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Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 33:2 (2020) ► pp.475–504

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When bilinguals outperform monolinguals

Evidence from definite and bare noun phrases in Spanish and English

 | Wake Forest University
Published online: 10 February 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.18003.mil
Abstract
This study explores cross-linguistic influence among different populations of Spanish-English bilinguals by studying their interpretation, production and acceptance of definite articles in subject position. The three bilingual groups included Heritage Speakers of Spanish living in the United States, L1 English/L2 Spanish speakers, and L1 Spanish/L2 English speakers. Two groups of monolingual speakers (Spanish and English) were also tested for comparison. Results show that instructed bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on the acceptability judgment task but that monolinguals performed better on the interpretation tasks. Additionally, the type of linguistic experience each group had was found to predict variable performance across acceptance, production, and interpretation tasks. These results support multi-competence models of bilingualism, which argue that language performance is linked to language experience, suggesting that variable amounts of exposure rather than age of onset of acquisition may be the crucial difference between first language and second language speakers.
Resumen
Cuando los bilingües superan a los monolingües: Evidencias a partir de frases nominales definidas y genéricas en inglés y español
Este trabajo investiga la influencia interlingüística entre el inglés y el español respecto a la interpretación, producción y aceptación de artículos definidos en posición de sujeto por parte de diferentes poblaciones de bilingües español-inglés. Los tres grupos bilingües incluidos en el estudio son: hablantes de español como lengua de herencia residentes en los EE.UU., hablantes de español como segunda lengua (con inglés como L1), y hablantes de inglés como segunda lengua (con español como L1). Además de estos tres grupos experimentales se incluyen dos grupos (español e inglés como primera lengua) como grupo control. Los resultados muestran que los bilingües tienen una ventaja sobre los monolingües en la prueba de aceptación mientras que los monolingües realizan mejor la prueba de interpretación. Los datos también revelan una relación entre el tipo de experiencia lingüística que tienen los diferentes grupos y su desempeño variable en las diferentes pruebas. Estos resultados apoyan un modelo de bilingüismo multicompetencial, según el cual las capacidades lingüísticas dependen de la experiencia lingüística previa. Asimismo, este modelo defiende que es la cantidad variable de exposición a la lengua, y no la edad de adquisición, lo que constituye la diferencia crucial entre los hablantes nativos y los hablantes de segunda lengua.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous research
  • 3.The structure under analysis
    • 3.1Bare and definite nominals in Spanish and English
    • 3.2The acquisition of bare and definite article distribution
  • 4.The study
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Tasks
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1English acceptability judgment task
    • 5.2Spanish acceptability judgment task
    • 5.3English elicited production task
    • 5.4Spanish elicited production task
    • 5.5English interpretation task
    • 5.6Spanish interpretation task
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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