crosslinguistic Influence? An Analysis of Referential Choice among Japanese–English Bilingual Children

Does L2 influence on use of L1 animacy constraints depend on alignment of syntactic and semantic features?: Evidence from Japanese–English bilinguals

Testing the Bottleneck Hypothesis: Chinese EFL learners’ knowledge of morphology and syntax across proficiency levels

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