Crosslinguistic influence

and language dominance in

older bilingual children.

Argyri
Argyri
Sorace
Sorace
University
Universityof
of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Bilingualism:
Bilingualism:
Language and
Language and
Cognition
Cognition
2007, 10
2007, 10 (1)
(1)
 CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE AND
LANGUAGE DOMINANCE IN OLDER BILINGUAL
CHILDREN.

‘In exploring the validity of this hypothesis (Müller and Hulk,

2001) for later stages of bilingual acquisition, the study aims to
establish whether crosslinguistic effects occur only in one
direction, i.e. from English to Greek, which structural factors
can account for the directionality of crosslinguistic effects, and
whether language dominance plays a role in determining the
occurrence and the strength of these effects in older bilingual
children’.

Questions:
1. Can Müller and Hulk´s hypothsis be extended to later developmental
stages?
2. Are crosslinguistic effects in one direction only?
3. What in the grammar of a language accounts for the directionality of
crosslinguistic effects?
4. Does language dominance play a role in crosslinguistic effects?
MÜLLER AND HULK Argyri
Argyri
(2001) Sorace,
Sorace,
2007
2007
 C-domain:
 Problematic
for monolinguals and bilinguals. Q.1: Can
Q.1: Can there
there be
be
 Grammar-pragmatics interface. transfer after
transfer after the
the
acquisition of
acquisition of the
the C-
C-
domain?
domain?
 Transfer exists while the C-domain is
being acquired.
Q.2: Is
Q.2: Is transfer
transfer in
in
one direction
one direction only?
only?
 Directionality: from anambiguous to
ambiguous.
Q.3: what
Q.3: what in
in the
the
grammar accounts
grammar accounts
 Overlap at the surface level creates for the
for the
transfer. directionality?
directionality?

Q.4 Does
Q.4 Does language
language
 Assumption: transfer is due to cross dominance play
play aa role
role ??
dominance
internal reasons only.
 CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE AND
LANGUAGE DOMINANCE IN OLDER BILINGUAL
CHILDREN.

 32 bilingual children aged 7 – 9

 1 Greek – speaking parent and

1 English – speaking parent

 16 children brought up in England and

16 children brought up in Greece.

 Control groups:
 15 English children aged 7 – 9
 15 Greek children aged 7 – 9
 13 English adults (22 – 25)
 15 Greek adults (22 – 26)
 CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE AND
LANGUAGE DOMINANCE IN OLDER BILINGUAL
CHILDREN.
Selection Criteria for Bilinguals: Questions?

1. Between 7.5 and 9.6 years old.

How did you measure
2. No hearing disability or language disorder. language dominance?
3. Regular exposure to both languages from
birth up to test.
4. Fluent in both languages but dominant in Do they have
English/Greek speaking
English if living in the UK and dominant in friends/family?
Greek if living in Greece.
5. One parent native speaker in English and one What language do they
parent native speaker in Greek. Both parents speak when the two
should have used their native language when parents are together
with the child?
speaking to the child.
6. The parents should not be bilinguals from
birth. Do they use both ??
languages at school
too?
 CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE AND
LANGUAGE DOMINANCE IN OLDER BILINGUAL
CHILDREN.

TESTS:
 Elicited production task
6 test items
 Picture with action and a question (e.g. why did Eleni go to
the kiosk?)
 Acceptability task
6 test items
 Video of puppets answering questions from a presenter.
Participants decide which answer is more appropriate in
Greek/English.
 (e.g. Because (he) wanted to buy a book)

??
 CROSS LINGUISTIC
CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE
INFLUENCE AND
AND LANGUAGE
LANGUAGE
DOMINANCE IN
DOMINANCE IN OLDER
OLDER BILINGUAL
BILINGUAL CHILDREN.
CHILDREN.

GREEK ENGLISH PREDICTION

Null subject by It is (nearly) always Subject pronouns used in –
PREVERBAL default. necessary. topic shift in Greek.
SUBJECT Overt subject for E G transfer
focus.

POST VERBAL Used without focus. Not used at all. Preverbal subject will be used
SUBJECT (SVO or OVS) (Always SVO) with or without focus in Greek.

E G transfer

No transfer predicted.
OBJECT Pronouns Clitics No clitics

V – raising No v-raising. Preverbal Not relevant to interface

WH – embedded subject. between syntax and discourse
questions Den thimate ti efate i so no transfer predicted.
Maria What did Maria eat?
(not remember what She doesn’t remember
ate the Maria) what Maria ate. ??
 CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE AND
LANGUAGE DOMINANCE IN OLDER BILINGUAL
CHILDREN.
English

Both monolingual
Both monolingual and
and
bilingual groups
bilingual groups showed
showed
100% accuracy
100% accuracy in
in
production and
production and
acceptability judgements
acceptability judgements
in preverbal
in preverbal subjects,
subjects, wh-
wh-
embedded questions
embedded questions and
and ??
object pronouns
object pronouns
 CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE AND
LANGUAGE DOMINANCE IN OLDER BILINGUAL
CHILDREN.
Greek

All groups
All groups showed
showed
100% accuracy
100% accuracy inin
object clitics
object clitics andand
in the
in the elicitation
elicitation
production
production of of the
the Significant mean
Significant mean
null subject.
null subject. score difference
score difference
between the
between the
English-dominant
English-dominant
bilingual group
bilingual group and
and ?
all the other
all the other
groups.
groups.
 CROSS LINGUISTIC
CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE
INFLUENCE AND
AND LANGUAGE
LANGUAGE
DOMINANCE IN
DOMINANCE IN OLDER
OLDER BILINGUAL
BILINGUAL CHILDREN.
CHILDREN.
GREEK ENGLISH PREDICTION RESULTS
Null subject by It is (nearly) always Subject pronouns used Transfer effects
PREVERBAL default. necessary. in –topic shift in only evident in
SUBJECT Overt subject for Greek. English –dominant
focus. E G transfer children.

POST VERBAL Used without focus. Not used at all. Preverbal subject will Transfer effects
SUBJECT (SVO or OVS) (Always SVO) be used with or only evident in
without focus in Greek. English –dominant
children.
E G transfer

OBJECT Pronouns Clitics No clitics No transfer predicted.

100% accuracy.
V – raising No v-raising. Not relevant to
WH – embedded Preverbal subject. interface between Transferr
questions Den thimate ti efate i syntax and discourse occurred
Maria What did Maria so no transfer
(not remember what eat? predicted. E G
ate the Maria) She doesn’t
remember what
Maria ate. ??
 CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE AND
LANGUAGE DOMINANCE IN OLDER BILINGUAL
CHILDREN.

CONCLUSION:

‘this study provides evidence that crosslinguistic

influence can persist over time and can
unidirectionally affect both narrow syntax and
syntax-pragmatics interface structures in the
performance of eight-year-old English-Greek
bilingual children’.

Do you agree with this

conclusion? Are there any bits
you agree/disagree with?
 CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE AND
LANGUAGE DOMINANCE IN OLDER BILINGUAL
CHILDREN.
C- domain not yet
in place?
Transfer
effects?

What phenomenon are

we looking at?

Attrition?

Delay due to
Performance mistakes input availability?
due to lack of practice?

Parent input?
 CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE AND
LANGUAGE DOMINANCE IN OLDER BILINGUAL
CHILDREN.

References:

 Argyri, E. and Sorace, A. 2007; Crosslinguistic influence and

language dominance in older bilingual children, Bilingualism:
Language and Cognition, 10;1; 79 – 99.

 Müller, N. and Hulk, A. 2001; Crosslinguistic influence in bilingual

language acquisition: Italian and French as recipient languages;
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition; 4;1; 1 – 21.

 Müller, N and Hulk, A. 2000; Bilingual first language acquisition

at the interface between syntax and pragmatics; Bilingualism:
Language and Cognition; 3; 3; 227 – 244.