Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T13:50:30.341Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Full Transfer Potential in L3/Ln Acquisition

Crosslinguistic Influence as a Property-by-Property Process

from Part II - L3/Ln across Linguistic Domains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2023

By
Marit Westergaard ,
Natalia Mitrofanova ,
Yulia Rodina  and
Roumyana Slabakova
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
Get access

Summary

This chapter discusses L3/Ln acquisition as a step-by-step acquisition process, where crosslinguistic influence is considered to be the result of co-activation of lexical items and syntactic structures of the previously acquired languages in processing. That is, as argued by the Linguistic Proximity Model and the Scalpel Model, L3/Ln acquisition is learning by parsing/processing. The main focus of the chapter is on theoretical arguments for crosslinguistic influence taking place incrementally from either or both previously acquired language(s). The chapter also discusses methodological issues for studies that aim to identify hybrid influence, emphasizing the importance of a subtracted language group design, where the influence of individual languages can be isolated by comparing L3 learners to L2 learners of the same target language, but where one of the previously acquired languages is missing (subtracted). Furthermore, the chapter provides a brief overview of empirical L3 studies, finding support for property-by-property acquisition.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Third Language Acquisition , pp. 219 - 242
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altarriba, J., & Basnight-Brown, D. M. (2007). Methodological Considerations in Performing Semantic- and Translation-Priming Experiments Across Languages. Behavior Research Methods, 39(1), 1–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Angelovska, T., Roehm, D., & Weinmüller, S. (2020). Uncovering Transfer Effects of Dominance and Proficiency in L3 English Acquisition Using the Visual Moving Window Paradigm and Grammaticality Judgments. Applied Linguistics Review, 14(1), 115–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amaral, L., & Roeper, T. (2014). Multiple Grammars and Second Language Representation. Second Language Research, 30(1), 3–36.Google Scholar
Basnight-Brown, D. M., & Altarriba, J. (2007). Differences in Semantic and Translation Priming across Languages: The Role of Language Direction and Language Dominance. Memory & Cognition, 35(5), 953–965.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bardel, C., & Falk, Y. (2007). The Role of the Second Language in Third Language Acquisition: The Case of Germanic Syntax. Second Language Research, 23(4), 459–484.Google Scholar
Bardel, C., & Falk, Y. (2012). Procedural Distinction. Third Language Acquisition in Adulthood, 46, 61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ben Abbes, K. (2016). The Acquisition of French Morpho-syntactic Properties: Cross-Linguistic Influence in the Learning of L3 French by Turkish/Spanish Speakers Who Learned English as an L2. PhD dissertation. University of Essex.Google Scholar
Ben Abbes, K. (2020). Transfer in L3 Acquisition: Is It Holistic or Property-Based? International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 7(3), 43–59.Google Scholar
Benati, A., & Schwieter, J. W. (2017). Input Processing and Processing Instruction: Pedagogical and Cognitive Considerations for L3 Acquisition. In Angelovska, T. and Hahn, A. (Eds.), L3 Syntactic Transfer: Models, New Developments, and Implications (pp. 253–275). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bock, K., & Miller, C. (1991). Broken Agreement. Cognitive Psychology, 23, 45–93.Google Scholar
Borer, H. (1984). Parametric Syntax. Dordrecht: Foris Publications.Google Scholar
Bruhn De Garavito, J., & Perpiñán, S. (2014). Subject Pronouns and Clitics in the Spanish Interlanguage of French L1 Speakers. In Teddiman, L. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association. Ottawa: Canadian Linguistic Association.Google Scholar
Cabrelli, J., & Puig-Mayenco, E. (2020). Theoretical and Methodological Considerations for a Robust Evaluation of the Linguistic Proximity Model. Second Language Research, 37(3), 465–471.Google Scholar
Clements, M., & Dóminguez, L. (2018). Testing the Predictions of the Scalpel Model in L3/Ln Acquisition: The Acquisition of Null and Overt Subjects in L3 Chinese. In Cho, J., Iverson, M., Judy, T., Leal, T., & Shimanskaya, E. (Eds.), Meaning and Structure in Second Language Acquisition: In Honor of Roumyana Slabakova (pp. 181–201). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuetos, F., & Mitchell, D. (1988). Cross-Linguistic Differences in Parsing: Restrictions on the Use of the Late Closure Strategy in Spanish. Cognition, 30, 73–105.Google Scholar
Cunnings, I. (2017). Parsing and Working Memory in Bilingual Sentence Processing. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20, 659–678.Google Scholar
Dahl, A., Listhaug, K., & Busterud, G. (2022). The Role of L1 Norwegian and L2 English in the Acquisition of Verb Placement in L3 German. In Leal, T., Shimanskaya, E., & Isabelli, C. A. (Eds.), Generative SLA in the Age of Minimalism: Features, Interfaces, and Beyond – Selected Proceedings of the 15th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 67; pp. 191–212). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Maschio, N., & Abutalebi, J. (2019). Language Organization in the Bilingual and Multilingual Brain. In Schwieter, J. W. & Paradis, M. (Eds.), The Handbook of the Neuroscience of Multilingualism (pp. 199–213). Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
DeLuca, V., Rothman, J., Bialystok, E., & Pliatsikas, C. (2019). Redefining Bilingualism as a Spectrum of Experiences That Differentially Affects Brain Structure and Function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(15), 7565–7574.Google Scholar
Dulay, H., Burt, M., & Krashen, S. (1982). Language Two. Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Ecke, P. (2004). Words on the Tip of the Tongue: A Study of Lexical Retrieval Failures in Spanish–English Bilinguals. Southwest Journal of Linguistics, 23(2), 33–63.Google Scholar
Fallah, N., & Jabbari, A. (2018). L3 Acquisition of English Attributive Adjectives: Dominant Language of Communication Matters for Syntactic Cross–Linguistic Influence. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 8, 193–216.Google Scholar
Fallah, N., Jabbari, A., & Fazilatfar, A. M. (2016). Source(s) of Syntactic CLI: The Case of L3 Acquisition of English Possessives by Mazandarani–Persian Bilinguals. Second Language Research, 32(2), 225–245.Google Scholar
Feijoo, R., & García Mayo, M. Del P. (2021). The Acquisition of Relative Clauses by Spanish–Basque Learners of L3 English: Does Dominance Play a Role? International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2021-0054.Google Scholar
Flynn, S., Foley, C., & Vinnitskaya, I. (2001). Grammatical Mapping in the Acquisition of a Third Language. In Archer, M. J. and Reder, A. (Eds.), Cuadernos De Linguistica. Madrid: Ortega y Gassett.Google Scholar
Flynn, S., Foley, C., & Vinnitskaya, I. (2004). The Cumulative-Enhancement Model for Language Acquisition: Comparing Adults’ and Children’s Patterns of Development in First, Second and Third Language Acquisition of Relative Clauses. The International Journal of Multilingualism, 1(1), 3–16.Google Scholar
Gollan, T. H., Forster, K. I., & Frost, R. (1997). Translation Priming with Different Scripts: Masked Priming with Cognates and Noncognates in Hebrew–English Bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23(5), 1122.Google ScholarPubMed
González Alonso, J., & Rothman, J. (2017). Coming of Age in L3 Initial Stages Transfer Models: Deriving Developmental Predictions and Looking towards the Future. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 683–697.Google Scholar
González Alonso, J., & Rothman, J. (2021). Avoiding the Cum hoc ergo propter hoc Fallacy: Comments and Questions Regarding Full Transfer Potential. Second Language Research, 37(3), 423–428.Google Scholar
Green, D. W. (1998). Mental Control of the Bilingual Lexico-semantic System. Bilingualism Language and Cognition, 1, 67–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, D. W. (2017). Trajectories to Third-Language Proficiency. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 718–733.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, D. W., & Abutalebi, J. (2013). Language Control in Bilinguals: The Adaptive Control Hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25, 515–530.Google Scholar
Grosjean, E. (1998). Studying Bilinguals: Methodological and Conceptual Issues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1, 131–149.Google Scholar
Grosjean, F. (2001). The Bilingual’s Language Modes. In Nichol, J. (Ed.), One Mind, Two Languages: Bilingual Language Processing (pp. 1–22). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Guo, Y., & Yuan, B. (2020). L3 Acquisition of Mandarin Sentence-Final Particle Clusters by English–Cantonese Bilinguals. Journal of Second Language Studies, 3(2), 262–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harms, C., & Lakens, D. (2018). Making “Null Effects” Informative: Statistical Techniques and Inferential Frameworks. Journal of Clinical and Translational Research, 3(Suppl 2), 382–393.Google Scholar
Herdina, P., & Jessner, U. (2002). A Dynamic Model of Multilingualism: Perspectives of Change in Psycholinguistics. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Hernandez, A. E., Claussenius-Kalman, H. L., Ronderos, J., et al. (2019). Neuroemergentism: A Framework for Studying Cognition and the Brain. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 49, 214–223.Google Scholar
Incera, S., & McLennan, C. (2018). The Time Course of Within and Between-Language Interference in Bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism, 22, 88–99.Google Scholar
Jensen, I. N., Mitrofanova, N., Anderssen, M., et al. (2021). Crosslinguistic Influence in L3 Acquisition across Linguistic Modules. International Journal of Multilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2021.1985127.Google Scholar
Jin, F. (2009). Third Language Acquisition of Norwegian Objects: Interlanguage Transfer or L1 Influence? In Leung, Y. I. (Ed.), Third Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar (pp. 144–161). Bristol: Multilingual MattersCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolb, N., Mitrofanova, N. & Westergaard, M. (2022). Cross-Linguistic Influence in Child L3 English: An Empirical Study on Russian-German Heritage Bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism, 26(4), 576–501.Google Scholar
Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across Cultures: Applied Linguistic for Language Teachers. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Lago, S., Mosca, M., & Stutter Garcia, A. (2021). The Role of Crosslinguistic Influence in Multilingual Processing: Lexicon versus Syntax. Language Learning, 71(S1), 163–192.Google Scholar
Lakens, D., McLatchie, N., Isager, P. M., Scheel, A. M., & Dienes, Z. (2020). Improving Inferences about Null Effects with Bayes Factors and Equivalence Tests. The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 75(1), 45–57.Google Scholar
Lehmann, E. L., & Romano, J. P. (2005). Testing Statistical Hypotheses. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Leung, Y. I. (1998). Transfer between Interlanguages. In Greenhill, A., Hughes, M., Littlefield, H., & Walsh, H. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 22nd Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 477–487). Somerville: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Leung, Y. I. (2003). Failed Features versus Full Transfer Full Access in the Acquisition of a Third Language: Evidence from Tense and Agreement. In Liceras, J. M. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 6th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (pp. 199–207). Somerville: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Leung, Y. I. (2005). L2 vs. L3 Initial State: A Comparative Study of the Acquisition of French DPs by Vietnamese Monolinguals and Cantonese–English Bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 8(1), 39–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Libben, G., & Schwieter, J. (2019). Lexical Organization and Reorganization in the Multilingual Mind. In Schwieter, J. and Paradis, M. (Eds.), The Handbook of the Neuroscience of Multilingualism (pp. 297–312). New York: John Wiley & Sons.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloyd-Smith, A., Gyllstad, H., Kupisch, T., & Quaglia, S. (2018). Heritage Language Proficiency Does Not Predict Syntactic CLI into L3 English. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 24(3), 435–451.Google Scholar
Marian, V. & Spivey, M. (2003). Bilingual and Monolingual Processing of Competing Lexical Items. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24(2), 173–193.Google Scholar
Odlin, T. (2012). Crosslinguistic Influence in Second Language Acquisition. In Chapelle, C. A. (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Puig-Mayenco, E., Miller, D., & Rothman, J. (2018). Language Dominance and Transfer Selection in L3 Acquisition. In Cho, J., Iverson, M., Judy, T., Leal, T., & Shimanskaya, E. (Eds.), Meaning and Structure in Second Language Acquisition. (Studies in Bilingualism 55; pp. 229–260). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Puig-Mayenco, E., González Alonso, J., & Rothman, J. (2020). A Systematic Review of Transfer Studies in Third Language Acquisition. Second Language Research, 36(1), 31–64.Google Scholar
Quertemont, E. (2011). How to Statistically Show the Absence of an Effect. Psychologica Belgica, 51(2), 109–127.Google Scholar
Reder, L. M., & Kusbit, G. W. (1991). Locus of the Moses Illusion: Imperfect Encoding, Retrieval, or Match? Journal of Memory and Language, 30(4), 385–406.Google Scholar
Roeper, T. (2016). Multiple Grammars and the Logic of Learnability in Second Language Acquisition. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rothman, J. (2011). L3 Syntactic Transfer Selectivity and Typological Determinacy: The Typological Primacy Model. Second Language Research, 27(1), 107–127.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2015). Linguistic and Cognitive Motivations for the Typological Primacy Model (TPM) of Third Language (L3) Transfer: Timing of Acquisition and Proficiency Considered. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 179–190.Google Scholar
Rothman, J., & Cabrelli Amaro, J. (2010). What Variables Condition Syntactic Transfer? A Look at the L3 Initial State. Second Language Research, 26, 189–218.Google Scholar
Rothman, J., González Alonso, J., & Puig-Mayenco, E. (2019). Third Language Acquisition and Linguistic Transfer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. D., & Sprouse, R. A. (1996). L2 Cognitive States and the Full Transfer/Full Access Model. Second Language Research, 12(1),40-72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, B. D., & Sprouse, R. A. (2021a). The Full Transfer/Full Access Model and L3 Cognitive States. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 11(1), 1–29.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. D., & Sprouse, R. A. (2021b). In Defense of “Copying and Restructuring.” Second Language Research, 37(3), 489–493.Google Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M. (1983). On First Language Loss in the Second Language Acquirer: Problems of Transfer. In Gass, S. & Selinker, L. (Eds.), Language Transfer in Language Learning: Issues in Second Language Research (pp. 222–231). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M. (2019). The Compatibility within a Modular Framework of Emergent and Dynamical Processes in Mind and Brain. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 49, 240–244.Google Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M. (2021). Language Transfer: A Useful or Pernicious Concept? Second Language Research, 37(3), 409–414.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2016). Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2017). The Scalpel Model of Third Language Acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 651–665.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R., & García Mayo, M. Del P. (2015). The L3 Syntax–Discourse Interface. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 208–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stadt, R., Hulk, A., & Sleeman, P. (2016). The Influence of L2 English and Immersion Education on L3 French in the Netherlands. Linguistics in the Netherlands, 33(1), 152–165.Google Scholar
Stadt, R., Hulk, A., & Sleeman, P. (2018a). The Influence of L1 Dutch and L2 English on L3 French: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of the European Second Language Association, 2(1), 63–71.Google Scholar
Stadt, R., Hulk, A., & Sleeman, P. (2018b). The Role of L2 Exposure in L3A: A Comparative Study between Third and Fourth Year Secondary School Students in the Netherlands. In Berns, J., Jacobs, H., & Nouveau, D. (Eds.), Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory: Selected Papers from “Going Romance” 29, Nijmegen (vol. 13; pp. 279–296). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Stadt, R., Hulk, A., & Sleeman, P. (2020). L2 Influence in L3 Acquisition: The Role of the L3. In Trotzke, A. & Kupisch, T. (Eds.), Formal Linguistics and Language Education (Educational Linguistics 43; pp. 203–221). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.Google Scholar
Sunderman, G., & Kroll, J. F. (2006). First Language Activation during Second Language Lexical Processing: An Investigation of Lexical Form, Meaning, and Grammatical Class. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(3), 387–422.Google Scholar
Thierry, G., & Wu, Y. J. (2007). Brain Potentials Reveal Unconscious Translation during Foreign-Language Comprehension. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(30), 12530–12535.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vainikka, A., & Young-Scholten, M. (1996). Gradual Development of L2 Phrase Structure. Second Language Research, 12(1), 7–39.Google Scholar
Westergaard, M. (2021a). Microvariation in Multilingual Situations: The Importance of Property-by-Property Acquisition. Second Language Research, 37(3), 379–407.Google Scholar
Westergaard, M. (2021b). L3 Acquisition and Crosslinguistic Influence as Co-activation: Response to Commentaries on the Keynote “Microvariation in Multilingual Situations: The Importance of Property-by-Property Acquisition.” Second Language Research, 37(3), 501–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westergaard, M., Mitrofanova, N., Mykhaylyk, R., & Rodina, Y. (2017). Crosslinguistic Influence in the Acquisition of a Third Language: The Linguistic Proximity Model. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 666–682.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×