30.3562, Review: Language Acquisition; Syntax: Cho, Iverson, Judy, Leal (2018)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-30-3562. Fri Sep 20 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.3562, Review: Language Acquisition; Syntax: Cho, Iverson, Judy, Leal (2018)

Moderator: Malgorzata E. Cavar (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Student Moderator: Jeremy Coburn
Managing Editor: Becca Morris
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Everett Green, Sarah Robinson, Peace Han, Nils Hjortnaes, Yiwen Zhang, Julian Dietrich
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Jeremy Coburn <jecoburn at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2019 16:14:05
From: Mayowa Akinlotan [mayowa.akinlotan at utexas.edu]
Subject: Meaning and Structure in Second Language Acquisition

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36541518


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-498.html

EDITOR: Jacee  Cho
EDITOR: Michael  Iverson
EDITOR: Tiffany  Judy
EDITOR: Tania  Leal
TITLE: Meaning and Structure in Second Language Acquisition
SUBTITLE: In honor of Roumyana Slabakova
SERIES TITLE: Studies in Bilingualism 55
PUBLISHER: John Benjamins
YEAR: 2018

REVIEWER: Mayowa Akinlotan, University of Texas at Austin

SUMMARY
 
The book “Meaning and Structure in Second Language Acquisition” is a
collection of excellent articles from experts/researchers in the field of
second and third language acquisition. This collection of essays specifically
evaluates and puts forward different models and hypotheses that are crucial to
our understanding of key concepts and practices in SLA, including issues
surrounding how second and/or third language learners acquire languages. These
excellent papers, which are dedicated to the illustrious career of
sociolinguist Roumyana Slabakova, are worthy of serious attention, as they
examine a number of issues including the Bottleneck Hypothesis, Scalpel model
(Slabakova, 2016, 2017) and the Interface Hypothesis (Sorace and Serratrice,
2009). With a variety of new evidence from French, Spanish, Chinese, and
English languages, the book presents a broad discussion of the many arguments
surrounding the Bottleneck Hypothesis, Interface Hypotheses and the Scalpel
Model. The discussions not only provide new evidence testing these models but
are also aimed at challenging the readers and scholars to further question
these theoretical explanations. For instance, functional morphology, a
fundamental concept in SLA research that seeks to examine the relationship
between amount of grammatical knowledge and that of ever-changing
developmental stages of learners, is sufficiently discussed in the  book.
Also, this volume shows how this important concept (i.e. functional morphology
and its inherent meaning to the acquisition of linguistic systems and features
at the structural and discourse levels) can provide significant insights into
our understanding of how languages are acquired/learned as second or third
language.  In doing this, the book does not only describe the process of
language acquisition but also exposes the readers to basic and advanced issues
and concepts surrounding our understanding of the nature of how the cognitive
mind of a language learner with at least two languages, works. In other words,
a variety of evidence simplifying the complexity involved in such key issues
as transfer effects, proficiency, interference, morphological congruency
effect, language dominance, language co-existence, equi-complexity, and the
simplification hypothesis, is spread across the different articles presented
in the book.  The eleven chapters in the book are grouped into four sections
representing Second Language Acquisition, The Bottleneck Hypothesis, The
Scalpel Model and L3 Acquisition and Applied SLA.
 
The first section of the book consists of four chapters of which each provides
us with new data and original findings. Data sources include but are not
limited to Russian, Spanish, and French. Chapter 1, written by Jacee Cho,
tests the morphological congruency effect. The morphological congruency effect
hypothesizes that problems activating L2 grammatical meanings not
morphologically marked in L1 result in “non-target-like production or
comprehension of L2 functional morphology.” With a total of 128 participants
of different proficiency levels, different years of studying Russian,
different age- groups and different male and female reading short stories in
their respective L1 (i.e. English, Russian, and Korean), Cho tested the
morphological congruency effect in L2 offline performance. The author tested
the hypothesis by comparing L1-English and L1-Korean speakers’ offline
comprehension of the L2 Russian genitive of negation that encodes specificity
in negative sentences. Cho showed that morphological congruency is related to
channel of delivery/performance (i.e. being offline or online), and that the
extent to which the effect of the former is demonstrated is dependent on
whether the performance is offline or online. Cho’s findings are further
supported by African varieties of English (e.g. Nigerian/West Africa Pidgin,
Nigerian and/or Ghanaian English) that are influenced by African languages,
which are primarily meant to be spoken, and as such, difficult to process
offline.  Like Cho, Tamia Leal also tested out another important hypothesis
representing the Interface Hypothesis which argues that, irrespective of
proficiency levels, bilinguals (will always certainly) still encounter
syntactic and pragmatic difficulties posed by external constraints. With 147
participants tested in Spanish in two countries , Mexico and the USA, Leal
found that the Interface Hypothesis may not always be the case, given some
conditions which may arise from  the operationalisation of methodological and
theoretical orientations. In the third chapter, Elena Shimanskaya examined the
nature of acquisition of clitics and strong pronouns among adult anglophone
learners of French, showing how L2 knowledge of pronominalization is connected
to the knowledge of argument structure. Shimanskaya then relates this issue to
that of the examination of learners’ interlanguage, showing that a negative
relationship exists between knowledge of clitics and that of strong pronouns
complement of prepositions. For example, developing the knowledge of clitics
by the learners is found not to be delayed, a pattern that contrasts with the
knowledge of strong pronoun complements of prepositions. 
 
Chapter Four, which is co-authored by Laurent Dekydtspotter, Mark Black,
Rodica Frimu, and Amber Rae Panwitz, showed how cognitive interpretations can
strongly influence the way native and non-native speakers (e.g. advanced L2)
process constructions involving animate pronouns. The authors found that
native and non-native speakers differ in their resolutions of pronouns lui,
elle, and son, all of which can involve animate pronouns, either as a
complement or as a modification. More specifically, they found that native
speakers activate animacy differently from the non-native speakers in that
non-native speakers processed animate pronouns involving lui differently from
those constructions involving son. Such cognitive disparity, according to the
authors, does not only show the complexity involved in processing animacy but
also that certain lexical choices are more readily accessible  than the
others. Such findings can well be supported by a catalogue of findings in
Nigerian variety of English, where the factor of animacy on many different
syntactic constructions has been found asserting different influences from
those similar contexts in established varieties of English (Akinlotan 2016,
2017, 2018, 2019).
 
Part II of the book consists of two chapters titled The Bottleneck Hypothesis
as applied to the Spanish DP and The Bottleneck Hypothesis extends to heritage
language acquisition. These two studies engage the Bottleneck Hypothesis in
different ways that the nature, strengths, and the limitations of the
hypothesis are shown. With material evidence from Italian, English, and German
learners of Spanish, author Tiffany Judy shows that participants “demonstrate
knowledge of DP functional morphology before knowledge of the syntax-semantics
of adjectival position.” This finding questions the extent to which the
central arguments and claims in the Bottleneck Hypothesis can be applied to
different scenarios. Judy's findings show that more and more evidence is
required to test out the limits of this hypothesis. Of course, the extent to
which complexification is exhibited in the Spanish DP may have impacted on the
emerging pattern, which, in itself, may not be a watertight piece of evidence
against the hypothesis. In the final chapter completing this section, Silvina
Montrul tested out the same Bottleneck Hypothesis in a heritage language
acquisition scenario, showing that L2 learners struggle more with functional
morphology than they do with syntax and semantics, a pattern that validates
the hypothesis. In addition to showing the strengths of the hypothesis, this
chapter interestingly presents the readers with more questions about the
universal applicability of the hypothesis.
 
Part III of the book presents three studies that tested out the Scalpel model
in the context of L3 acquisition. The Scalpel model, which has been put
forward by the renowned linguist Roumyana Slabakova states that both L1 and L2
are equally able to influence the L3 acquisition process, though in varying
degrees. In other words, transfer effects on L3 can be exhibited from
either/both L1 and L2. Chapter Seven, which is titled Testing the predictions
of the Scalpel Model in L3/Ln acquisition, and nicely written by Maria
Clements and Laura Dominguez, shows that indeed L3 learners demonstrate
transfers and influences from their L1 and L2. With twenty-five L3 Chinese
learners, the authors found that transfers and influences from L1 and L2
languages representing English and Spanish are present in their written
production and the pronunciation tasks given to the participants. The authors
rightly argue that variability of the transfer effects, be it in L3 or L2, can
indeed be related to the extent to which structural similarities exist between
the languages involved. Such argument can also find supporting evidence in
African Englishes and African languages (Akinlotan 2018). Chapter eight
further tests this model among L2 and L3 Basque/Spanish learners of English,
showing how variables representing proficiency level and transfer effect
influence the acquisition of gender agreement. The authors show that there is
a positive relationship between type of errors exhibited and proficiency
level, together with prior linguistic knowledge. This finding clearly follows
similar findings in Akinlotan (2016) where errors exhibited in grammatical
number agreement by Nigerian bilinguals reflect different proficiency levels
and transfer effects from some local Nigerian languages such as Yoruba and
Igbo. Chapter 9 further examines the issue of transfer in relation to language
dominance, showing the extent to which different variables interacte in
activating transfer from co-existing language(s). For instance Eckert (2018)
has shown the negative social impacts language dominance can have on the
people and their language. This chapter further shows that such linguistic
impacts are evident in the type of errors exhibited by L2/L3 speakers.
Additional evidence supporting claims in Chapter 9 can be found in the
Nigerian variety of English where morphosyntactic non-standard constructions
mirror constructions in co-existing languages, and demonstrate transfer from
local Nigerian languages such as Yoruba, Igbo, Effik, and so on (Akinlotan
2016, 2018, 2019). The last part of the book, Part IV, which is titled Applied
SLA, consists of two chapters dedicated to theories in second language
acquisition research. Chapter 10, which is well written by Lydia White,
presents a catalogue of research shaping (or that has shaped) discussions and
issues in SLA. Among many issues, White examined issues surrounding different
theoretical proposals such as Slabakova’s Bottleneck Hypothesis, negative
evidence, and acquisition orders. White argued that language teachers, as well
as L2 learners, can find help in such theoretical proposals which clearly
identify the ‘problem areas for L2 learners.’ White further argued that
research in second language acquisition viz-a-viz these theoretical proposals
about language acquisition, can indeed provide ‘a bonus’, i.e. insights into
and ‘implications for’ language teaching but that these are ‘not a requirement
of research on second language acquisition.’ Such a contribution seems to shed
light on the fuzzy area surrounding the philosophical orientations associated
with teaching and researching the complex practice and theory of language
acquisition, together with the nature of relationship that exists (or should
exist) between researchers in SLA and language teachers. Chapter 11, which
concludes this excellent book, further exemplifies the issues raised in
Chapter 10, showing the extent to which research in language teaching and
language acquisition overlaps. The chapter shows not only how language
teachers apply findings from SLA research, but also how a ‘dialogue’ between
them can provide threefold gains for all the stakeholders in the business of
language teaching/acquisition; for the language teacher, the SLA researcher,
and the ultimate learners. 
 
EVALUATION
 
This is a collection of  works that match the excellent contributions linguist
Roumyana Slabakova has made to the SLA community. Although all the articles
touch on the main contributions of Roumyana Slabakova, especially those
focusing on the Bottleneck Hypothesis, Interface Hypothesis and the Scalpel
Model, the book remains an important acquisition for any serious junior or
senior researcher interested in current and state-of-the-art SLA research.
Specific and wider concepts relating to the study of SLA are also
comprehensively discussed. Central issues in SLA such as proficiency, transfer
and its effect, acquisition orders, language dominance, language teaching,
acquisition of specific constructions ranging from gender agreement,
sentential negation, quantifiers, clitics and strong pronouns, SLA research
design, and the question of method and of complexity, etc are not only
critically engaged but are also operationalised in such a way that students,
teachers, and SLA researchers meet one another inside the book. Such a display
of nicely written collections show the rich and diverse nature of the
community of SLA research, including its future to be much more so. Unlike
many previous works where evidence is completely sought from English speakers,
this book provides a series of new and fresh evidence from Russian, Spanish,
French, Korean and so on. Although readers can observe that Chapters 10 and 11
closely overlap, the activities and events listed in Chapter 11 are no less
than empirical evidence for the interface that exists in the research
involving language acquisition, leaning, and teaching. 
 
REFERENCES
 
Akinlotan, Mayowa. (2018). A Corpus-Based Study of the Structure of the Noun
Phrase in Nigerian English. PhD thesis: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
 
Akinlotan, Mayowa, & Housen, Alex. (2017). Noun phrase complexity in Nigerian
English: Syntactic function and length outweigh genre in predicting noun
phrase complexity. English Today, 33 (3), 31-38. Doi:
10.1017/S0266078416000626
 
Akinloan, Mayowa. (2019). Noun phrase complement in Nigerian English.
Brazilian English Language Teaching, 9 (2), 342-346
 
Akinlotan, Mayowa. (2016). Structural Simplification in New Englishes: the
case of the determiner structural pattern in the Nigerian English. English
Lingual, 2 (1), 67-87
 
Eckert, Penelope. (2018). Meaning and Linguistic Variation: The Third Wave in
Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press
 
Slabakova, Roumyana. (2016). Second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford
University Press
 
Slabakova, Roumyana. (2017). The scalpel model of third language acquistion.
International Journal of Bilingualism, 21 (6): 651-665
 
Sorace, A. & Serratice, L. (2009). Internal and external interfaces in
bilingual language development: Beyond structural overlap. International
Journal of Bilingualism, 13 (2). 195-210.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER






------------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************    LINGUIST List Support    ***************************
 The 2019 Fund Drive is under way! Please visit https://funddrive.linguistlist.org
  to find out how to donate and check how your university, country or discipline
     ranks in the fund drive challenges. Or go directly to the donation site:
               https://iufoundation.fundly.com/the-linguist-list-2019

                        Let's make this a short fund drive!
                Please feel free to share the link to our campaign:
                    https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/
 


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-30-3562	
----------------------------------------------------------