Cover not available
Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 5:2 (2015) ► pp.215–251

Interpretation of NPs in generic and existential contexts in L3 Brazilian Portuguese

This paper examines the interpretation of NPs in generic and existential contexts in the acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese (BrP) as a third language (L3) by learners who speak English and a Romance language (Spanish, French or Italian). The paper examines whether transfer / cross-linguistic influence is from English, Spanish/French/Italian, or both, and whether it matters which language is the learners’ first language (L1) vs. their second language (L2). An Acceptability Judgment Task of NP interpretation in BrP is administered to L1-English L2-Spanish/French/Italian and L1-Spanish L2-English learners of BrP as an L3, as well as to a control group of native speakers of BrP. The findings point to a nuanced picture of transfer in L3 acquisition, in which both languages can serve as the source of transfer, but transfer from a previously learned Romance language is more pronounced than transfer from English, both for L1-English L2-Romance and L1-Spanish L2-English L3-learners of BrP.

Keywords: third language acquisition, genericity, Brazilian Portuguese, existential readings, bare NPs
Published online: 10 July 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.5.2.03ion
References
De Angelis, G., & Selinker, L
(2001) Interlanguage transfer and competing linguistic systems in the multilingual mind. In B. Hufeisen, & R. Fouser (Eds.), Introductory readings in L3 (pp. 42–58). Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag.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, 231, 459–484. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carlson, G
(1977) Reference to kinds in English. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Carvalho, A.M., & Silva, A.J.B
(2006) Cross-linguistic influence in third language acquisition: The case of Spanish-English bilinguals’ acquisition of Portuguese. Foreign Language Annals, 391, 185–202. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J
(2001) The effect of linguistic distance, L2 status and age on crosslinguistic influence in third language acquisition. In J. Cenoz, B. Hufeisen, & U. Jessner (Eds.), Crosslinguistic influence in third language acquisition: Psycholinguistic perspectives (pp. 8–20). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chierchia, G
(1998) Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics, 61, 339–405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cook, V
(Ed.) (2003) Effects of the second language on the first. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cuza, A., Guijarro-Fuentes, P., Pires, A., & Rothman, J
(2013) The syntax-semantics of bare and definite plural subjects in the L2-Spanish of English natives. International Journal of Bilingualism, 171, 634–652. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dayal, V
(2004) Number marking and (in)definiteness in kind terms. Linguistics and Philosophy, 271, 393–450. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dobrovie-Sorin, C., & Pires de Oliveira, R
(2008) Reference to kinds in Brazilian Portuguese: Definite singulars vs. bare singulars. In A. Grønn (Ed.), Proceedings of SuB12 (pp. 107–121). Oslo: ILOS.Google Scholar
Falk, Y., & Bardel, C
(2010) The study of the role of the background languages in third language acquisition. The state of the art. IRAL: International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 481, 185–219. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) Object pronouns in German L3 syntax: Evidence for the L2 status factor. Second Language Research, 271, 59–82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Flynn, S
(2009) UG and L3 acquisition: New insights and more questions. In Y-K.I. Leung (Ed.), Third language acquisition and Universal Grammar (pp. 71–88). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Flynn, S., Vinnitskaya, I., & Foley, C
(2004) The cumulative enhancement model for language acquisition: Comparing adults and children’s patterns of development in first, second and third language acquisition of relative clauses. International Journal of Multilingualism, 11, 3–16. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Foote, R
(2009) Transfer in L3 acquisition: The role of typology. In Y-K.I. Leung (Ed.), Third language acquisition and Universal Grammar (pp. 89–114). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
García Mayo, M. del P., & Rothman, J
(2012) L3 morphosyntax in the generative tradition. In J. Cabrelli Amaro, S. Flynn, & J. Rothman (Eds.), Third language acquisition in adulthood (pp. 9–32). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hermas, A
(2010) Language acquisition as computational resetting: Verb movement in L3 initial state. International Journal of Multilingualism 71, 343–362. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., Grolla, E., Montrul, S., & Santos, H
(2013a) When articles have different meanings: Acquiring the expression of genericity in English and Brazilian Portuguese. In P. Cabredo Hoffeher, & A. Zribi-Hertz (Eds.), Crosslinguistic studies on Noun Phrase structure and reference, Syntax and Semantics vol. 19 (pp. 367–396). Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., & Montrul, S
(2010) The role of L1-transfer in the interpretation of articles with definite plurals in L2-English. Language Learning, 601, 877–925. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., Montrul, S., & Crivos, M
(2013b) A bidirectional study on the acquisition of plural NP interpretation in English and Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics, 341, 483–518. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., Montrul, S., & Santos, H
(2011a) An experimental investigation of the expression of genericity in English, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Lingua, 1211, 963–985. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011b) Transfer in L2 and L3 acquisition of generic interpretation. In N. Danis, K. Mesh, & H. Sung (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 283–295). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Jaensch, C
(2011) L3 acquisition of German adjectival inflection: A generative account. Second Language Research, 271, 83–105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jin, F
(2009) Third language acquisition of Norwegian objects: Interlanguage transfer or L1 influence? In Y.-K.I. Leung (Ed.), Third language acquisition and Universal Grammar (pp. 144–161). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kellerman, E
(1983) Now you see it, now you don’t. In S. Gass, & L. Selinker (Eds.), Language transfer in language learning (pp. 112–134). Rowley: Newbury House Publishers.Google Scholar
King, L., & Suñer, M
(1998) Gramática española: Análisis y práctica. Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Kolb, N
(2014) Crosslinguistic influence and exposure effects in child second language acquisition. In BUCLD 38 Proceedings Supplement (pp. 1–22). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Krifka, M., Pelletier, F., Carlson, G., ter Meulen, A., Link, G., & Chierchia, G
(1995) Genericity: An introduction. In G. Carlson, & F. Pelletier (Eds.), The generic book (pp. 1–125). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kupisch, T
(2012) Specific and generic subjects in the Italian of German-Italian simultaneous bilinguals and L2 learners. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15(4), 736–756. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kupisch, T., & Barton, D
(2013) How bilinguals deal with variation: Generic reference in adult German bilinguals. Studia Linguistica, 671, 1–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kupisch, T., & Pierantozzi, C
(2010) Interpreting definite plural subjects: A comparison of German and Italian monolingual and bilingual children. In K. Franich, K. Iserman, & L. Keil (Eds.), BUCLD 34 Proceedings (pp. 245–254). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Longobardi, G
(2001) How comparative is semantics? A unified parametric theory of bare nouns and proper names. Natural Language Semantics, 91, 335–369. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lozano, C
(2002) The interpretation of overt and null pronouns in non-native Spanish. Durham Working Papers in Linguistics, 81, 53–66.Google Scholar
Montrul, S
(2000) Transitivity alternations In L2 acquisition: Toward a modular view of Transfer. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 221, 229–273. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010) Dominant language transfer in adult second language learners and heritage speakers. Second Language Research, 26(3), 293–327. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., Dias, R., & Santos, H
(2011) Clitics and object expression in the L3 acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese: Structural similarity matters for transfer. Second Language Research, 271, 21–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., & Ionin, T
(2010) Transfer effects in the interpretation of definite articles by Spanish heritage speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 131, 449–473. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., Prince, R., & Thomé-Williams, A
(2009) Subject expression in the L2 acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese. In A. Pires, & J. Rothman (Eds.), The acquisition of Portuguese (pp. 301–325). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Müller, A
(2002) The semantics of generic quantification in Brazilian Portuguese. Probus, 141, 279–298. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Müller, A., & Oliveira, F
(2004) Bare nominals and number in Brazilian and European Portuguese. Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 31, 1–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Munn, A., & Schmitt, C
(2001) Bare nominals and the morphosyntax of number. In D. Cresti, C. Tortora, & T. Satterfield (Eds.), Current issues in Romance linguistics; Selected papers from the 29th Linguistics Symposium on Romance Languages, Ann Arbor, April 1999 (pp. 217–231). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005) Number and indefinites. Lingua, 1151, 821–855. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Na Ranong, S., & Leung, Y-K.I
(2009) Null objects in L1 Thai-L2-English-L3 Chinese: An empiricist take on a theoretical problem. In Y-K.I. Leung (Ed.), Third language acquisition and Universal Grammar (pp. 162–191). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oh, E
(2010) Recovery from L1-transfer: The L2 acquisition of English double objects by Korean speakers. Second Language Research, 26(3), 407–439. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pavlenko, A
(2000) L2 influence on L1 in late bilingualism. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 111, 175–205.Google Scholar
Rothman, J
(2010) On the typological economy of syntactic transfer: Word order and relative clause high/low attachment preference in L3 Brazilian Portuguese. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 481, 245–273. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rothman, J., & Cabrelli Amaro, J
(2010) What variables condition syntactic transfer? A look at the L3 initial state. Second Language Research, 261, 189–218. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rothman, J
(2011) L3 Syntactic transfer selectivity and typological determinacy: The typological primacy model. Second Language Research, 271, 107–127. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2015) Linguistic and cognitive motivations for the Typological Primacy Model (TPM) of third language (L3) transfer: Timing of acquisition and proficiency considered. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 181, 179–190. dx.doi.org/10.1017/S136672891300059X. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Salaberry, R
(2005) Evidence for transfer of knowledge of aspect from L2-Spanish to L3 Portuguese. In D. Ayoun, & R. Salaberry, (Eds.), Tense and aspect in Romance languages: Theoretical and applied perspectives (pp. 179–210). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Santos, H
(2013) Cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese as a third language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Schmitt, C., & Munn, A
(1999) Against the nominal mapping parameter: Bare nouns in Brazilian Portuguese. In Proceedings of NELS 29. Amherst, MA: GLSA.Google Scholar
(2002) The syntax and semantics of bare arguments in Brazilian Portuguese. Linguistic Variation Yearbook, 21, 185–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, B., & Sprouse, R
(1996) L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model. Second Language Research, 121, 40–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Serratrice, L., Sorace, A., Filiaci, F., & Baldo, M
(2009) Bilingual children’s sensitivity to specificity and genericity: Evidence from metalinguistic awareness. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 121, 239–257. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Singleton, D., & O’Laoire, M
(2006) Psychotypology and the ‘L2 factor’ in cross-lexical interaction: An analysis of English and Irish influence in learner French. In M. Bendtsen, M. Björklund, C. Fant, & L. Forsman (Eds.), Språk, lärande och utbildning i sikte (pp. 191–205). Vasa: Faculty of Education, Åbo Akademi.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R
(2006) Learnability in the second language acquisition of semantics: A bidirectional study of a semantic parameter. Second Language Research, 221, 498–523. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Snape, N., García Mayo, M. del P., & Gürel, A
(2013) L1 transfer in article selection for generic reference by Spanish, Turkish and Japanese L2 learners. International Journal of English Studies, 131, 1–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stvan, L.S
(2007) The functional range of bare singular count nouns in English. In E. Stark, E. Leiss, & W. Abraham (Eds.), Nominal determination. Typology, context constraints, and historical emergence (pp. 171–187). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Treichler, M., Hamann, C., Schönenberger, M., Voeykova, M., & Lauts, N
(2009) Article use in L3 English with German as L2 by native speakers of Russian and in L2-English of Russian speakers. In M. Bowles, T. Ionin, S. Montrul, & A. Tremblay (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference [GASLA 2009] (pp. 9–16). Somerville MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Vergnaud, J.-R., & Zubizarreta, M.L
(1992) The definite determiner and the inalienable constructions in French and English. Linguistic Inquiry, 231, 595–652.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 6 other publications

Cabrelli, Jennifer & Carrie Pichan
2021. Initial phonological transfer in L3 Brazilian Portuguese and Italian. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 11:2 ► pp. 131 ff. DOI logo
Hermas, Abdelkader
2020. Genericity in third language English: Acquisition pattern and transfer in ultimate attainment. International Journal of Bilingualism 24:2 ► pp. 266 ff. DOI logo
Hermas, Abdelkader
2023. Genericity in L2 French and L3 English: a pragmatic deficit with a semantic consequence. International Journal of Multilingualism 20:2 ► pp. 425 ff. DOI logo
Ionin, Tania & Hélade Scutti Santos
2021. Sources of knowledge in L3 acquisition. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 11:1 ► pp. 65 ff. DOI logo
Puig-Mayenco, Eloi, Jorge González Alonso & Jason Rothman
2020. A systematic review of transfer studies in third language acquisition. Second Language Research 36:1 ► pp. 31 ff. DOI logo
Rothman, Jason, Jorge González Alonso & Eloi Puig-Mayenco
2019. Third Language Acquisition and Linguistic Transfer, DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 may 2023. 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.