Hostname: page-component-7b9c58cd5d-dlb68 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-17T22:49:43.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

MORPHOLOGICAL ERRORS IN SPANISH SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS AND HERITAGE SPEAKERS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2011

Silvina Montrul
Silvina Montrul*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
*
*Address correspondence to: Silvina Montrul, Department of Linguistics and Department of Spanish, Italian & Portuguese, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 4080 Foreign Languages Building, MC-176, 707 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801; e-mail: montrul@uiuc.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Morphological variability and the source of these errors have been intensely debated in SLA. A recurrent finding is that postpuberty second language (L2) learners often omit or use the wrong affix for nominal and verbal inflections in oral production but less so in written tasks. According to the missing surface inflection hypothesis, L2 learners have intact functional projections, but errors stem from problems during production only (a mapping or processing deficit). This article shows that morphological variability is also characteristic of heritage speakers (early bilinguals of ethnic minority languages) who were exposed to the family language naturalistically in early childhood but failed to acquire age-appropriate linguistic competence in the language. However, because errors in heritage speakers are more frequent in written than in oral tasks, the missing surface inflection hypothesis does not apply to them. The discussion considers how morphological errors in the two populations seem to be related to the type of experience.

Type
Research Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 33 , Special Issue 2: The Linguistic Competence of Heritage Speakers , June 2011 , pp. 163 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bley-Vroman, R. (1989). The logical problem of second language learning. In Gass, S. & Schachter, J. (Eds.), Linguistic perspectives on second language acquisition (pp. 41–68). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bley-Vroman, R. (2009). The evolving context of the fundamental difference hypothesis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31, 175–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bock, K. (1995). Sentence production: From mind to mouth. In Miller, J. L. & Eimas, P. D. (Eds.), Handbook of perception and cognition: Vol. 11. Speech, language, and communication (pp. 181–216). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bowles, M., & Montrul, S. (2009). Instructed L2 acquisition of differential object marking in Spanish. In Leow, R., Campos, H., & Lardiere, D. (Eds.), Little words: Their history, phonology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics and acquisition (pp. 199–110). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Bruhn de Garavito, J., & White, L. (2003). The L2 acquisition of Spanish DPs: The status of grammatical features. In Pérez-Leroux, A. T. & Liceras, J. (Eds.), The acquisition of Spanish morphosyntax: The L1/L2 connection (pp. 151–176). Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Clahsen, H., & Muysken, P. (1986). The UG paradox in L2 acquisition. Second Language Research, 5, 1–29.Google Scholar
Collentine, J. (1995). The development of complex syntax and mood selection abilities by intermediate level learners of Spanish. Hispania, 78, 122–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colombi, C. (1997). Perfil del discurso escrito en textos de hispanohablantes: Teoría y práctica [Profile of written discourse in texts of Spanish speakers: Theory and practice]. In Colombi, M. C. & Alarcón, F. (Eds.), La enseñanza del español a hispanohablantes (pp. 175–189). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2000). The robustness of critical period effects in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22, 499–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2003). Implicit and explicit learning. In Doughty, C. & Long, M. (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 313–348). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Dell, G. (1995). Speaking and misspeaking. In Gleitman, L. & Lieberman, M. (Eds.), Language: An invitation to cognitive science (Vol. 1, pp. 183–208). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2005). At the interface: Dynamic interactions of implicit and explicit language knowledge. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 305–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, S., Flynn, S., & Martohardjono, G. (1996). Second language acquisition: Theoretical and experimental issues in contemporary research. Brain and Behavioral Sciences, 19, 677–758.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franceschina, F. (2001). Morphological or syntactic deficits in near-native speakers? An assessment of some current proposals. Second Language Research, 17, 213–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franceschina, F. (2005). Fossilized second language grammars. The acquisition of grammatical gender. Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giorgi, A., & Pianesi, F. (1997). Tense and aspect: From semantics to morphosyntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guijarro-Fuentes, P., & Marinis, T. (2007). Acquiring phenomena at the syntax/semantics interface in L2 Spanish: The personal preposition a. In Roberts, L., Gürel, A., Tatar, S., & Martı, L. (Eds.), EUROSLA Yearbook 7 (pp. 67–87). Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Håkansson, G. (1995). Syntax and morphology in language attrition: A study of five bilingual expatriate Swedes. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 5, 153–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, R. (2001). Second language syntax. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Chan, C. (1997). The partial availability of Universal Grammar in second language acquisition: The “failed functional features hypothesis.” Second Language Research, 13, 187–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Liszka, S. (2003). Locating the source of defective past tense marking in advanced L2 English speakers. In van Hout, R., Hulk, A., Kuiken, F., & Towell, R. (Eds.), The lexicon-syntax interface in second language acquisition (pp. 21–44). Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyams, N. (1996). The underspecification of functional categories in early grammar. In Clahsen, H. (Ed.), Generative perspectives on language acquisition (pp. 91–128). Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J. H. (2007). Binding interpretations in adult bilingualism: A study of language transfer in L2 learners and heritage speakers of Korean. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
Kondo-Brown, K. (Ed.). (2006). Heritage language development. Focus on East Asian immigrants. Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lardiere, D. (2007). Ultimate attainment in second language acquisition: A case study. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Long, M. (2007). Problems in SLA. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Marques, R. (2009). On the selection of mood in complement clauses. In Hogeweg, L., de Hoop, H., & Malchukov, A. (Eds.), Cross-linguistic semantics of tense, aspect and modality (pp. 179–204). Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarthy, C. (2008). Morphological variability in the comprehension of agreement: An argument for representation over computation. Second Language Research, 24, 459–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meisel, J. (1997). The acquisition of the syntax of negation in French and German: Contrasting first and second language development. Second Language Research, 13, 227–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S. (2002). Incomplete acquisition and attrition of Spanish tense/aspect distinctions in adult bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 5, 39–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S. (2004). Subject and object expression in Spanish heritage speakers: A case of morpho-syntactic convergence. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S. (2007). Interpreting mood distinctions in Spanish as a heritage language. In Potowski, K. & Cameron, R. (Eds.), Spanish in contact: Policy, social and linguistic inquiries (pp. 23–40). Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S. (2008). Incomplete acquisition in bilingualism: Re-examining the age factor. Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S. (2010). Dominant language transfer in Spanish L2 learners and heritage speakers. Second Language Research, 26, 293–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., & Bowles, M. (2009). Back to basics: Differential object marking under incomplete acquisition in Spanish heritage speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12, 363–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., Foote, R., & Perpiñán, S. (2008). Gender agreement in adult second language learners and Spanish heritage speakers: The effects of age and context of acquisition. Language Learning, 58, 503–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, M. (2004). A neurolinguistic theory of bilingualism. Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, M. (2009). Declarative and procedural determinants of second languages. Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poletto, C. (2000). The higher functional field. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polinsky, M. (2007). Incomplete acquisition: American Russian. Journal of Slavic Linguistics, 14, 191–262.Google Scholar
Polinsky, M. (2008). Russian gender under incomplete acquisition. Heritage Language Journal, 5, 1–34.Google Scholar
Potowski, K., Jegerski, J., & Morgan-Short, K. (2009). The effects of instruction on linguistic development in Spanish heritage language speakers. Language Learning, 59, 537–579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prévost, P., & White, L. (1999). Truncation and missing inflection in adult second language acquisition. In Friedman, M. A. & Rizzi, L. (Eds.), The acquisition of syntax (pp. 202–235). London: Longman.Google Scholar
Prévost, P., & White, L. (2000). Missing surface inflection or impairment in second language acquisition? Evidence from tense and agreement. Second Language Research, 16, 110–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothman, J. (2007) Heritage speaker competence differences, language change and input type: Inflected infinitives in heritage Brazilian Portuguese. International Journal of Bilingualism, 11, 359–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schachter, J. (1990). On the issue of completeness in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 6, 93–124.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B., & Sprouse, R. (1996). L2 cognitive states and the full transfer/full access hypothesis. Second Language Research, 12, 40–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M. (2004). In two minds about grammar: On the interaction of linguistic and metalinguistic knowledge in performance. Transactions of the Philological Society, 102, 255–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silva-Corvalán, C. (1994). Language contact and change: Spanish in Los Angeles. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Song, M., O’Grady, W., Cho, S., & Lee, M. (1997). The learning and teaching of Korean in community schools. In Kim, Y.-H. (Ed.), Korean Language in America 2 (pp. 111–127). Honolulu, HI: American Association of Teachers of Korean.Google Scholar
Terrell, T., Baycroft, B., & Perrone, C. (1987). The subjunctive in Spanish interlanguage: Accuracy and comprehensibility. In VanPatten, B., Dvorak, T., & Lee, J. (Eds.), Foreign language learning: A research perspective (pp. 23–48). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Torrego, E. (1998). The dependency of objects. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Truscott, J., & Sharwood Smith, M. (2004). Acquisition by processing: A modular perspective on language development. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsimpli, I., & Dimitrakopoulou, M. (2007). The interpretability hypothesis: Evidence from wh-interrogatives in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 23, 215–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ullman, M. (2001). The neural basis of lexicon and grammar in first and second language: The declarative/procedural model. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 105–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, L., Valenzuela, E., Kozlowska-Macgregor, M., & Leung, Y.-K. I. (2004). Gender and number agreement in nonnative Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25, 105–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar