Lexical frequency and morphological regularity as sources of heritage speaker variability in the acquisition of mood

Abstract

The present investigation examines intra-speaker variability in heritage speakers (HSs) of Spanish by focusing on the potential effects of two variables in their acquisition of mood: lexical frequency and morphological regularity. To do so, this study tested participants’ interpretation and use of early-acquired mood alternations conveying either assertive or jussive meanings. Results from a truth-value judgment and a picture-based sentence completion task revealed that HSs’ performance was significantly modulated by the lexical frequency of the matrix verb introducing the modal alternation, as well as by the regularity of the embedded verbal form. In particular, frequent matrix verbs and irregular forms yielded higher rates of accuracy across most of the experimental tasks, suggesting that the degree of variability in HSs’ outcomes is determined, to a certain extent, by these two factors. These results favor an account of heritage language acquisition and loss focused on the effects of lexical activation on bilinguals’ grammatical representations (Perez-Cortes, Putnam and Sánchez, 2019; Putnam and Sánchez, 2013).

(Ir)regular Mood Swings: Lexical Variability in Heritage Speakers’ Oral Production of Subjunctive Mood

“…HSs’ parents immigrated from 15 different Spanish‐speaking countries, most commonly Mexico ( n = 15), Ecuador ( n = 5), and Honduras ( n = 4). Though we did not control for dialectal variation, recent research by Viner (2016) and Perez‐Cortes (2022) suggests that subjunctive mood selection with querer is essentially invariant for first‐generation immigrants from Spanish‐speaking countries. Sociolinguistic studies focusing on the vitality and productivity of subjunctive mood support these observations, indicating that, despite the presence of variability in the use of this form, the lexical trigger querer “to want” is among the governors with the highest rates of subjunctive grammaticalization (e.g., Gallego & Alonso‐Marks, 2014; Lastra & Butragueño, 2012; Schwenter & Hoff, 2020).…”

“…Our verb selection was the result of a series of empirically and theoretically informed decisions, providing a point of departure from previous studies that have scarcely controlled for the potential effects of lexical variables on HSs’ performance. Following the recommendations of Perez‐Cortes (2022), we selected regular and irregular verbs that represented different points across the frequency spectrum. This process, however, presented substantial challenges.…”

“…If salience affects HSs' acquisition and production of subjunctive mood forms, we should clearly expect that HSs will be better at differentiating between irregular mood pairs (e.g., sale/salga) than regular mood pairs (e.g., mete/meta). 5 Though regularity has been largely ignored in previous studies of HSs and subjunctive mood (for exceptions see López-Beltrán, 2021, andPerez-Cortes, 2022), recent research suggests that irregular subjunctive forms may be "easier" than regular forms for other types of bilingual speakers. In a corpus study of Quebecois French, Poplack et al (2013) found that verbs following a governing element that selects for subjunctive (e.g., vouloir "want") show a clear regularity effect.…”

“…Though her study tested mood selection in contexts that allow for indicative–subjunctive alternations, Perez‐Cortes’s (2022) results provide the most compelling evidence yet that HSs’ knowledge of mood is shaped by morphological regularity. In a sentence completion task that targeted subjunctive mood production with indirect commands (e.g., Mi madre me dice que estudie más “my mom tells me to study [SUBJ] more”), HSs were more likely to produce this form with irregular embedded verbs than with regular ones.…”

“…Though regularity has been largely ignored in previous studies of HSs and subjunctive mood (for exceptions see López‐Beltrán, 2021, and Perez‐Cortes, 2022), recent research suggests that irregular subjunctive forms may be “easier” than regular forms for other types of bilingual speakers. In a corpus study of Quebecois French, Poplack et al.…”