9. Temporality issues in Moroccan Arabic and Dutch

Aims and Objectives: Several studies suggest that third language acquisition (TLA) is marked with complex patterns of language interaction. However, it is not clear yet to what extent multilinguals activate each of their background languages in TLA, as various factors may trigger the activation of one of the previously learnt languages. This study aims to contribute to the discussion by examining the use of verbal morphology in third language (L3) Turkish of Russian–English–Turkish trilinguals. We investigate whether the use of verbal morphology in L3 Turkish of Russian–English–Turkish trilinguals differs from that of Turkish native speakers and in the case of a deviation, which of the background languages can account for it. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is done within the framework of cross-linguistic influence. Data and Analysis: The data are collected from eight native speakers of Russian who are highly proficient in their L2 English and L3 Turkish, and use their three languages more or less equally every day. Fictional narratives are employed in the study as the tool for data collection. The use of finite and non-finite verbal forms in Turkish is compared with the baseline data coming from native speakers of Turkish. Findings/Conclusions: The results reveal that the trilingual participants mainly use the verbal morphology consistently with native speakers of Turkish; nonetheless, two deviations from the Turkish baseline stand out: tendency to use finite verbal forms in their noun clauses and inconsistency in the use of temporal-aspectual markers in finite verbal forms. The former can be attributed to the L1 and L2 interlanguage, while the latter can be attributed to the influence of particularly L1 Russian. Originality, and significance/Implications: Thus, the study provides evidence that the source of interference into L3 production is likely to occur due to the cross-linguistic influence from L1, which in turn might imply the predominant position of L1 over sequentially learnt languages at the morphosyntactic level in the language processing.

Section: Finite Verbal Forms In the Use Of Russian-english-turkish Trilingualssupporting

confidence: 90%

The use of verbal morphology in Turkish as a third language: The case of Russian–English–Turkish trilinguals

Antonova-Ünlü

Sağın-Şimşek

2014

“…Like other immigrants and heritage language speakers, Arabic-speaking immigrants are naturally less exposed to Arabic than their majority language counterparts. Therefore, they show gaps in lexical knowledge and other linguistic gaps when compared with monolinguals as reflected in word naming (Albirini, 2015), word selection, use of numbers, prepositions and possessives (Albirini & Benmamoun, 2014), morphological skills (Benmamoun et al, 2014), and some aspects of syntax, such as verb–subject–object (VSO) (Bos, 1997). In contrast, their phonological skills, namely, vowel production, appear to converge with Arab monolinguals (Saddah, 2011).…”

Section: Arabic-speaking Immigrants In Canadamentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative microstructure and macrostructure skills in Arabic diglossia: The case of Arab immigrant children in Canada

Asli‐Badarneh¹,

Hipfner-Boucher²,

Bumgardner³

et al. 2022

Aims and objectives: The study investigated narrative microstructure skills of Arabic-speaking immigrant children in Canada ( N = 75; age range 7–12 years) with specific focus on diglossia and the lexical distance between Spoken Arabic (SpA) and Standard Arabic (StA). The study also tested the relationship between microstructure and macrostructure and probed into the relative importance of general versus diglossia-specific features of microstructure in predicting macrostructure. Design/methodology/approach: Participants were asked to tell a story from a picture using an Arabic version of the Test of Narrative Language (Gillam & Pearson, 2004). Instructions to participants were given in StA. Data and analysis: General measures of microstructure were coded: number of tokens, number of types, type/token ratio, and mean length of utterance (MLU). In addition to these general measures, we coded the average frequency of five diglossia-specific word types: (a) identical words, which keep the same phonological form in StA and SpA; (b) SpA cognates, namely, cognate words that keep different yet related forms in StA and SpA, used in their SpA form; (c) StA cognates, cognate words used in their StA forms; (d) unique SpA words; and (e) unique StA words. Regression analysis was used to predict macrostructure from general and diglossia-specific features of microstructure. Findings/conclusions: Results showed that the bulk of the lexicon of the narratives produced by immigrant children consisted of words and word forms that are within SpA: identical words, SpA cognates, and unique SpA words; StA word forms appeared less frequently, and English code-switched words were very rare. Results also showed that the microstructure features of narrative length in tokens and type/token ratio significantly predicted macrostructure beyond the children’s age and Arabic language proficiency. However, when diglossia-specific lexical features were added as predictors, the frequency of StA words predicted unique variance in macrostructure beyond age, Arabic language proficiency, and narrative length. Findings advance our understanding of narrative skills in Arabic diglossia among new immigrants and the role of lexical distance in narrative production in this context. Originality: The study is innovative in investigating the manifestation of diglossia in narrative microstructure features and the role of diglossia-specific features in predicting macrostructure, as well as in testing this question among immigrant children. Significance/implications: The study demonstrates the multifaceted lexicon of diglossic Arabic speakers as reflected in the microstructure of their narratives and the prevalence of SpA word forms in their lexicons. The study also demonstrates a significant relationship between microstructure and macrostructure, and the important role of StA lexical features of microstructure in predicting macrostructure. The results of the study have theoretical implications for the importance of lexical distance in understanding narrative production in children at both the microstructure and macrostructure levels. The study also has practical implications for assessment and intervention with Arabic-speaking children in diglossic Arabic.

“…That is to say, the affected L1 feature may resemble but does not fully conform to the L2 source. A possible example of this process in the realm of event conceptualization is found in Bos (2001). In this study, narratives (Frog Story) produced by sequentially bilingual L1 Moroccan-L2 Dutch children were analyzed with respect to the expression of temporality.…”

Section: Event Conceptualization In Bilingualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Segmentation and temporal structuring of events in early Spanish-Swedish bilinguals

Bylund

2010

The aim of this study is to examine patterns of segmentation and temporal structuring of events in early bilinguals. The participant group consists of 25 L1 Spanish — L2 Swedish adult bilinguals residing in Sweden, with ages of L2 acquisition ranging from 1 to 11 years. There were 15 native speakers of Swedish and 15 native speakers of Spanish engaged as monolingual controls. The participants provided online-retellings in both languages of an excerpt from the film Modern Times. The bilinguals’ L1 and L2 retellings were compared with those of the monolingual speakers of the respective languages. The results indicated that the bilinguals resorted to the same event segmentation strategies in both L1 and L2, opting for an intermediate degree of event resolution. This behavior fell in between the monolingual Spanish high degree of resolution and the monolingual Swedish low degree of resolution. As for temporal structuring patterns, the results showed that the bilinguals in their L2 converged with the Swedish monolingual controls, linking the events by means of anaphoric adverbials (i.e., ‘ x then y’). The bilinguals also converged with the Spanish-speaking controls in their L1 perspectivation patterns, as both groups left the temporal relation between the events to be inferred and focused on ongoingness (i.e., now x, now y). These findings are discussed in terms of convergence and co-existence of conceptual patterns (Pavlenko, 1999, 2008).