Subject–Verb Number Agreement in Bilingual Processing: (Lack of) Age of Acquisition and Proficiency Effects
Children acquire language more easily than adults, though it is controversial whether this faculty declines as a result of a critical period or something else. To address this question, we investigate the role of age of acquisition and proficiency on morphosyntactic processing in adult monolinguals...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Languages |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/7/1/15 |
| _version_ | 1827628610900459520 |
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| author | Nuria Sagarra Nicole Rodriguez |
| author_facet | Nuria Sagarra Nicole Rodriguez |
| author_sort | Nuria Sagarra |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Children acquire language more easily than adults, though it is controversial whether this faculty declines as a result of a critical period or something else. To address this question, we investigate the role of age of acquisition and proficiency on morphosyntactic processing in adult monolinguals and bilinguals. Spanish monolinguals and intermediate and advanced early and late bilinguals of Spanish read sentences with adjacent subject–verb number agreements and violations and chose one of four pictures. Eye-tracking data revealed that all groups were sensitive to the violations and attended more to more salient plural and preterit verbs than less obvious singular and present verbs, regardless of AoA and proficiency level. We conclude that the processing of adjacent SV agreement depends on perceptual salience and language use, rather than AoA or proficiency. These findings support usage-based theories of language acquisition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:35:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4b5ba2dcbfc646309b342a63f898456f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:35:55Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-4b5ba2dcbfc646309b342a63f898456f2023-11-30T21:12:18ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2022-01-01711510.3390/languages7010015Subject–Verb Number Agreement in Bilingual Processing: (Lack of) Age of Acquisition and Proficiency EffectsNuria Sagarra0Nicole Rodriguez1Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USAFaculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-712 Poznań, PolandChildren acquire language more easily than adults, though it is controversial whether this faculty declines as a result of a critical period or something else. To address this question, we investigate the role of age of acquisition and proficiency on morphosyntactic processing in adult monolinguals and bilinguals. Spanish monolinguals and intermediate and advanced early and late bilinguals of Spanish read sentences with adjacent subject–verb number agreements and violations and chose one of four pictures. Eye-tracking data revealed that all groups were sensitive to the violations and attended more to more salient plural and preterit verbs than less obvious singular and present verbs, regardless of AoA and proficiency level. We conclude that the processing of adjacent SV agreement depends on perceptual salience and language use, rather than AoA or proficiency. These findings support usage-based theories of language acquisition.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/7/1/15subject–verb agreementL2 morphosyntactic processingAoAproficiency |
| spellingShingle | Nuria Sagarra Nicole Rodriguez Subject–Verb Number Agreement in Bilingual Processing: (Lack of) Age of Acquisition and Proficiency Effects Languages subject–verb agreement L2 morphosyntactic processing AoA proficiency |
| title | Subject–Verb Number Agreement in Bilingual Processing: (Lack of) Age of Acquisition and Proficiency Effects |
| title_full | Subject–Verb Number Agreement in Bilingual Processing: (Lack of) Age of Acquisition and Proficiency Effects |
| title_fullStr | Subject–Verb Number Agreement in Bilingual Processing: (Lack of) Age of Acquisition and Proficiency Effects |
| title_full_unstemmed | Subject–Verb Number Agreement in Bilingual Processing: (Lack of) Age of Acquisition and Proficiency Effects |
| title_short | Subject–Verb Number Agreement in Bilingual Processing: (Lack of) Age of Acquisition and Proficiency Effects |
| title_sort | subject verb number agreement in bilingual processing lack of age of acquisition and proficiency effects |
| topic | subject–verb agreement L2 morphosyntactic processing AoA proficiency |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/7/1/15 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nuriasagarra subjectverbnumberagreementinbilingualprocessinglackofageofacquisitionandproficiencyeffects AT nicolerodriguez subjectverbnumberagreementinbilingualprocessinglackofageofacquisitionandproficiencyeffects |