Cover not available

In:Meaning and Structure in Second Language Acquisition: In honor of Roumyana Slabakova
Edited by Jacee Cho, Michael Iverson, Tiffany Judy, Tania Leal and Elena Shimanskaya
[Studies in Bilingualism 55] 2018
► pp. 35–66

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

Chapter 2
Mapping at external interfaces

Embedded clitic left dislocations in L2 Spanish

 | University of Nevada, Reno
Published online: 16 November 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.55.02lea
Abstract
This study investigates embedded clitic left dislocation (CLLD), a syntax-discourse interface structure expressing topicalization, in a group of native and L2 Spanish speakers (beginners, intermediate, advanced). The Interface Hypothesis (Sorace, 2011) proposes that external interfaces pose inordinate difficulty for bilinguals, even at near-native levels. Results did not show evidence of such difficulty although differences in methodology (tasks imposing time pressure vs. not) could account for divergences. Additionally, not all syntax-discourse interface properties might be equally problematic: CLLD might not intrinsically place the same processing burden as other structures (e.g., anaphora resolution). Finally, results showed input quality was positively correlated to native-like outcomes, beyond proficiency. Hence, results are in broad agreement with accounts proposing input is the key factor for acquisition.
Article outline
  • Structure under study
    • CLLD in Romance
    • CLLD and specificity
    • CLLD in embedded clauses
  • Learning tasks
    • Research question
  • Methods
    • Proficiency test
    • Background questionnaire
    • Clitic-knowledge test
    • Audio-visual rating task
  • Results
    • Proficiency test and background questionnaire
    • Clitic task
    • Audio-visual rating task
    • The contribution of study abroad
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (77)
References
Aissen, J. (2003). Differential object marking: Iconicity vs. economy. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 21(3), 435–483.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
AlFallay, I. (2004). The role of some selected psychological and personality traits of the rater in the accuracy of self- and peer-assessment. System, 32(3), 407–425.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anagnostopoulou, E. (1997). Clitic left dislocation and contrastive left dislocation. In E. Anagnostopoulou, H. van Riemsdijk, & F. Zwarts (Eds.), Materials on left dislocation, (pp. 151–192). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arregi, K. (2003). Clitic left dislocation is contrastive topicalization. In E. Kaiser & S. Arunachalam (Eds.), Proceedings of the 26th Annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium. U. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics, 9(1), 31–44.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Belletti, A., Bennati, E., & Sorace, A. (2007). Theoretical and developmental issues in the syntax of subjects: Evidence from near-native Italian. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 25, 657–689.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bianchi, V., & Frascarelli, M. (2010). Is topic a root phenomenon? Iberia, 2, 43–88.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bruhn de Garavito, J. (2013). What research can tell us about teaching: The case of pronouns and clitics. In M. Whong, K-H. Gil, & H. Marsden (Eds.), Universal Grammar and the second language classroom (pp. 17–34). Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Casielles-Suárez, E. (2003). Left-dislocated structures in Spanish. Hispania, 86(2), 326–338.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cecchetto, C. (1999). A comparative analysis of left and right dislocation in Romance. Studia Linguistica, 53(1), 40–67.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (2000). Minimalist inquiries. In R. Martin, D. Michaels, & J. Uriagereka (Eds.), Step by step: Essays on Minimalist syntax in honor of Howard Lasnik (pp. 89–155). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cinque, G. (1990). Types of A’-dependencies. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Contreras, H. (1976). A theory of word order with special reference to Spanish. Amsterdam: North-Holland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Cat, C. (2007). French dislocation without movement. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 25(3), 485–534.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dobrovie-Sorin, C. (1990). Clitic doubling, wh-movement, and quantification in Romanian. Linguistic Inquiry, 21, 351–397.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Donaldson, B. (2011). Left dislocation in near-native French. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 399–432.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Escandell-Vidal, V. (2007). Topics from Ibiza: Differential object marking and clitic dislocation. In G. A. Kaiser & M. Leonetti (Eds.), Proceedings of the workshop “Definiteness, Specificity and Animacy in Ibero-Romance Languages” (pp. 23–43). Konstanz: University of Konstanz.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Escobar, L. (1997). Clitic left dislocation and other relatives. In E. Anagnostopoulou, H. van Riemsdijk, & F. Zwarts (Eds.), Materials on left dislocation, (pp. 233–273). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Emonds, J. (2004). Unspecified categories as the key to root constructions. In D. Adger, C. De Cat, & G. Tsoulas (Eds.), Peripheries: Syntactic edges and their effects (pp. 75–120). Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fábregas, A. (2013). Differential object marking in Spanish: State of the art. Borealis, 2(2), 1–80.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Feldhausen, I. (2016). Inter-speaker variation, Optimality Theory, and the prosody of clitic left-dislocations in Spanish. Probus, 28(2), 293–333.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frascarelli, M. (2004). Dislocation, clitic resumption and minimality: A comparative analysis of left and right topic constructions in Italian. In R. Bok-Bennema, B. Hollebrandse, B. Kampers-Manhe, & P. Sleeman (Eds.), Romance languages and linguistic theory 2002 (pp. 99–118). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frascarelli, M., & Hinterholzl, R. (2007). Types of topics in German and Italian. In K. Schwabe & S. Winkler (Eds.), On information structure, meaning and form: Generalizations across languages (pp. 87–116). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gundel, J. (1988). Universals of topic-comment structure In M. Hammond, E. Moravczik, & J. Wirth (Eds.), Studies in syntactic typology (pp. 209–239). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haegeman, L. (2004). Topicalization, CLLD and the left periphery. ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 35(1), 157–192.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). Conditionals, factives, and the left periphery. Lingua, 116(10), 1651–1669.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). The internal syntax of adverbial clauses. Lingua, 120(3), 628–648.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. (1967). Notes on transitivity and theme in English. Part II. Journal of Linguistics, 3, 199–244.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ionin, T., Ko, H., & Wexler, K. (2004). Article semantics in L2 acquisition: The role of specificity. Language Acquisition, 12(1), 3–69.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ivanov, I. (2012). L2 acquisition of Bulgarian clitic doubling: A test case for the Interface Hypothesis. Second Language Research, 28(3), 345–368.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jackendoff, R. (2003). Foundations of language: Brain, meaning, grammar, evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Judy, T. (2015). Knowledge and processing of subject-related discourse properties in L2 near-native speakers of Spanish, L1 Farsi. In T. Judy, & S. Perpiñán (Eds.), The acquisition of Spanish in understudied language pairings (pp. 169–199). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kato, M., & Raposo, E. (2007). Topicalization in European and Brazilian Portuguese. In J. Camacho, N. Flores-Ferrán, L. Sánchez, V. Déprez, & M. J. Cabrera (Eds.), Romance linguistics 2006: Selected papers from the 36th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (pp. 205–218). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kempchinsky, P. (2008). How much structure does the left periphery need? Poster presentation at LSRL 38, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.
(2013). CLLD as a window on the left periphery. In C. Howe, S. E. Blackwell, & M. Libbers Quesada (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 15th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 310–327). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lambrecht, K. (1994). Information structure and sentence form: Topic, focus and the mental representation of discourse referents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lardiere, D. (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
Leal, T. (2016). Look before you move: Clitic left dislocation in combination with other elements at the Spanish left periphery, Spanish Review of Applied Linguistics, 29(2), 396–428.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leal, T., Destruel, E., & Hoot, B. (2017). The realization of information focus in monolingual and bilingual native Spanish. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. Online first.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leal, T. & Slabakova, R. (forthcoming). The relationship between L2 instruction, exposure, and the L2 acquisition of a syntax-discourse property in L2 Spanish. Language Teaching Research.
Leal, T., Slabakova, R., & Farmer, T. A. (2017). Fine-tuning of linguistic expectations over the course of L2 learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39(3), 493–525.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leal, T., Slabakova, R., & Rothman, J. (2014). A rare structure at the syntax-discourse interface: Heritage and Spanish-dominant native speakers weigh in. Language Acquisition, 21(4), 411–429.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leal Méndez, T., Slabakova, R., & Rothman, J. (2015). Discourse-sensitive clitic-doubled dislocations in heritage Spanish. Lingua, 155, 85–97.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leonetti, M. (2004). Specificity and differential object marking in Spanish. Catalan Journal of Linguistics, 3, 75–114.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
López, L. (2003). Steps for a well‐adjusted dislocation. Studia Linguistica, 57(3), 193–231.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). A derivational syntax for information structure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maki, H., Kaiser, L., & Ochi, M. (1999). Embedded topicalization in English and Japanese. Lingua, 109(1) 1–14.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mulder, K., & Hulstijn, J. H. (2011). Linguistic skills of adult native speakers, as a function of age and level of education. Applied Linguistics, 32(5), 475–494.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pablos, L. (2006). Pre-verbal structure building in Romance languages and Basque (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The University of Maryland, College Park, MD.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pakulak, E., & Neville, H. J. (2010). Proficiency differences in syntactic processing of monolingual native speakers indexed by event-related potentials. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(12), 2728–2744.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quesada, J. (1997). Obituary: Adios to passive in Spanish. La Linguistique, 33(1), 41–62.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reinhart, T. (2006). Interface strategies: Reference-set computation. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rizzi, L. (1997). The fine structure of the left periphery. In L. Haegeman (Ed.), Elements of grammar (pp. 281–337). Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2009). Pragmatic deficits with syntactic consequences? L2 pronominal subjects and the syntax–pragmatics interface. Journal of Pragmatics, 41(5), 951–973.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rothman, J., & Slabakova, R. (2011). The mind-context divide: On acquisition at the linguistic interfaces. Lingua, 121(4), 568–576.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwartz, B., & Sprouse, R. (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
Slabakova, R. (2012). L2 knowledge at the mapping of syntax and discourse. Plenary address for J-SLA: The Japanese Second Language Acquisition Conference.
(2015). The effect of construction frequency and native transfer on second language knowledge of the syntax–discourse interface. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36(3), 671–699.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slabakova, R., & Ivanov, I. (2011). A more careful look at the syntax–discourse interface. Lingua, 121(4), 637–651.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slabakova, R., Kempchinsky, P., & Rothman, J. (2012). Clitic-doubled left dislocation and focus fronting in L2 Spanish: A case of successful acquisition at the syntax–discourse interface. Second Language Research, 28(3), 319–343.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slabakova, R., Rothman, J., Leal Méndez, T., Campos, G., & Kempchinsky, P. (2011). Pragmatic features at the L2 syntax-discourse interface. In N. Danis, K. Mesh, & H. Sung (Eds.), BUCLD 35: Proceedings of the 35th annual Boston University Conference of Language Development (pp. 564–576). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slabakova, R., Leal, T., & Liskin-Gasparro, J. (2015). Rumors of UG’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Applied Linguistics, 36(2), 265–269.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sorace, A. (2011). Pinning down the concept of “interface” in bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 1(1) 1–34.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sorace, A., & Filiaci, F. (2006). Anaphora resolution in near-native speakers of Italian. Second Language Research, 22(3), 339–368.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sorace, A., & Serratrice, L. (2009). Internal and external interfaces in bilingual language development: Beyond structural overlap. International Journal of Bilingualism, 13(2), 195–210.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sorace, A., Serratrice, L., Filiaci, F., & Baldo, M. (2009). Discourse conditions on subject pronoun realization: Testing the linguistic intuitions of older bilingual children. Lingua, 119(3), 460–477.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sornicola, R., (2003). Crosslinguistic comparison and second language acquisition: An approach to topic and left detachment constructions from the perspective of spoken language. In G. A. Ramat (Ed.), Typology and second language acquisition (pp. 227–363). Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Suñer, M. (2006). Left dislocations with and without epithets. Probus, 18(1), 127–158.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Torrego, E. (1998). The dependencies of objects. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tsimpli, I-M., & Sorace, A. (2006). Differentiating interfaces: L2 performance in syntax- semantics and syntax-discourse phenomena. In D. Bamman, T. Magnitskaia, & C. Zaller (Eds.), BUCLD 30: Proceedings of the 30th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 653–664). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valenzuela, E. (2006). L2 end state grammars and incomplete acquisition of the Spanish CLLD constructions. In R. Slabakova, S. Montrul, & P. Prévost (Eds.), Inquiries in linguistic development: In honor of Lydia White (pp. 283–304). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ward, G. (1988). The semantics and pragmatics of preposing (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ward, G., & Birner, B. J. (2001). Discourse and information structure. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. E. Hamilton (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 119–137). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
White, L. (2011). Second language acquisition at the interfaces. Lingua, 121(4), 577–590.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
Zagona, K. (2002). The syntax of Spanish. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Hoot, Bradley & Tania Leal
2023. Crosslinguistic influence from Catalan and Yucatec Maya on judgments and processing of Spanish focus. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 13:4 ► pp. 529 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 december 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