Cover not available

Introduction published In: Parsing to Learn
Edited by Laurent Dekydtspotter and Claire Renaud
[Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 4:2] 2014
► pp. 222–255

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required
Introduction

A processing investigation of the accessibility of the uninterpretable gender feature in L2 French and L2 Spanish adjective agreement

 | Arizona State University
Published online: 27 May 2014
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.4.2.04ren
Lardiere (2009) hypothesizes that second-language (L2) grammar development involves the reassembly of features in the constraints of Universal Grammar. Feature reassembly assumes the domain-specific Agree operation, in which an (interpretable) feature on a probing node values an uninterpretable counterpart feature on a goal node, and spell-out computations, providing morphological expression to these nodes. Because features express class membership (e.g., feminine expressions), Hawkins and Casillas (2008) proposed that agreement in non-advanced L2 acquisition may involve co-occurrence between expressions, computed presumably according to feature compatibility (e.g., Shieber, 1986). These two types of agreement computations predict distinct processing profiles and grammar-processing relations. Results from a self-paced moving-window experiment targeting overt adjective agreement in superlative constructions revealed that L1-English L2-French/Spanish learners’ profiles appear more consistent with feature valuation. Form sensitivity lagged behind computational ability in low-proficiency learners, suggesting that L2 grammar acquisition is subserved by a universal parsing mechanism (e.g., Dekydtspotter, 2001; Schwartz, 1999).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Features and L2 representations
    • 2.1Proposal 1: Gender feature in associations
    • 2.2Proposal 2: Gender feature in the computational system for human language (CHL)
  • 3.The studies
    • 3.1Predictions
    • 3.2L1 English-L2 French
      • 3.2.1Participants
      • 3.2.2Materials and procedures
      • 3.2.3Analysis
      • 3.2.4Results
      • 3.2.5French study: Discussion
    • 3.3L1 English-L2 Spanish
      • 3.3.1Participants
      • 3.3.2Materials
      • 3.3.3Procedures and analysis
      • 3.3.4Results
      • 3.3.5Spanish pilot study: Discussion
  • 4.General discussion
  • 5.Conclusion and perspectives
  • Notes
  • References
References (50)
References
Adger, D. (2003). Core Syntax: A minimalist approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alarcón, I. (2011). Spanish gender agreement under complete and incomplete acquisition: Early and late bilinguals’ linguistic behavior within the noun phrase. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14(3), 332–350. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bartning, I. (2000). Gender agreement in L2 French: Pre-advanced vs. advanced learners. Studia Linguistica, 54(2), 225–237. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bond, K., Gabriele, A., Fiorentino, R., & Alemán Bañón, J. (2011). Individual differences and the role of the L1 in L2 processing: An ERP investigation. In J. Herschensohn, & D. Tanner (Eds.), Proceedings of the 11th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 2011) (pp. 17–29). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bruhn de Garavito, J., & White, L. (2002). L2 acquisition of Spanish DPs: The status of grammatical features. In A. T. Pérez-Leroux, & J. M. Liceras (Eds.), The acquisition of Spanish morphosyntax: The L1/L2 connection (pp. 151–176). Dordrecht: Kluwer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1995). The Minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dekydtspotter, L. (2001). The universal parser and interlanguage: Domain-specific mental organization in the comprehension of combien interrogatives in English-French interlanguage. Second Language Research, 17(2), 91–143. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dekydtspotter, L., & Renaud, C. (2009). On the contrastive analysis of features in second language acquisition: Uninterpretable gender on past participles in English-French processing. Second Language Research, 25(2), 251–263. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dekydtspotter, L., Sprouse, R. A., & Anderson, B. (1997). The interpretive interface in L2 acquisition: The process-result distinction in English-French interlanguage grammars. Language Acquisition, 6(4), 297–332. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fodor, J. D. (1998). Parsing to learn. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 27(3), 339–374. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Foote, R. (2011). Integrated knowledge of agreement in early and late English-Spanish bilinguals. Applied Psycholinguistics, 32(1), 187–220. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Foucart, A. (2008). Grammatical gender processing in French as a first and as a second language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Université Aix-Marseille I, France and University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Foucart, A., & Frenck-Mestre, C. (2011). Grammatical gender processing in L2: Electrophysiological evidence of the effect of L1-L2 syntactic similarity. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14(3), 379–399. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Franceschina, F., & Hawkins, R. (2003). Explaining the acquisition and non-acquisition of determiner-noun gender concord in French and Spanish. In P. Prévost, & J. Paradis (Eds.), The acquisition of French in different contexts (pp. 175–205). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grüter, T., Lew-Williams, C., & Fernald, A. (2012). Grammatical gender in L2: A production or a real-time processing problem? Second Language Research, 28(2), 191–215. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halle, M., & Marantz, A. (1993). Distributed morphology and the pieces of inflection. In K. Hale, & S. J. Keyser (Eds.), The view from building 20 (pp. 111–176). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harley, H., & Ritter, E. (2002). Person and number in pronouns: A feature-geometric analysis. Language, 78(3), 482–526. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawkins, R. (2001). The theoretical significance of Universal Grammar in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 17(4), 345–367. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Casillas, G. (2008). Explaining frequency of verb morphology in early L2 speech. Lingua, 118(4), 595–612. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Chan, C. Y.-H. (1997). The partial availability of Universal Grammar in second language acquisition: The “failed functional features hypothesis”. Second Language Research, 13(3), 187–226. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Hattori, H. (2006). Interpretation of English multiple wh-questions by Japanese speakers: A missing uninterpretable feature account. Second Language Research, 22(3), 269–301. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Liszka, S. (2003). Locating the source of defective past tense marking in advanced L2 English speakers. In R. van Hout, A. Hulk, F. Kuiken, & R. Towell (Eds.), The interface between syntax and lexicon in second language acquisition (pp. 21–44). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopp, H. (2007). Ultimate attainment at the interfaces in second language acquisition: Grammar and processing. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Keating, G. (2009). Sensitivity to violations of gender agreement in native and nonnative Spanish: An eye-movement investigation. Language Learning, 59(3), 503–535. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein-Braley, C. (1985). A cloze-up on the c-test: A study in the construct validation of authentic tests. Language Testing, 2(1), 76–104. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lardiere, D. (1998a). Case and tense in the “fossilized” steady state. Second Language Research, 14(1), 1–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1998b). Dissociating syntax from morphology in a divergent L2 end-state grammar. Second Language Research, 14(4), 359–375. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2006). Attainment and acquirability in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 22(3), 239–242. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2008). Feature assembly in second language acquisition. In J. Liceras, H. Zobl, & H. Goodluck (Eds.), The role of features in second language acquisition (pp. 106–140). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2009). Some thoughts on the contrastive analysis of features in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 25(2), 173–227. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
López Prego, B., & Gabriele, A. (2012). Examining the nature of variability in gender and number agreement in native and non-native Spanish. In A. K. Biller, E. Y. Chung, & A. E. Kimball (Eds.), Proceedings of the 36th Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 315–327). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McCarthy, C. (2007). Morphological variability in second language Spanish. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, McGill University, Montréal.
. (2008). Morphological variability in the comprehension of agreement: An argument for representation over computation. Second Language Research, 24(4), 459–486. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meisel, J. M. (1997). The acquisition of the syntax of negation in French and German: Contrasting first and second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 13(3), 227–263. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montrul, S., Foote, R., & Perpiñán, S. (2008). Gender agreement in adult second language learners and Spanish heritage speakers: The effects of age and context of acquisition. Language Learning, 58(3), 503–553. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prévost, P., & White, L. (2000). Missing surface inflection hypothesis or impairment in second language acquisition? Evidence from tense and agreement. Second Language Research, 16(2), 103–133. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rohde, D. (2001). Linger. Retrieved 3 June 2009, from [URL] Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sabourin, L. (2003). Grammatical gender and second language processing: An ERP study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Groeningen, The Netherlands.
Sabourin, L., Stowe, L. A., & de Haan, G. J. (2006). Transfer effects in learning a second language grammatical gender system. Second Language Research, 22(1), 1–29. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sagarra, N., & Herschensohn, J. (2011). Proficiency and animacy effects on L2 gender agreement processes during comprehension. Language Learning, 61(1), 80–116. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. D. (1999). Let’s make up your mind: “Special nativist” perspectives on language, modularity of mind, and nonnative language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21(4), 635–655. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. D., & Sprouse, R. A. (1996). L2 cognitive states and the full transfer/full access model. Second Language Research, 12(1), 40–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shieber, S. M. (1986). An introduction to unification-based approaches to grammar. Stanford, CA: Center for the Study of Language and Information. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tokowicz, N., & MacWhinney, B. (2005). Implicit and explicit measures of sensitivity to violations in second language grammar: An event-related potential investigation. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27(2), 173–204. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tsimpli, I. M., & Dimitrakopoulou, M. (2007). The interpretability hypothesis: Evidence from wh-interrogatives in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 23(2), 215–242. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valdman, A., Pons, C., Scullen, M. E., & Jourdain, S. (2002). Chez nous (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearsons Education. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wagers, M., & McElree, B. (2011). Memory for linguistic features: Evidence from the dynamics of agreement. Available from [URL] Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
White, L., Valenzuela, E., Kozlowska-Macgregor, M., & Leung, Y.-k. I. (2004). Gender and number agreement in nonnative Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25(1), 105–133. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (7)

Cited by seven other publications

Çabuk-Ballı, Sakine
2023. Gauging sensitivity to grammaticality violations of adpositional phrases. In L3 Development After the Initial State [Studies in Bilingualism, 65], ► pp. 205 ff. DOI logo
Frimu, Rodica & Laurent Dekydtspotter
2022. Inference-based form selection in native and non-native speakers: Evidence from subject-verb agreement error detection in French. Lingua 270 ► pp. 103216 ff. DOI logo
Mao, Tiaoyuan, Nicoletta Biondo & Zilong Zheng
2022. Adult Chinese Spanish L2ers’ acquisition of phi-agreement and temporal concord: The role of morphosyntactic features and adverb/subject-verb distance. Frontiers in Psychology 13 DOI logo
Spino, LeAnne
2022. Investigating grammatical gender agreement in Spanish. In The Acquisition of Gender [Studies in Bilingualism, 63], ► pp. 183 ff. DOI logo
Faber, Andie, Luiz Amaral & Marcus Maia
2021. Pronominal Feature Re-assembly: L1 and L2 Pronoun Resolution of Spanish Epicene and Common Gender Antecedents. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 14:2 ► pp. 281 ff. DOI logo
Avery, Nick & Emma Marsden
2019. A META-ANALYSIS OF SENSITIVITY TO GRAMMATICAL INFORMATION DURING SELF-PACED READING: TOWARDS A FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR READING TIME EFFECT SIZES. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41:5 ► pp. 1055 ff. DOI logo
MARSDEN, EMMA, SOPHIE THOMPSON & LUKE PLONSKY
2018. A methodological synthesis of self-paced reading in second language research. Applied Psycholinguistics 39:5 ► pp. 861 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue