Heritage Speaker and Late Bilingual L2 Relative Clause Processing and Language Dominance Effects

<p>Traditionally, heritage speakers are recognized as a heterogeneous group whose skills in their heritage language are unlike those of monolinguals or L2 learners of that language. Indeed, much evidence confirms the cognitive and linguistic uniqueness of this population. However, highly proficient heritage speakers may pattern more similarly to another bilingual population than typically assumed: first-generation late bilinguals.</p> <p>The present study examines group-level processing differences between Spanish heritage speakers and Spanish-English late bilinguals in English, the second-learned and current societal majority language of these populations. Dominance is also analyzed as a possible effect of group processing differences, since traditionally and definitionally it is a main factor in distinguishing these two bilingual groups.</p> <p>The robustly-attested processing asymmetry between subject-relative clauses and object-relative clauses is examined utilizing eye-tracking in the visual world paradigm to analyze bilingual processing in this study. Processing is measured through gaze fixation, and language dominance is operationalized using a novel relative fluency (RF) index. Results support that (1) These two populations do not pattern differently from each other in their accuracy, response time, or target fixation proportions throughout either RC condition, (2) Both groups are only showing mild evidence for a subject/object processing asymmetry, and (3) There are group differences in language dominance, but dominance has no main effect on gaze fixation.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Master

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Linguistics

Grantor

The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Stevens, LeeAnn S

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Gita Martohardjono

• Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics
• Syntax
• Heritage speakers
• bilingualism
• relative clause processing
• language dominance

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3343

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-4413