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Structural priming as a model for testing language change in bilingualism

ORCiD logo with link | University of the Balearic Islands
ORCiD logo with link | University of the Balearic Islands
ORCiD logo with link | University of the Balearic Islands
ORCiD logo with link | University of the Balearic Islands
Published online: 5 January 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.25001.ben
Abstract
This study examined the interplay between cross-linguistic influence, structural priming, and language variation. Specifically, it investigated whether Spanish–Majorcan Catalan bilinguals process expressed and unexpressed object constructions similarly, and whether they show evidence of cross-linguistic influence and synchronic change arising from sustained contact between the two languages. While previous research has examined null-object representations in monolinguals, much less is known about how bilinguals of languages that (dis)allow object omission, process such constructions. To address this gap, forty-three Spanish–Majorcan Catalan bilinguals with varying dominance profiles completed a comprehension-based structural priming task in Spanish. The task included both grammatical and ungrammatical Spanish sentences, the latter incorporating constructions modeled on the prescriptive Catalan partitive clitic en to introduce Catalan-influenced syntax into Spanish. Results revealed differential priming effects for expressed vs. unexpressed objects. Priming effects with ungrammatical constructions further supported an implicit learning account of structural priming. Finally, although not mediated by priming, cross-linguistic influence from Catalan to Spanish indicated ongoing synchronic change in the bilingual grammar of this population. This study underscores the role of individual linguistic experience in shaping bilingual syntactic processing and highlights the need for more experience-sensitive approaches to understanding how contact-induced grammatical convergence develops in bilingual speakers.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Structural priming
    • 1.2Individual differences
    • 1.3The representation of unexpressed elements
  • 2.(Un)expressed objects in Spanish and Catalan and their bilingual acquisition
    • 2.1Synchronic changes in Spanish–Catalan bilingualism
  • 3.Current study
  • 4.Methods
    • 4.1.1Participants
    • 4.1.2Materials
    • 4.1.3Task procedure
    • 4.1.4Data analyses
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Target acceptability results
    • 5.2Reaction times results
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Concluding remarks
  • Data availability
  • CRediT statement
  • Notes
  • References
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