This study investigates knowledge of gender agreement in Spanish L2 learners and heritage speakers, who differ in age and context/mode of acquisition. On some current theoretical accounts, persistent difficulty with grammatical gender in adult L2 acquisition is due to age. These accounts predict that heritage speakers should be more accurate on gender agreement than L2 learners, because their Spanish language acquisition started

The acquisition of the aspectual difference between the preterit and imperfect in the past tense and the acquisition of the contrast between subjunctive and indicative mood are classic problem areas in second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish by English-speaking learners (Collentine, 1995, 1998, 2003; Salaberry, 1999; Slabakova & Montrul, 2002; Terrell, Baycroft & Perrone, 1987). Similarly, Spanish heritage speakers in the U.S exhibit simplification of the preterit/imperfect contrast and incomplete acquisition/attrition of subjunctive morphology (Merino, 1983; Montrul, 2002, 2007; Potowski, Jegerski & Morgan-Short, 2009; Silva-Corvalán, 1994). This raises the question of whether the linguistic knowledge of a developing L2 learner is similar to incomplete L1 acquisition in heritage language (HL) learners. Because heritage speakers are exposed to the heritage language from infancy whereas L2 learners begin exposure much later, Au et al. (2002, 2008) have claimed that heritage speakers are linguistically superior to L2 learners only in phonology but not in morphosyntax. The present study reexamines this claim by focusing on the interpretation of tense, aspect and mood (TAM) morphology in 60 instructed HL learners and 60 L2 learners ranging from low to advanced proficiency in Spanish. Results of four written tasks showed differences between the groups both in tense and aspect and in mood morphology, depending on proficiency levels. Implications of these findings for heritage language instruction are discussed.

This paper investigates the acquisition of prepositional relative clauses in L2 Spanish by English and Arabic speakers to understand the role of previous linguistic knowledge and Universal Grammar on the one hand, and the relationship between grammatical knowledge and its use in real-time, on the other. An oral production task and an on-line self-paced grammaticality judgment task were analyzed. Results indicated that the acquisition of oblique relative clauses is a problematic area for L2 learners. Divergent results compared to native speakers in production and grammatical intuitions were found; however, L2 reading time data showed the same real-time effects that native speakers had, suggesting that the problems with this construction are not necessarily linked to processing deficits. These results are interpreted as evidence for the ability to apply universal processing principles in a second language, and the relative independence of the processing domain and the production system.

This study investigates the expression of Catalan cliticsenandhi, which have no grammatical equivalent in Spanish, in the adult grammar of Catalan-Spanish early bilinguals. Participants (N = 57), born and raised in Catalonia, are divided into 3 groups according to their onset of acquisition and language use: Spanish-dominant (n = 20), Balanced Bilinguals (n = 15) and Catalan-dominant (n = 22). The results of an Acceptability Judgment Task and an Elicited Production Task indicated that Spanish-dominant bilinguals have a divergent grammar compared to that of the Catalan-dominant speakers, overaccepting ungrammatical omission and doubling of the clitics. The bilingual group patterned with the Catalan-dominant group in some of their judgments, but with the Spanish-dominant group in their production. It is argued that onset of acquisition cannot be the only explanation for the differences between the bilingual groups, and that quantity and quality of input play an important role in the acquisition process.

This study reflects on the meaning of the results of a self-paced grammaticality judgment task that tested island configurations (with gaps and resumptive pronouns) in L1 and L2 speakers of Spanish. Results indicated that resumptive pronouns do not rescue extractions from islands, as traditionally assumed in grammatical theory, and propose that islands are essentially an interpretative or processing matter, and not only a grammatical one, as in Kluender (1998). This study further challenges the L2 studies that proposed that L2 learners are fundamentally different from native speakers because they usually fail to reject island configurations, and shows that L2 learners are sensitive to the same processing and interpretative mechanisms that native speakers employ to parse island configurations. Generally speaking, this study proposes that apparent purely syntactic restrictions such as extractions from islands might not depend on their grammatical formation, but on other relevant factors such as plausibility, embedding, and processability, which together with grammatical well-formedness configure a more holistic and useful notion of linguistic acceptability.

The present study explores two morphological differences in direct object expression between Spanish and Catalan: Differential Object Marking (DOM), and the accusative clitics el /l/ vs. ho /u/. Both phenomena are regulated by semantic features, such as animacy and specificity/definiteness. The study experimentally tested 57 Catalan-Spanish bilinguals with different degrees of language dominance in their comprehension and production of these Catalan constructions in order to explore the degree of structural convergence. The results show that with respect to DOM, bilinguals systematically accept ample optionality, creating a new language variety, the bilingual variety, with properties similar and different from both Spanish and Catalan. With respect to the accusative clitics, a certain degree of functional interference in the grammar of Spanish-dominant bilinguals is found. These results illustrate, on the one hand, structural convergence in DOM, culminating in an internal language change accelerated by language contact, and, on the other hand, incipient language transfer from the dominant language in the expression of accusative clitics.

RESUMEN: El presente artículo refleja los intereses, opiniones e incertidumbres que envuelven a adolescentes residentes en entornos de fragilidad. Es un estudio que aborda estas circunstancias desde tres barrios del área metropolitana de Valencia. Se analiza el entorno en que socializan: sus relaciones familiares y comunitarias, sus hábitos y percepciones de la realidad sobre la que actúan. Centramos nuestra mirada en ellos y ellas, con la finalidad de identificar sus riesgos y establecer un diagnóstico que nos permita determinar los hándicaps que surgen en sus procesos de socialización. Desarrollamos una metodología de triangulación cuantitativa y cualitativa en función de los objetivos que hemos diseñado. Todo ello con intención de elaborar líneas estratégicas orientadas a la inclusión socioeducativa. Así, se toma la actual transformación de las estructuras sociales como eje estructural y en base a ello, los principales factores positivos y negativos que inciden en una socialización resistente o por el contrario sometida a riesgos.Los principales hallazgos que nos deja la presente investigación contemplan una alteración de las estructuras sociales que inciden en el sometimiento del adolescente hacia el consumo; ello incide en la pér-dida gradual de actividades lúdicas grupales, con exiguas referencias a la vida y recursos comunitarios, una cosificación del juego con escaso margen para la creatividad, etc. Se observa cierta subversión del sistema de valores y desinterés en las administraciones sociales y educativas para la planificación y gestión de los tiempos de ocio. Se propone que las instituciones públicas locales lideren la creación de mecanismos generadores de una conciencia crítica, que colabore en el aprendizaje activo de los adolescentes. PALABRAS CLAVE: Trabajo Social; Adolescencia; Socialización; Riesgos; Sostenibilidad.ABSTRACT: The present study portraits the interests, opinions, and uncertainties that surround teenagers who live in a fragile environment. This study addresses these situations in three neighborhoods of the metropolitan area of Valencia. It analyzes the context in which these teenagers socialize: their family ties and community relationships, their routines and reality perceptions. We focus on these teenagers with the aim of identifying the risks they are exposed to, and proposing a diagnosis that determines the challenges these teenagers find when socializing. We employ triangulation to analyze quantitative and qualitative data. The ultimate purpose of this study is to develop guidelines for the socio-educational inclusion. Reamed within the new social change studies, this paper analyzes the main positive and negative factors that have an impact on a resilient socialization or, on the contrary, on a risky socialization.The main results show a change in the society which mainly affects adolescents. Little interest in group recreational activities, with few references to life in the community, loss of imagination in games. There are few references to the value system, little interest...

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