Cover not available

In:Lost in Transmission: The role of attrition and input in heritage language development
Edited by Bernhard Brehmer and Jeanine Treffers-Daller
[Studies in Bilingualism 59] 2020
► pp. 255–270

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

Does extensive L2 exposure trigger L1 attrition of perfective and durative aspect marking in Mandarin Chinese?

 | University of Stirling
Published online: 29 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.59.10zha
Abstract
This study concerns whether extended exposure to a second language would lead to first language (L1) attrition, i.e. changes of L1 linguistic behavior/knowledge. An acceptability judgement task, which examined the perceptive knowledge of perfective and durative aspect marking in Mandarin Chinese, was employed, and the performance of 14 Mandarin-English bilinguals in the UK was examined. The results did not suggest that the bilinguals showed L1 attrition in perceiving perfective/durative aspect marking. The paper also discusses how research on heritage language acquisition could benefit from L1 attrition research.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1The aspect system of Mandarin
    • 2.2Studies on aspect marking in HL Mandarin
  • 3.The present study
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Material
  • 5.Results and analysis
  • 6.General discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (34)
References
Aalberse, S., Zou, Y. & Andringa, S. 2017. Extended use of demonstrative pronouns in two generations of Mandarin Chinese speakers in the Netherlands: Evidence of convergence? In Cross-linguistic Influence in Bilingualism: In Honor of Aafke Hulk, [Studies in Bilingualism 52], E. Blom, L. Cornips & J. Schaeffer (eds), 25–48. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brehmer, B. & Kurbangulova, T. 2016. Effects of parental input on heritage language development: A comparison across linguistic categories. Paper presented at the Workshop on Heritage Language Acquisition, The Arctic University Tromsø, 19./20.09.2016.
Chen, J. & Shirai, Y. 2010. The development of aspectual marking in child Mandarin Chinese. Applied Psycholinguistics 31(1): 1–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Comrie, B. 1976. Aspect: An Introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related Problems. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ding, T. 2013. New type of learner emerging: Understanding learners of Chinese as a Heritage Language. Cambridge Journal of China Studies 8(2): 49–61.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duff, P. & Li, D. 2002. The acquisition and use of perfective aspect in Mandarin. In The L2 Acquisition of Tense-Aspect Morphology [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders, 27], R. Salaberry & Y. Shirai (eds), 417–454. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Erbaugh, M. S. 1992. The acquisition of Mandarin. The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition, Vol. 3, D. I. Slobin (ed.), 373–455. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hui, S. 2012. First Language Attrition of Chinese Reflexives. PhD dissertation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jia, L. & Bayley, R. 2008. The (re) acquisition of perfective aspect marking by Chinese heritage language learners. In Chinese as a Heritage Language: Fostering Rooted World Citizenry, A. W. He & Y. Xiao (eds), 205–222. Honolulu HI: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jin, L. & Hendriks, H. 2003. The development of aspect marking in L1 and L2 Chinese. Working Papers on Applied Linguistics 9: 69–100.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein, W., Li, P., Hendriks, H. & Language, S. N. 2000. Aspect and assertion in Mandarin Chinese. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 18(4): 723–770. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kupisch, T. 2013. A new term for a better distinction? A view from the higher end of the proficiency scale. Theoretical Linguistics 39(3–4): 203–214.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, C. & Thompson, S. 1989. Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, G. 2006. Biliteracy and trilingual practices in the home context: Case studies of Chinese-Canadian children. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 6(3): 355–381. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, M. 2015. Tense and aspect in Mandarin Chinese. The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics, W. S.-Y. Wang & C. Sun (eds), 274–289. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luo, H. 2015. Chinese language learning anxiety: A study of heritage learners. Heritage Language Journal 12(1): 22–47.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ming, T. & Tao, H. 2008. Developing a Chinese heritage language corpus: Issues and a preliminary report. In Chinese as a Heritage Language: Fostering Rooted World Citizenry, A. W. He & Y. Xiao (eds), 167–187. Honolulu HI: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montrul, S. 2008. Incomplete Acquisition in Bilingualism: Re-examining the Age Factor [Studies in Bilingualism 39]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2016. The Acquisition of Heritage Languages. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pascual y Cabo, D. & Rothman, J. 2012. The (il)logical problem of heritage speaker bilingualism and incomplete acquisition. Applied Linguistics 33(4): 450–455. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peck, J., Lin, J. & Sun, C. 2013. Aspectual classification of Mandarin Chinese verbs: A perspective of scale structure. Language and Linguistics 14(4): 663–700.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Polinsky, M. 2011. Reanalysis in adult heritage language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 33(2): 305–328. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rothman, J. 2007. Heritage speaker competence differences, language change, and input type: Inflected infinitives in Heritage Brazilian Portuguese. International Journal of Bilingualism 11(4): 359–389. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rothman, J. & Treffers-Daller, J. 2014. A prolegomenon to the construct of the native speaker: Heritage speaker bilinguals are natives too! Applied Linguistics 35(1): 93–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmid, M. S. 2016. First language attrition. Language Teaching 49(2): 186–212. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmid, M. S. & Köpke, B. 2017. The relevance of first language attrition to theories of bilingual development. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 7(6): 637–667. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shi, M. 2011. Incomplete Knowledge of Aspect in Heritage Speakers of Mandarin Chinese in the Netherlands. MA thesis, Radboud University, Nijmegen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, C. S. 1997. The Parameter of Aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer. 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): 1–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valdés, G. 2005. Bilingualism, heritage language learners, and SLA research: Opportunities lost or seized? The Modern Language Journal 89(3): 410–426. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vendler, Z. 1967. Linguistics in Philosophy. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wiedenhof, J. 2015. A Grammar of Mandarin. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Xiao, R. & McEnery, T. 2004. Aspect in Mandarin Chinese: A Corpus-based Study [Studies in Language Companion Series 73]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue