Chapter 5. The Bottleneck Hypothesis as applied to the Spanish DP
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Tiffany Judy
Abstract
By examining knowledge of interpretive constraints that obtain from new DP feature acquisition in Spanish, this chapter tests the Bottleneck Hypothesis’s claim (Slabakova, 2013, 2014, 2016) that functional morphology is the “bottleneck” of SLA. Individual data from two language groups (Romance (Italian n = 35) and Germanic (English n = 41; German n = 19)) across three tasks testing for knowledge of Spanish DP morphology, syntax and semantics reveal that participants demonstrate knowledge of DP functional morphology before knowledge of the syntax-semantics of adjectival position. The import is twofold: first, individual L2 data is examined across tasks; second, comparing distinct L1 groups makes it possible to ask whether the “bottleneck” is equally problematic for all language pairings, an issue not currently addressed by the hypothesis.
Abstract
By examining knowledge of interpretive constraints that obtain from new DP feature acquisition in Spanish, this chapter tests the Bottleneck Hypothesis’s claim (Slabakova, 2013, 2014, 2016) that functional morphology is the “bottleneck” of SLA. Individual data from two language groups (Romance (Italian n = 35) and Germanic (English n = 41; German n = 19)) across three tasks testing for knowledge of Spanish DP morphology, syntax and semantics reveal that participants demonstrate knowledge of DP functional morphology before knowledge of the syntax-semantics of adjectival position. The import is twofold: first, individual L2 data is examined across tasks; second, comparing distinct L1 groups makes it possible to ask whether the “bottleneck” is equally problematic for all language pairings, an issue not currently addressed by the hypothesis.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Introduction ix
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Part I. Second Language Acquisition
- Chapter 1. Testing the morphological congruency effect in offline comprehension 3
- Chapter 2. Mapping at external interfaces 35
- Chapter 3. Another look at L2 acquisition of French clitics and strong pronouns 67
- Chapter 4. Animacy-based processing loads in anaphora resolution in (non-native) French 95
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Part II. The Bottleneck Hypothesis
- Chapter 5. The Bottleneck Hypothesis as applied to the Spanish DP 123
- Chapter 6. The Bottleneck Hypothesis extends to heritage language acquisition 149
-
Part III. The Scalpel Model and L3 acquisition
- Chapter 7. Testing the predictions of the Scalpel Model in L3/Ln acquisition 181
- Chapter 8. Proficiency and transfer effects in the acquisition of gender agreement by L2 and L3 English learners 203
- Chapter 9. Language dominance and transfer selection in L3 acquisition 229
-
Part IV. Applied SLA
- Chapter 10. What is easy and what is hard 263
- Chapter 11. Generative second language acquisition and language teaching 283
- Subject Index 309
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Introduction ix
-
Part I. Second Language Acquisition
- Chapter 1. Testing the morphological congruency effect in offline comprehension 3
- Chapter 2. Mapping at external interfaces 35
- Chapter 3. Another look at L2 acquisition of French clitics and strong pronouns 67
- Chapter 4. Animacy-based processing loads in anaphora resolution in (non-native) French 95
-
Part II. The Bottleneck Hypothesis
- Chapter 5. The Bottleneck Hypothesis as applied to the Spanish DP 123
- Chapter 6. The Bottleneck Hypothesis extends to heritage language acquisition 149
-
Part III. The Scalpel Model and L3 acquisition
- Chapter 7. Testing the predictions of the Scalpel Model in L3/Ln acquisition 181
- Chapter 8. Proficiency and transfer effects in the acquisition of gender agreement by L2 and L3 English learners 203
- Chapter 9. Language dominance and transfer selection in L3 acquisition 229
-
Part IV. Applied SLA
- Chapter 10. What is easy and what is hard 263
- Chapter 11. Generative second language acquisition and language teaching 283
- Subject Index 309
