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10 - The Acquisition and Processing of Pragmatics in Multilinguals and Third Language Learners

from Part II - L3/Ln across Linguistic Domains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2023

By
Kyriakos Antoniou  and
Orestis Michaelides
Edited by
Jennifer Cabrelli ,
Adel Chaouch-Orozco ,
Jorge González Alonso ,
Sergio Miguel Pereira Soares ,
Eloi Puig-Mayenco  and
Jason Rothman
Jennifer Cabrelli
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Adel Chaouch-Orozco
Affiliation:
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Jorge González Alonso
Affiliation:
Universidad Nebrija, Spain and UiT, Arctic University of Norway
Sergio Miguel Pereira Soares
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Eloi Puig-Mayenco
Affiliation:
King's College London
Jason Rothman
Affiliation:
UiT, Arctic University of Norway and Universidad Nebrija, Spain
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Summary

We review studies that investigated pragmatic acquisition and processing in multilingual children and adults, and third language (L3) learners. Studies on pragmatic differentiation in simultaneous multilingual children show that they can differentially and appropriately use their languages in a context-sensitive manner from the age of two. The evidence on implicature reveals that multilinguals exhibit interpretation skills comparable to monolinguals; and that degree of multilingualism, measured continuously, has a positive effect. Research that examined speech acts from the perspective of crosslinguistic influence has provided some evidence (though mixed and unclear) that the L1 can affect L2 and L3 speech act performance. This influence can also occur from the L3 to the L1 and L2 in young children. Moreover, work on speech acts has shown that bilinguals, and especially balanced bilinguals, enjoy an advantage in learning the pragmatics of an additional language. We close the chapter by suggesting directions for future work.

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Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Third Language Acquisition , pp. 243 - 268
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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