Subject position in Spanish as a heritage language in the Netherlands: External and internal interface factors
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Brechje van Osch
Abstract
This study investigates Spanish heritage speakers in the Netherlands concerning their knowledge of three factors influencing subject position in Spanish: verb type, focus and definiteness. The results of a scalar acceptability judgment task show that heritage speakers have monolingual-like knowledge of the effects of verb type and focus, but not of the effect of definiteness of the subject. We interpret the vulnerability of the definiteness factor as partial support for the second version of the Interface Hypothesis, which predicts the syntax-discourse/pragmatics interface to be particularly vulnerable compared to the syntax-semantics interface. The heritage speakers moreover overgeneralize postverbal subjects, a finding that we tentatively attribute to cross-linguistic influence from Dutch.
Abstract
This study investigates Spanish heritage speakers in the Netherlands concerning their knowledge of three factors influencing subject position in Spanish: verb type, focus and definiteness. The results of a scalar acceptability judgment task show that heritage speakers have monolingual-like knowledge of the effects of verb type and focus, but not of the effect of definiteness of the subject. We interpret the vulnerability of the definiteness factor as partial support for the second version of the Interface Hypothesis, which predicts the syntax-discourse/pragmatics interface to be particularly vulnerable compared to the syntax-semantics interface. The heritage speakers moreover overgeneralize postverbal subjects, a finding that we tentatively attribute to cross-linguistic influence from Dutch.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Part I. The acquisition of subjects
- French experiencer verbs and the Universal Freezing Hypothesis 7
- Discrimination of passive predicates by Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children 31
- The acquisition of Spanish 57
- Favorable processing conditions in the production of passive sentences by Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children 91
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Part II. The TP field
- Clitic omission in bilingual Portuguese-Spanish acquisition 119
- Syntactic awareness of clitic pronouns and articles in French-speaking children with autism, specific language impairment and developmental dyslexia 147
- The comprehension of Italian negation in Mandarin-Italian sequential bilingual children 169
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Part III. The CP field and recursion
- Subject position in Spanish as a heritage language in the Netherlands: External and internal interface factors 187
- Acquisition of backward anaphora in European Portuguese by Chinese learners 215
- Sentence repetition and language impairment in French-speaking children with ASD 235
- On the comprehension of recursive nominal modifiers in child Romanian 259
- Name index 279
- Subject index 285
- Language index 287
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. The acquisition of subjects
- French experiencer verbs and the Universal Freezing Hypothesis 7
- Discrimination of passive predicates by Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children 31
- The acquisition of Spanish 57
- Favorable processing conditions in the production of passive sentences by Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children 91
-
Part II. The TP field
- Clitic omission in bilingual Portuguese-Spanish acquisition 119
- Syntactic awareness of clitic pronouns and articles in French-speaking children with autism, specific language impairment and developmental dyslexia 147
- The comprehension of Italian negation in Mandarin-Italian sequential bilingual children 169
-
Part III. The CP field and recursion
- Subject position in Spanish as a heritage language in the Netherlands: External and internal interface factors 187
- Acquisition of backward anaphora in European Portuguese by Chinese learners 215
- Sentence repetition and language impairment in French-speaking children with ASD 235
- On the comprehension of recursive nominal modifiers in child Romanian 259
- Name index 279
- Subject index 285
- Language index 287
