The development of shared syntax in second language learning

Abstract

According to Hartsuiker et al.'s (2004) shared-syntax account bilinguals share syntactic representations across languages whenever these representations are similar enough. But how does such a system develop in the course of second language (L2) learning? We will review recent work on cross-linguistic structural priming, which considered priming in early second language learners and late second language learners as a function of proficiency. We will then sketch our account of L2 syntactic acquisition. We assume an early phase in which the learner relies on transfer from L1 and imitation, followed by phases in which language- and item-specific syntactic representations are added and in which such representations become increasingly abstract. We argue that structural priming effects in L2 (and between L1 and L2) depend on the structure of this developing network but also on explicit memory processes. We speculate that these memory processes might aid the formation of new representations.

Proficiency modulates between- but not within-language structural priming

“…Indirect Object). Interpreting our results within the developmental model of L2 syntactic acquisition (Hartsuiker and Bernolet 2017), this structural overlap had a more facilitating effect for higher-proficiency participants because they are equipped with more abstract representations of Irish (L2) structures, presumably allowing for a greater degree of connectedness with existing representations of English (L1) structures.…”

“…The developmental account of L2 syntactic acquisition (Hartsuiker and Bernolet 2017) has implications for the relative strength of between-versus withinlanguage priming effects, since it predicts that only highly proficient bilinguals with fully integrated structural representations should prime as strongly between languages as within. Several studies have found evidence for equivalent effects, independent of the priming language (e.g., Schoonbaert et al 2007;Kantola and Van Gompel 2011).…”

“…A recent empirical and theoretical focus concerns the role of L2 proficiency in cross-linguistic structural priming. Hartsuiker and Bernolet (2017) hypothesised that L2 syntactic acquisition is characterised by the development of abstract structural representations that progressively become less language specific and more integrated with existing representations in L1. The presumed result is that similar structures in L1 and L2 share representations, which are activated during syntactic coding in either language, and thus facilitate cross-linguistic structural priming.…”

“…An established index of proficiency is participants' self-rated language skills across modalities on a 7-point scale, which has been found to correlate with direct measures (Lemhöfer and Broersma 2012). There is some evidence to support the contribution of L2 proficiency to structural priming, from L1 to L2 and also within L2 (reviewed by Hartsuiker and Bernolet 2017). However, this has not been a consistent finding in the literature to date (e.g., Hartsuiker et al 2016;Kutasi et al 2018).…”

Lexicalized structural priming in second language online sentence comprehension

“…Finally, prior research on priming in L2 production revealed that L2 syntactic representation develops with participants' language learning experience and proficiency, with lower-proficiency participants relying more on lexically specific syntactic representations (see Hartsuiker and Bernolet, 2015, for a review). To explore whether syntactic representations involved in L2 comprehension are also modulated by proficiency, we recruited participants of different L2 education levels (and proficiency), to be detailed in the following section.…”