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Linguistic Approaches to Portuguese as an Additional Language
Edited by Karina Veronica Molsing, Cristina Becker Lopes Perna and Ana Maria Tramunt Ibaños
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 24] 2020
► pp. 83–106

Multi-directionality in language transfer

Development of the vowel system of Brazilian Portuguese as a second (L2) or third language (L3)

| Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing
| Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

This study addresses the multi-directionality of vowel transfer by L1 Riverplate Spanish learners of Brazilian Portuguese. We verify the influence of the second language (L2) and the third language (L3) on the production of the mother tongue (L1). Our results showed that (1) the development of the Brazilian Portuguese vowel system was highly dependent on the language systems the participants had previously acquired, and (2) the presence of an L2 or L3 system also affected the L1 (and the L2 system, in the case of the acquisition of an L3). These results shed some light on the multi-directionality of language transfer, as they show that all language systems are in constant development and interaction throughout the whole lifespan.

Keywords: multilingualism, complex dynamic systems, vowel transfer
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Basic characteristics of complex adaptive systems
  • The present study
    • Research questions and procedures
    • Method
      • Participants
      • Tasks
    • Results
      • The effect of additional language systems on L1 production
      • The effect of the L1 and L2 systems on L3 production
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 26 March 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.24.04per
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