This study tests the Competing Systems Hypothesis (CSH) as applied to adult second language acqui... more This study tests the Competing Systems Hypothesis (CSH) as applied to adult second language acquisition of aspect in Spanish. The CSH purports that differences among tutored and untutored learners result from competition between one system of underlying grammatical knowledge and another of learned metalinguistic knowledge in tutored learners (TLs). Twenty-nine first language (L1) English and second language (L2) Spanish (L1-English–L2-Spanish) TLs and 29 native Spanish speakers completed three tasks examining knowledge of Spanish aspect. A Cloze Task targeted typical use of preterit and imperfect morphology, while a Semantic Entailments Task assessed acquired knowledge of entailments falling out from convergence on the aspectual system. Finally, a Binary-Choice Task targeted three pedagogical simplifications common to L1-English–L2-Spanish textbooks: adverbials that ‘go with’ the preterit or imperfect, ‘meaning-changing’ verbs in preterit, and the lower frequency of stative verbs in...
Abstract This chapter principally addresses L1 transfer effects via an examination of the acquisi... more Abstract This chapter principally addresses L1 transfer effects via an examination of the acquisition of properties related to the Spanish Determiner Phrase (DP), namely adjectival semantics. We compare the experimental performance of English-speaking and Italian-...
Four types of Determiner Phases (DP) in Spanish have arguments in the form of Prepositional Phras... more Four types of Determiner Phases (DP) in Spanish have arguments in the form of Prepositional Phrases (PP) introduced by de ('of'). Picture (foto 'photo') and deverbal nouns (descripción 'description') project a more complex argument structure than relational (primo 'cousin') and deadjectival nouns (belleza 'beauty'). The possessivization test implies that the most prominent de-PP of each DP type can be possessivized depending on different thematic hierarchies. This study analyzes whether comparative complexity affects convergence on possessivization, with earlier convergence predicted for comparatively simpler relational and deadjectival DPs. To test this prediction, this study examines order of DP acquisition in 52 L1 Spanish-speaking children (6-year-olds (N = 14), 7-year-olds (N = 21), 8-year-olds (N = 17)). A Graded Grammaticality Judgment Task (GGJT) containing 32 items divided across four conditions (relational, deadjectival, picture, deverbal) with four contexts each was administered. Results reveal developmental improvement and partial support for the prediction in that relational DPs are converged upon first, while deverbal DPs are converged upon last. This study's import is the novel examination of argument structure across four DP types in Spanish-speaking children with the aim of observing and explaining the developmental path.
This study tests the Competing Systems Hypothesis (CSH) as applied to adult second language acqui... more This study tests the Competing Systems Hypothesis (CSH) as applied to adult second language acquisition of aspect in Spanish. The CSH purports that differences among tutored and untutored learners result from competition between one system of underlying grammatical knowledge and another of learned metalinguistic knowledge in tutored learners (TLs). Twenty-nine first language (L1) English and second language (L2) Spanish (L1-English–L2-Spanish) TLs and 29 native Spanish speakers completed three tasks examining knowledge of Spanish aspect. A Cloze Task targeted typical use of preterit and imperfect morphology, while a Semantic Entailments Task assessed acquired knowledge of entailments falling out from convergence on the aspectual system. Finally, a Binary-Choice Task targeted three pedagogical simplifications common to L1-English–L2-Spanish textbooks: adverbials that ‘go with’ the preterit or imperfect, ‘meaning-changing’ verbs in preterit, and the lower frequency of stative verbs in...
Four types of Determiner Phases (DP) in Spanish have arguments in the form of Prepositional Phras... more Four types of Determiner Phases (DP) in Spanish have arguments in the form of Prepositional Phrases (PP) introduced by de ('of'). Picture (foto 'photo') and deverbal nouns (descripción 'description') project a more complex argument structure than relational (primo 'cousin') and deadjectival nouns (belleza 'beauty'). The possessivization test implies that the most prominent de-PP of each DP type can be possessivized depending on different thematic hierarchies. This study analyzes whether comparative complexity affects convergence on possessivization, with earlier convergence predicted for comparatively simpler relational and deadjectival DPs. To test this prediction, this study examines order of DP acquisition in 52 L1 Spanish-speaking children (6-year-olds (N = 14), 7-year-olds (N = 21), 8-year-olds (N = 17)). A Graded Grammaticality Judgment Task (GGJT) containing 32 items divided across four conditions (relational, deadjectival, picture, deverbal) with four contexts each was administered. Results reveal developmental improvement and partial support for the prediction in that relational DPs are converged upon first, while deverbal DPs are converged upon last. This study's import is the novel examination of argument structure across four DP types in Spanish-speaking children with the aim of observing and explaining the developmental path.
Recently, in light of minimalist assumptions, some partial UG accessibility accounts to adult sec... more Recently, in light of minimalist assumptions, some partial UG accessibility accounts to adult second language acquisition have made a distinction between the post-critical period ability to acquire new features based on their LF-interpretability (i.e. interpretable vs. uninterpretable features) (HAWKINS, 2005; HAWKINS; HATTORI, 2006; TSIMPLI; MASTROPAVLOU, 2007; TSIMPLI; DIMITRAKOPOULOU, 2007). The Interpretability Hypothesis (TSIMPLI; MASTROPAVLOU, 2007; TSIMPLI; DIMITRAKOPOULOU, 2007) claims that only uninterpretable features suffer a post-critical period failure and, therefore, cannot be acquired. Conversely, Full Access approaches claim that L2 learners have full access to UG’s entire inventory of features, and that L1/L2 differences obtain outside the narrow syntax. The phenomenon studied herein, adult acquisition of the Overt Pronoun Constraint (OPC) (MONTALBETTI, 1984) and inflected infinitives in nonnative Portuguese, challenges the Interpretability hypothesis insofar as it ...
This study examines the effect of adjective type on distribution and interpretation of Spanish ad... more This study examines the effect of adjective type on distribution and interpretation of Spanish adjectives in native Polish classroom learners of Spanish. A native Spanish group (n = 16), an advanced Spanish learner group (n = 24), and an intermediate Spanish learner group (n = 25) completed one task examining knowledge of the syntactic distribution of intensional and classifying adjectives and two tasks examining interpretive knowledge of the syntax–semantic distribution of qualifying adjectives in Spanish. While native-like convergence largely obtained for the interpretive tasks, statistically significant differences obtained between native and learner groups on the syntactic task, perhaps a by-product of overgeneralization of the postnominal position resulting from explicit instruction. The main import of this study is that examination of an understudied and typologically–distinct language pairing allows for syntactic and syntax–semantic microvariations to inform the L2 learners’ ...
In this paper we take a closer look at the oft-touted divide between heritage language speakers a... more In this paper we take a closer look at the oft-touted divide between heritage language speakers and adult second language (L2) learners. Here, we explore whether some properties of language may display general effects across different populations of bilinguals, explaining, at least partially, why these two groups show some common differences when compared with monolinguals. To test this hypothesis, we adduce data from two unique populations of bilinguals: a moribund variety of heritage German spoken in southwestern Kansas (Moundridge Schweitzer German) and L2 adult learners of Spanish. Empirically, we investigate whether the confound of switch reference adds an additional cognitive burden to these bilinguals in licensing object control predicates in the former and referential subject pronouns in the latter. Our preliminary findings support the view that overarching concepts such as incomplete acquisition cannot capture the variability observed in these populations, thus further supp...
The present study examines potential age and microparametric effects in childhood bilinguals (cur... more The present study examines potential age and microparametric effects in childhood bilinguals (currently adults) in an understudied language pairing, Polish-Spanish. Specifically, a Spanish group (N =28) and a Sequential child bilingual (N =22) and a Simultaneous bilingual (N =8) group living in Misiones, Argentina, completed three experimental tasks assessing their knowledge of the syntactic and syntax-semantic distribution of adjectives. Results show that, despite several semantic differences related to adjective position, both experimental groups demonstrate knowledge of interpretive constraints that fall out from underlying Spanish syntax. Differences predicted as a result of crosslinguistic influence were not evidenced, yet, contrary to Polish and Spanish, the experimental groups accepted ungrammatical postnominal intensional adjectives significantly more than Spanish speakers.
This study tests the Competing Systems Hypothesis (CSH) as applied to adult second language acqui... more This study tests the Competing Systems Hypothesis (CSH) as applied to adult second language acquisition of aspect in Spanish. The CSH purports that differences among tutored and untutored learners result from competition between one system of underlying grammatical knowledge and another of learned metalinguistic knowledge in tutored learners (TLs). Twenty-nine first language (L1) English and second language (L2) Spanish (L1-English–L2-Spanish) TLs and 29 native Spanish speakers completed three tasks examining knowledge of Spanish aspect. A Cloze Task targeted typical use of preterit and imperfect morphology, while a Semantic Entailments Task assessed acquired knowledge of entailments falling out from convergence on the aspectual system. Finally, a Binary-Choice Task targeted three pedagogical simplifications common to L1-English–L2-Spanish textbooks: adverbials that ‘go with’ the preterit or imperfect, ‘meaning-changing’ verbs in preterit, and the lower frequency of stative verbs in...
Abstract This chapter principally addresses L1 transfer effects via an examination of the acquisi... more Abstract This chapter principally addresses L1 transfer effects via an examination of the acquisition of properties related to the Spanish Determiner Phrase (DP), namely adjectival semantics. We compare the experimental performance of English-speaking and Italian-...
Four types of Determiner Phases (DP) in Spanish have arguments in the form of Prepositional Phras... more Four types of Determiner Phases (DP) in Spanish have arguments in the form of Prepositional Phrases (PP) introduced by de ('of'). Picture (foto 'photo') and deverbal nouns (descripción 'description') project a more complex argument structure than relational (primo 'cousin') and deadjectival nouns (belleza 'beauty'). The possessivization test implies that the most prominent de-PP of each DP type can be possessivized depending on different thematic hierarchies. This study analyzes whether comparative complexity affects convergence on possessivization, with earlier convergence predicted for comparatively simpler relational and deadjectival DPs. To test this prediction, this study examines order of DP acquisition in 52 L1 Spanish-speaking children (6-year-olds (N = 14), 7-year-olds (N = 21), 8-year-olds (N = 17)). A Graded Grammaticality Judgment Task (GGJT) containing 32 items divided across four conditions (relational, deadjectival, picture, deverbal) with four contexts each was administered. Results reveal developmental improvement and partial support for the prediction in that relational DPs are converged upon first, while deverbal DPs are converged upon last. This study's import is the novel examination of argument structure across four DP types in Spanish-speaking children with the aim of observing and explaining the developmental path.
This study tests the Competing Systems Hypothesis (CSH) as applied to adult second language acqui... more This study tests the Competing Systems Hypothesis (CSH) as applied to adult second language acquisition of aspect in Spanish. The CSH purports that differences among tutored and untutored learners result from competition between one system of underlying grammatical knowledge and another of learned metalinguistic knowledge in tutored learners (TLs). Twenty-nine first language (L1) English and second language (L2) Spanish (L1-English–L2-Spanish) TLs and 29 native Spanish speakers completed three tasks examining knowledge of Spanish aspect. A Cloze Task targeted typical use of preterit and imperfect morphology, while a Semantic Entailments Task assessed acquired knowledge of entailments falling out from convergence on the aspectual system. Finally, a Binary-Choice Task targeted three pedagogical simplifications common to L1-English–L2-Spanish textbooks: adverbials that ‘go with’ the preterit or imperfect, ‘meaning-changing’ verbs in preterit, and the lower frequency of stative verbs in...
Four types of Determiner Phases (DP) in Spanish have arguments in the form of Prepositional Phras... more Four types of Determiner Phases (DP) in Spanish have arguments in the form of Prepositional Phrases (PP) introduced by de ('of'). Picture (foto 'photo') and deverbal nouns (descripción 'description') project a more complex argument structure than relational (primo 'cousin') and deadjectival nouns (belleza 'beauty'). The possessivization test implies that the most prominent de-PP of each DP type can be possessivized depending on different thematic hierarchies. This study analyzes whether comparative complexity affects convergence on possessivization, with earlier convergence predicted for comparatively simpler relational and deadjectival DPs. To test this prediction, this study examines order of DP acquisition in 52 L1 Spanish-speaking children (6-year-olds (N = 14), 7-year-olds (N = 21), 8-year-olds (N = 17)). A Graded Grammaticality Judgment Task (GGJT) containing 32 items divided across four conditions (relational, deadjectival, picture, deverbal) with four contexts each was administered. Results reveal developmental improvement and partial support for the prediction in that relational DPs are converged upon first, while deverbal DPs are converged upon last. This study's import is the novel examination of argument structure across four DP types in Spanish-speaking children with the aim of observing and explaining the developmental path.
Recently, in light of minimalist assumptions, some partial UG accessibility accounts to adult sec... more Recently, in light of minimalist assumptions, some partial UG accessibility accounts to adult second language acquisition have made a distinction between the post-critical period ability to acquire new features based on their LF-interpretability (i.e. interpretable vs. uninterpretable features) (HAWKINS, 2005; HAWKINS; HATTORI, 2006; TSIMPLI; MASTROPAVLOU, 2007; TSIMPLI; DIMITRAKOPOULOU, 2007). The Interpretability Hypothesis (TSIMPLI; MASTROPAVLOU, 2007; TSIMPLI; DIMITRAKOPOULOU, 2007) claims that only uninterpretable features suffer a post-critical period failure and, therefore, cannot be acquired. Conversely, Full Access approaches claim that L2 learners have full access to UG’s entire inventory of features, and that L1/L2 differences obtain outside the narrow syntax. The phenomenon studied herein, adult acquisition of the Overt Pronoun Constraint (OPC) (MONTALBETTI, 1984) and inflected infinitives in nonnative Portuguese, challenges the Interpretability hypothesis insofar as it ...
This study examines the effect of adjective type on distribution and interpretation of Spanish ad... more This study examines the effect of adjective type on distribution and interpretation of Spanish adjectives in native Polish classroom learners of Spanish. A native Spanish group (n = 16), an advanced Spanish learner group (n = 24), and an intermediate Spanish learner group (n = 25) completed one task examining knowledge of the syntactic distribution of intensional and classifying adjectives and two tasks examining interpretive knowledge of the syntax–semantic distribution of qualifying adjectives in Spanish. While native-like convergence largely obtained for the interpretive tasks, statistically significant differences obtained between native and learner groups on the syntactic task, perhaps a by-product of overgeneralization of the postnominal position resulting from explicit instruction. The main import of this study is that examination of an understudied and typologically–distinct language pairing allows for syntactic and syntax–semantic microvariations to inform the L2 learners’ ...
In this paper we take a closer look at the oft-touted divide between heritage language speakers a... more In this paper we take a closer look at the oft-touted divide between heritage language speakers and adult second language (L2) learners. Here, we explore whether some properties of language may display general effects across different populations of bilinguals, explaining, at least partially, why these two groups show some common differences when compared with monolinguals. To test this hypothesis, we adduce data from two unique populations of bilinguals: a moribund variety of heritage German spoken in southwestern Kansas (Moundridge Schweitzer German) and L2 adult learners of Spanish. Empirically, we investigate whether the confound of switch reference adds an additional cognitive burden to these bilinguals in licensing object control predicates in the former and referential subject pronouns in the latter. Our preliminary findings support the view that overarching concepts such as incomplete acquisition cannot capture the variability observed in these populations, thus further supp...
The present study examines potential age and microparametric effects in childhood bilinguals (cur... more The present study examines potential age and microparametric effects in childhood bilinguals (currently adults) in an understudied language pairing, Polish-Spanish. Specifically, a Spanish group (N =28) and a Sequential child bilingual (N =22) and a Simultaneous bilingual (N =8) group living in Misiones, Argentina, completed three experimental tasks assessing their knowledge of the syntactic and syntax-semantic distribution of adjectives. Results show that, despite several semantic differences related to adjective position, both experimental groups demonstrate knowledge of interpretive constraints that fall out from underlying Spanish syntax. Differences predicted as a result of crosslinguistic influence were not evidenced, yet, contrary to Polish and Spanish, the experimental groups accepted ungrammatical postnominal intensional adjectives significantly more than Spanish speakers.
Uploads
Papers by Tiffany Judy