Cover not available
Part of
L3 Syntactic Transfer: Models, new developments and implications
Edited by Tanja Angelovska and Angela Hahn
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 5] 2017
► pp. 13–34

Chapter 1
Language control in the context of L3 acquisition

The centrality of individual differences

Current models of L3 syntactic transfer concern what is transferred during the initial stages. Each delineates a different, and singular, trajectory. From the outset though processes involved in co-opting available syntactic forms and pairing these with novel lexical items admit individual variability. Individual variability challenges the presumption of a single trajectory and so this chapter argues that understanding such variability is core to developing necessary and sufficient models of L3 acquisition. The chapter focuses on language control during L3 speech production as an important source of individual variability. Variability in language control affects speech production in L3 throughout the cycle from communicative intention to overt speech. What changes are needed to the processes of language control, and to the representations subject to their control, so that bilingual speakers may converse in an L3? Speakers must adapt their habits of language control so that they can construct and execute sentence plans in L3. Variability in the nature of such control will affect speech output. Current contexts of L3 use will also affect production in the two prior languages. Adaptive changes in language control induced via the acquisition and use of an L3 also impact on the production processes of the two prior languages. Models of L3 acquisition are ultimately models of multilingual processing.

Keywords: individual variability, language control, L3 speech production, adaptive change, multilingual processing
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Transfer as a probabilistic process
  • Mechanisms of transfer: Representational change and use
  • Sentence planning and execution in L3
  • Review and discussion
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 15 August 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.5.02gre
References
Abutalebi, J., & Green, D. W.
(2007) Bilingual language production: The neurocognition of language representation and control. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 20(3), 242−275. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Argyropoulos, G. P., Tremblay, P., & Small, S. L.
(2013) The neostriatum and response selection in overt sentence production: An fMRI study. NeuroImage, 82, 53−60. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Bardel, C., & Falk, Y.
(2007) The role of the second language in third language acquisition: The case of Germanic syntax. Second Language Research, 23(4), 459−484. DOI logo.Google Scholar
(2012) The L2 status factor and the declarative/procedural distinction. In J. Cabrelli Amaro, S. Flynn & J. Rothman (Eds.), Third language acquisition in adulthood (Studies in Bilingualism 46) (pp. 61−78). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bellander, M., Berggren, R., Mårtensson, J., Brehmer, Y., Wenger, E., Li, T-Q., Bodammer, N. C., Shing, Y-L., Werkle-Bergner, M., & Lövdén, M.
(2016) Behavioral correlates of changes in hippocampal gray matter structure during acquisition of foreign vocabulary. NeuroImage, 131, 205–213. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Bohland, J. W., Bullock, D., & Guenther, F. H.
(2009) Neural representations and mechanisms for the performance of simple speech sequences. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(7), 1504–1529. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Cabrelli Amaro, J., Amaro, F., & Rothman, J.
(2015) The relationship between L3 transfer and structural similarity across L3 development: Evidence from subject-to-subject raising over an experiencer. In H. Peukert (Ed.), Transfer effects in multilingual language development (Hamburg Studies on Linguistic Diversity 4) (pp. 21–52) Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Caffara, S., Monlinaro, N., Davidson, D., & Carreiras, M.
(2015) Second language syntactic processing revealed through event-related potentials: an empirical review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 51, 31–47. DOI logo.Google Scholar
De Bot, K., & Jaensch, C.
(2015) What is special about L3 processing? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 130–144. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Dijkraaf, A., Hartsuiker, R. J., & Duyck, W.
(2016) Predicting upcoming information in native-language and non-native-language auditory word recognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Duñabeitia, J. A., Dimitropoulou, M., Dowens, M. G., Molinaro, N., & Martin, C.
(2016) The electrophysiology of the bilingual brain. In R. R. Heredia, J. Altarriba, & A. B. Cieslicka (Eds.), Methods in bilingual reading comprehension research (pp. 265–312). New York, NY: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dussias, P. E., & Sagarra, N.
(2007) The effect of exposure on syntactic parsing in Spanish – English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10(1), 101–116. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Fallah, N., Jabbari, A., & Fazilatfar, A. M.
(2016) Source(s) of syntactic CLI: The case of L3 acquisition of English possessives by Mazandarani – Persian bilinguals. Second Language Research, 32(2), 225–245. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Festman, J.
(2006) Trilingual language processing investigated by means of introspective verbalizing during speaking in three Languages. Journal of Social and Ecological Boundaries, 2(1), 117–147.Google Scholar
Festman, J., Rodriguez-Fornells, A., & Münte, T.
(2010) Individual differences in control of language interference in late bilinguals are mainly related to general executive abilities. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 6(1), 5–17. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Flynn, S., Foley, C., & Vinnitskaya, I.
(2004) The Cumulative-Enhancement model for language acquisition: Comparing adults’ and children’s patterns of development in first, second and third language acquisition. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1(1), 3–17. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Foucart, A., Martin, C. D., Moreno, E. M., & Costa, A.
(2014) Can bilinguals see it coming? Word anticipation in L2 sentence reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(5), 1461–1469. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Foucart, A., Ruiz-Tada, E., & Costa, A.
(2016) Anticipation processes in L2 speech comprehension: evidence from ERPs and lexical recognition task. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(1), 213–219. DOI logo.Google Scholar
González Alonso, J., & Rothman, J.
(2016) Coming of age in L3 initial stages transfer models: deriving developmental predictions and looking towards the future. International Journal of Bilingualism. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Green, D. W.
(1986) Control, activation and resource: a framework and a model for the control of speech in bilinguals. Brain and Language, 27(2), 210–223. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Green, D. W.
(1998) Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language & Cognition, 1(2), 67–81. DOI logo.Google Scholar
(2003) Neural basis of lexicon and grammar in L2 acquisition: The convergence hypothesis. In R. van Hout, A. Hulk, F. Kuiken, & R. Towell (Eds.), The interface between syntax and the lexicon in second language acquisition (Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 30) (pp. 197–208). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Green, D. W.
(2011) Language control in different contexts: The behavioural ecology of bilingual speakers. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 103. DOI logo.Google Scholar
(2016) Trajectories to L3 proficiency. International Journal of Bilingualism. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Green, D. W., & Abutalebi, J.
(2013) Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 515–530. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Green, D. W., & Wei, L.
(2014) A control process model of code-switching. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 29(4), 499–511. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Grosjean, F.
(1998) Studying bilinguals: Methodological and conceptual issues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1(2), 131–149. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Grossberg, S.
(1978) A theory of human memory: Self-organization and performance of sensory-motor codes, maps, and plans. In R. Rosen & F. Snell (Eds.), Progress in theoretical biology (pp. 233–374). New York, NY: Academic Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hartsuiker, R. J., Pickering, M. J., & Veltkamp, E.
(2004) Is syntax separate or shared between languages? Psychological Science, 15(6), 409–414. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Houghton, G.
(1990) The problem of serial order: A neural network model of sequence learning and recall. In R. Dale, C. Mellish, & M. Zock (Eds.), Current research in natural language generation (pp. 287–319). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hunsaker, M. R., & Kesner, R. P.
(2013) The operation of pattern separation and pattern completion processes associated with different attributes or domains of memory. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 37(1), 36–58. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Jessner, U.
(2008) A DST model of multilingualism and the role of metalinguistic awareness. The Modern Languages Journal, 92(2), 270–283. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Johnson, K.
(2004) On the systematicity of language and thought. Journal of Philosophy, 101(3), 111–139. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Kriete, T., Noelle, D. C., Cohen, J. D., & O’Reilly, R. C.
(2013) Indirection and symbol-like processing in the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(41), 16390–16395. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & Gollan, T. H.
(2014) Speech planning in two languages: What bilinguals tell us about language production. In V. Ferreira, M. Goldrick, & M. Miozzo (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Language Production (pp. 165–181). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., Bobb, S. C., & Wodniecka, Z.
(2006) Language selectivity is the exception, not the rule: Arguments against a fixed locus of language selection in bilingual speech. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 9(2), 119–135. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., Dussias, P. E., Bice, K., & Perrotti, L.
(2015) Bilingualism, mind & brain. Annual Review of Linguistics, 1(1), 377–394. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Lashley, K. S.
(1951) The problem of serial order in behavior. In L. A. Jeffress (Ed.), Cerebral mechanisms in behavior: The Hixon symposium (pp. 112–136). New York, NY: Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Lesage, E., Morgan, B. E., Olson, A. C., Meyer, A. S., & Miall, R. C.
(2012) Cerebellar rTMS disrupts predictive language processing. Current Biology, 22(18), R794–R795. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Libben, M. R., & Titone, D. A.
(2009) Bilingual lexical access in context: evidence from eye movements during reading. Journal Experimental Psychology: Learning. Memory & Cognition, 35(2), 381–390. DOI logo.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B.
(2005) A unified model of language acquisition. In J. F. Kroll & A. M. B. de Groot (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches (pp. 49–67). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Marian, V., & Spivey, M.
(2003) Competing activation in bilingual language processing: within- and between language competition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 6(2), 97–115. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Marien, P., Engelborghs, S., Fabbro, F., & De Deyn, P. P.
(2001) The lateralized linguistic cerebellum: A review and a new hypothesis. Brain and Language, 79(3), 580–600. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Morales, J., Gómez-Ariza, C. J., & Bajo, M. T.
(2013) Dual mechanisms of cognitive control in bilinguals and monolinguals. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 531–546. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Muysken, P.
(2000) Bilingual speech: A typology of codemixing. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Paradis, M.
(2009) Declarative and procedural determinants of second languages (Studies in Bilingualism 40). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pickering, M., & Garrod, S.
(2013) An integrated theory of language production and comprehension. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(4), 329–347. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Pliatsikas, C., Johnstone, T., & Marinis, T.
(2014) Grey matter volume in the cerebellum is related to the processing of grammatical rules in a second language: A structural voxel-based morphometry study. Cerebellum, 13(1), 55–63. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Ripollés, P., Marco-Pallarés, J., Hielscher, U., Mestres-Missé, Tempelmann, Heinze, H-J., Rodríguez-Fornells, A., & Noesselt, T.
(2014) The role of reward in word learning and its implications for language acquisition. Current Biology, 24(21), 2606–2611. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Rothman, J.
(2011) L3 syntactic transfer selectivity and typological determinacy: The Typological Primacy Model. Second Language Research, 27(1), 107–127. DOI logo.Google Scholar
(2015) Linguistic and cognitive motivations for the Typological Primacy Model of third language (L3) transfer: Timing of acquisition and proficiency considered. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 179–190. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Rothman, J., Bañón, J. A., & Alonso, J. G.
(2015) Neurolinguistic measures of typological effects in multilingual transfer: Introducing an ERP methodology. Frontiers in Psychology: Language Sciences, 6, 1087. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Sanz, C., Park, H. I., & Lado, B.
(2015) A functional approach to cross-linguistic influence in ab initio L3 acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 236–251. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Silbert, L. J. , Honey, C. J., Simony, E., Poeppel, D., & Hasson, U.
(2014) Coupled neural systems underlie the production and comprehension of naturalistic narrative speech. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(43), E4687–E4696. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Silveri, M. C., Leggio, M. G., & Molinari, M.
(1994) The cerebellum contributes to linguistic production: A case of agrammatism of speech following right hemicerebellar lesion. Neurology, 44(11), 2047–2050. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R.
(2016) The scalpel model of third language acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tanner, D., Inoue, K., & Osterhout, L.
(2014) Brain-based individual differences in online L2 grammatical comprehension. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17(2), 277–293. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Thierry, G., & Wu, Y. J.
(2007) Brain potentials reveal unconscious translation during foreign language comprehension. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(30), 12530–12535. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Tyson, B., Lantrip, A. C., & Roth, R. M.
(2014) Cerebellar contributions to implicit learning and executive function. Cognitive Sciences, 9(2), 179–217.Google Scholar
Ullman, M. T.
(2001) The neural basis of lexicon and grammar in first and second language: The Declarative/Procedural Model. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4(2), 105–22. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Van Gelder, T.
(1990) Compositionality: A connectionist variation on a classical theme. Cognitive Science, 14(3), 355–384. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Van Hell, J. G., & Dijkstra, T.
(2002) Foreign language knowledge can influence native language performance in exclusively native contexts. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 9(4), 780–789. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Westergaard, M., Mitrofanova, N., Mykhaylyk, R., & Rodina, Y.
(2016) Crosslinguistic influence in the acquisition of a third language: The linguistic proximity model. International Journal of Bilingualism. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Angelovska, Tanja
2017. Chapter 9. (When) do L3 English learners transfer from L2 German?. In L3 Syntactic Transfer [Bilingual Processing and Acquisition, 5], ► pp. 195 ff. DOI logo
Angelovska, Tanja & Angela Hahn
2017. L3 syntactic transfer – an integrative approach. In L3 Syntactic Transfer [Bilingual Processing and Acquisition, 5], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 april 2024. 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.