On the role of lexical proficiency in the distribution of manner and frequency adverbs in child and adult heritage Spanish
Document Type
Paper Presentation
Presenter Language
English
Research Area
Syntax, bilingualism and Spanish in the US.
Location
MBSC Dodge Room 302A
Start Date
18-10-2024 12:00 PM
End Date
18-10-2024 12:30 PM
Abstract
We investigate adverb placement in child and adult heritage speakers of Spanish of Mexican descent raised in the United States. Following previous work , we examine the placement of frequency and manner adverbs within S-V-O sentence structures (affirmative and negative contexts) (Camacho & Kirova; 2018; Gomez Alzate et al., 2023). We explore the influence of crosslinguistic factors and lexical proficiency on their developmental trajectory and rate (Cuza & Solano, 2023; Daskalaki et al, 2022; Flores et al., 2017; Sánchez, 2019). In Spanish, adverb placement is influenced by verb-raising, enabling the verb to occupy various positions within the clause, alongside various other semantic constraints. However, this feature is not operational in English (Table 1) leading to potential crosslinguistic influence effects in English dominant heritage speakers. Will there be any robust differences between both bilingual groups? Do lexical proficiency and other language patterns play any role in the production of specific adverb positions?
An elicited production task (EPT) was administered to 14 heritage Spanish-speaking children (7;9-10;7, M=9;5), 25 monolingual Spanish-speaking children from Mexico (7;2-11;8, M=9;8), 15 adult Spanish heritage speakers (18-25, M=19;8) and 12 adult monolingual speakers (36-50, M=42;1). Preliminary results suggest that both heritage groups behave differently. They both showed less production of verb-raising structures compared to their monolingual counterparts, resulting in a higher frequency of production for the preverbal (SAVO) and adverb-final (SVOA) placements (Figures 1 and 2). Heritage adults reveal to have an overall increase in verb-raising positions and a decrease in preverbal positions compared to child heritage speakers; however, they seem to be overextending the production of the adverb-final position with both adverb types and polarities. These findings seem to be affected by lexical proficiency as Spanish dominant participants have a likelier production towards available adverb positions in Spanish (Table 2 and 3), and English dominant participants have a higher probability of production of adverb positions available in English (Sánchez, 2019; Shin et al., 2023). Further analysis will expand upon differences in the developmental trajectory of the bilingual grammars of these two groups (Cuza & Solano, 2023; Daskalaki et al., 2022).
Figures and Tables
References_Adv.docx (16 kB)
List of references cited
On the role of lexical proficiency in the distribution of manner and frequency adverbs in child and adult heritage Spanish
MBSC Dodge Room 302A
We investigate adverb placement in child and adult heritage speakers of Spanish of Mexican descent raised in the United States. Following previous work , we examine the placement of frequency and manner adverbs within S-V-O sentence structures (affirmative and negative contexts) (Camacho & Kirova; 2018; Gomez Alzate et al., 2023). We explore the influence of crosslinguistic factors and lexical proficiency on their developmental trajectory and rate (Cuza & Solano, 2023; Daskalaki et al, 2022; Flores et al., 2017; Sánchez, 2019). In Spanish, adverb placement is influenced by verb-raising, enabling the verb to occupy various positions within the clause, alongside various other semantic constraints. However, this feature is not operational in English (Table 1) leading to potential crosslinguistic influence effects in English dominant heritage speakers. Will there be any robust differences between both bilingual groups? Do lexical proficiency and other language patterns play any role in the production of specific adverb positions?
An elicited production task (EPT) was administered to 14 heritage Spanish-speaking children (7;9-10;7, M=9;5), 25 monolingual Spanish-speaking children from Mexico (7;2-11;8, M=9;8), 15 adult Spanish heritage speakers (18-25, M=19;8) and 12 adult monolingual speakers (36-50, M=42;1). Preliminary results suggest that both heritage groups behave differently. They both showed less production of verb-raising structures compared to their monolingual counterparts, resulting in a higher frequency of production for the preverbal (SAVO) and adverb-final (SVOA) placements (Figures 1 and 2). Heritage adults reveal to have an overall increase in verb-raising positions and a decrease in preverbal positions compared to child heritage speakers; however, they seem to be overextending the production of the adverb-final position with both adverb types and polarities. These findings seem to be affected by lexical proficiency as Spanish dominant participants have a likelier production towards available adverb positions in Spanish (Table 2 and 3), and English dominant participants have a higher probability of production of adverb positions available in English (Sánchez, 2019; Shin et al., 2023). Further analysis will expand upon differences in the developmental trajectory of the bilingual grammars of these two groups (Cuza & Solano, 2023; Daskalaki et al., 2022).