English-Spanish bilingual learners of Portuguese as a third language: non-redundant acquisition and its typological nature

This chapter has two goals: (a) to discuss the Spanish-Portuguese interface in current formal language acquisition research and (b) to highlight the contributions of this language pairing in the emerging field of formal third language acquisition. The authors discuss two L3 acquisition studies (Montrul, Dias, & Santos, 2011; Giancaspro, Halloran, & Iverson, in press) examining Differential Object Marking, a morphological case marker present in Spanish but not in Portuguese, arguing that the results show how data from Spanish-English bilinguals learning Brazilian Portuguese as an L3 illuminate the deterministic role of structural and typological similarity in linguistic transfer. The data provide supportive evidence for only one of three existing L3 transfer models: the Typological Proximity Model (Rothman, 2010, 2011, 2013).

On L2 Clustering and Resetting the Null Subject Parameter in L2 Spanish: Implications and Observations.

In this article, along with others, we take the position that the Null-Subject Parameter (NSP) (Chomsky 1981; Rizzi 1982) cluster of properties is narrower in scope than some originally contended. We test for the resetting of the NSP by English L2 learners of Spanish at the intermediate level, including poverty-of-the stimulus knowledge of the Overt Pronoun Constraint (Montalbetti 1984). Our participants are tested before and after five months' residency in Spain in an effort to see if increased amounts of native exposure are particularly beneficial for parameter resetting. Although we demonstrate NSP resetting for some of the L2 learners, our data essentially demonstrate that even with the advent of time/exposure to native input, there is no immediate gainful effect for NSP resetting.

The Acquisition of Aspect in L2 Portuguese & Spanish: Exploring Native/Non-Native Performance Differences.

This study investigates the possibility of native-like ultimate attainment by analyzing L2 knowledge of aspect as seen in the Preterit/Imperfect contrast of highly successful English L2 learners of Portuguese and Spanish. Building on innovative work by Montrul & Slabakova (2003) and Slabakova & Montrul (2003), we test knowledge of semantic entailments associated with the acquisition of [+/- perfective] features checked in higher AspP. Additionally, we investigate the possibility of a specific pattern of associated target-deviant L2 performance. We hypothesize that L2 performance can be affected by explicit positive evidence (pedagogical rules) despite otherwise demonstrable native-like competence. Indeed, the data reveal a pattern of target-deviant performance noted only in three specific contexts, all of which can be linked to traditional instruction: (a) with particular stative verbs not used in the Preterit (b) when preceded by certain adverbial phrases (e.g.,siempre) and (c) so-called semantic shifting verbs (e.g., sabía vs. supe).

On the typological economy of syntactic transfer: word order and relative clause high/low attachment preference in L3 Brazilian Portuguese

One central question in the formal linguistic study of adult multilingual morphosyntax (i.e., L3/Ln acquisition) involves determining the role(s) the L1 and/or the L2 play(s) at the L3 initial state (e.g., Bardel & Falk, Second Language Research 23: 459–484, 2007; Falk & Bardel, Second Language Research: forthcoming; Flynn et al., The International Journal of Multilingualism 8: 3–16, 2004; Rothman, Second Language Research: forthcoming; Rothman & Cabrelli, On the initial state of L3 (Ln) acquisition: Selective or absolute transfer?: 2007; Rothman & Cabrelli Amaro, Second Language Research 26: 219–289, 2010). The present article adds to this general program, testing Rothman's (Second Language Research: forthcoming) model for L3 initial state transfer, which when relevant in light of specific language pairings, maintains that typological proximity between the languages is the most deterministic variable determining the selection of syntactic transfer. Herein, I present empirical evidence from the later part of the beginning stages of L3 Brazilian Portuguese (BP) by native speakers of English and Spanish, who have attained an advanced level of proficiency in either English or Spanish as an L2. Examining the related domains of syntactic word order and relative clause attachment preference in L3 BP, the data clearly indicate that Spanish is transferred for both experimental groups irrespective of whether it was the L1 or L2. These results are expected by Rothman's (Second Language Research: forthcoming) model, but not necessarily predicted by other current hypotheses of multilingual syntactic transfer; the implications of this are discussed.

Spanish as a World Language: The Interplay of Globalized Localization and Localized Globalization.

This article argues that two movements in constant interplay operate within the historical trajectory of the Spanish language: the localization that becomes globalized and the globalization that becomes localized. Equally, this article illustrates how, at the same time that Spanish is expanding in the world, new idiosyncratic and localized forms of the language are emerging. This article deals with the issues of standardization and language ideology, language contact, and redefinition of identities. The article focuses on three geographic loci: Spain, where Spanish opposes Catalan, Basque, and Galician; the United States, where migrants' Spanish dialects converge and confront English and each other; and finally, Latin America, where Spanish is in contact with Portuguese, indigenous, and Afro-Hispanic languages. The concepts that structure the discussion explain both language expansion and contraction as well as the conflict and constant negotiation between a language's standardized forms and its regional and social varieties.

The relationship between L3 transfer and structural similarity across L3 development: raising across an experience in Brazilian Portuguese

The present study examines three competing models of morphosyntactic transfer in third language (L3) acquisition, examining the particular domain of the feature configuration of embedded T in L3 Brazilian Portuguese (BP) at the initial stages and then through development. The methodology alternates Spanish and English as the L1 and L2 to tease apart the source of transfer to L3 BP. Results from a scalar grammaticality acceptability task show unequivocal transfer of Spanish irrespective of Spanish’s status as an L1 or L2. The data thus support the Typological Primacy Model (Rothman 2010, 2011, 2013a, 2013b), which proposes that multilingual transfer is selected by factors related to comparative structural similarity. Given that Spanish transfer at the L3 initial stages creates the need for feature reconfiguration to converge on the target BP grammar, the second part of this chapter examines the developmental consequences of what the TPM models in cases of non-facilitative initial transfer, that is, the developmental path of feature reconfiguration of embedded T in L3 BP by English/Spanish bilinguals. Given what these data reveal, we address the role of regressive transfer as a correlate of L3 proficiency gains.