Second Language Acquisition at Interfaces: A Study of the Word Order Variation in the Chinese Nominal Domain

Jin, Jing; Ke, Sihui

doi:10.1007/s10936-020-09707-6

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Such perspective is, nevertheless, not without controversy. For instance, regarding adult L2 Chinese acquisition of the interface-regulated word order rules of prenominal modifiers in the numeral classifier construction as demonstrated above in footnote 1, the reaction time data from the advanced L2 Chinese speakers did not report significant differences between the word order phenomenon conditioned at the syntax-semantics interface and that conditioned at the syntax-discourse interface, which showed that the internal vs. external interface distinction did not suffice to determine whether a given interface grammar property (e.g., an interface-regulated rule on word ordering) would require more (or less) processing efforts for adult L2 learners (e.g., Jin and Ke, 2021 ).…”

Section: Previous Studies: Bilingual Acquisition At Interfacesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…For an empirical study of adult L2 Chinese acquisition of the above word order phenomenon at the syntax-semantics and syntax-discourse interfaces, readers are referred to Jin and Ke (2021). 2 For the similarities and differences between L2 acquisition and heritage language acquisition, interested readers are referred to Lynch (2003) and Montrul (2010aMontrul ( ,b, 2012, and the references therein.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…. wh-questions(Yuan, 2013), the overt pronoun ta "he/she" or a null element as an anaphora resolution(Zhao, 2014), word ordering of prenominal modifiers in numeral classifier sequences(Jin and Ke, 2021). Interested readers are referred to these studies for details.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…(ii) Context: A and B just passed by five girls, three with long hairs and two with short hairs. For an empirical study of adult L2 Chinese acquisition of the above word order phenomenon at the syntax-semantics and syntax-discourse interfaces, readers are referred to Jin and Ke (2021) .…”

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Language Interfaces in Adult Heritage Language Acquisition: A Study on Encoding of Nominal Reference in Mandarin Chinese as a Heritage Language

Jin

Lee

2022

Front. Psychol.

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According to the Interface Hypothesis in the field of bilingualism, the interface connecting a linguistic module with a language-external domain (e.g., syntax-discourse) will present prolonged difficulties for adult bilingual learners, as compared with the interface connecting language-internal modules (e.g., syntax-semantics). This study tested whether the Interface Hypothesis is applicable to the acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a heritage language. An internet-based acceptability judgment task (AJT) was administered to 58 advanced and intermediate adult Chinese heritage speakers to collect data in accuracy and reaction time to investigate the adult heritage speakers’ mastery of referential nominal expressions regulated at the syntax-semantics and syntax-discourse interfaces, respectively, in Mandarin Chinese. The target linguistic phenomena involved three nominal expressions (i.e., the bare N(oun), the [Cl(assifier)-N], and the [Num(eral)-Cl-N]) under four interface-regulated referential readings (i.e., type-denoting, quantity-denoting, indefinite individual-denoting, and definite individual-denoting). In terms of accuracy, the results showed that (i) for the N and the [Num-Cl-N], regardless of the interface type, the advanced group acquired the target phenomena to a nativelike level, who significantly outperformed the intermediate group; (ii) for the [Cl-N], the advanced group exhibited nativelike attainment at the syntax-discourse interface but not at the syntax-semantics interface, and performed significantly better than the intermediate group at both interfaces. Regarding reaction time, no significant differences were reported between the advanced group and the native group for the target structures at either the syntax-semantics or the syntax-discourse interface, while the advanced group performed significantly better than the intermediate group, regardless of the interface type and the structure type. The findings suggest that the nature of the language interface, i.e., whether it pertains to language-external domains (i.e., the external interface) or not (i.e., the internal interface), should not be a reliable factor for predicting the (im)possibility of nativelike attainment of bilingual grammar knowledge, contra the predictions of the Interface Hypothesis. The present study provides new empirical evidence to show that language-external interface properties are not necessarily destined for prolonged difficulties in heritage language acquisition, and that it is possible for adult heritage speakers to make developmental progress in both accuracy and processing efficiency at different types of interfaces.

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Section: Previous Studies: Bilingual Acquisition At Interfacesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Language Interfaces in Adult Heritage Language Acquisition: A Study on Encoding of Nominal Reference in Mandarin Chinese as a Heritage Language

Jin

Lee

2022

Front. Psychol.

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L2 representation and processing of Spanish focus

Leal

Hoot

2022

Language Acquisition

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The features and factors in the acquisition of English existential constructions at the syntax–pragmatics interface by Chinese learners

Jiang

Zhang

2022

Front. Psychol.

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This study adopted a mixed-method study design to investigate the acquisitional features of English existential constructions at the syntax-pragmatics interface by Chinese learners, and explore the factors for non-native performance from the perspective of the Interface Hypothesis. A questionnaire was administered online to 300 Chinese learners of English and 20 English natives at a university in China, which included a picture description test and a context-matching test. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 30 Chinese learners. The experimental data were conducted using comparing means and generalized linear mixed model. Results showed that Chinese learners overproduced existential constructions and reached a native-like level until the advanced stage. Moreover, Chinese learners displayed different preference patterns for existential constructions from English natives, and basically reached a native-like level by the intermediate stage. The qualitative data provided possible explanations for non-native performance. The analysis revealed that non-native performance in production attributed to L1 negative transfer and input frequency, while that in comprehension resulted from underspecification of form-function mapping, input frequency and contexts. Based on the findings, some implications on syntax-pragmatics teaching and L2 interface studies are provided.

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Second Language Acquisition at Interfaces: A Study of the Word Order Variation in the Chinese Nominal Domain

Cited by 3 publications

References 37 publications

Language Interfaces in Adult Heritage Language Acquisition: A Study on Encoding of Nominal Reference in Mandarin Chinese as a Heritage Language

Language Interfaces in Adult Heritage Language Acquisition: A Study on Encoding of Nominal Reference in Mandarin Chinese as a Heritage Language

L2 representation and processing of Spanish focus

The features and factors in the acquisition of English existential constructions at the syntax–pragmatics interface by Chinese learners

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