Chapter 6. The Bottleneck Hypothesis extends to heritage language acquisition
-
Silvina Montrul
Abstract
The Bottleneck Hypothesis (Slabakova, 2008) aims to predict which aspects of the grammatical architecture are particularly problematic in second language grammars. When comparing the acquisition of the different linguistic modules, L2 learners appear to struggle more with morphology – the bottleneck of acquisition – than with syntax and semantics. The linguistic behavior of early bilinguals who are heritage speakers appears to be similar to L2 acquisition in many respects, and their apparent similarities have sparked substantial research comparing the linguistic abilities of L2 learners and heritage speakers. This chapter extends the Bottleneck Hypothesis to heritage speakers and examines how input and output factors may cause morphology to be the bottleneck in heritage language acquisition as well.
Abstract
The Bottleneck Hypothesis (Slabakova, 2008) aims to predict which aspects of the grammatical architecture are particularly problematic in second language grammars. When comparing the acquisition of the different linguistic modules, L2 learners appear to struggle more with morphology – the bottleneck of acquisition – than with syntax and semantics. The linguistic behavior of early bilinguals who are heritage speakers appears to be similar to L2 acquisition in many respects, and their apparent similarities have sparked substantial research comparing the linguistic abilities of L2 learners and heritage speakers. This chapter extends the Bottleneck Hypothesis to heritage speakers and examines how input and output factors may cause morphology to be the bottleneck in heritage language acquisition as well.
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
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
