Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T17:59:41.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Heritage Speakers as L3 Acquirers

from Part III - Becoming and Staying Multilingual at Different Ages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2023

By
Anika Lloyd-Smith  and
Tanja Kupisch
Edited by
Jennifer Cabrelli ,
Adel Chaouch-Orozco ,
Jorge González Alonso ,
Sergio Miguel Pereira Soares ,
Eloi Puig-Mayenco  and
Jason Rothman
Jennifer Cabrelli
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Adel Chaouch-Orozco
Affiliation:
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Jorge González Alonso
Affiliation:
Universidad Nebrija, Spain and UiT, Arctic University of Norway
Sergio Miguel Pereira Soares
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Eloi Puig-Mayenco
Affiliation:
King's College London
Jason Rothman
Affiliation:
UiT, Arctic University of Norway and Universidad Nebrija, Spain
Get access

Summary

This chapter examines a population of third language (L3) learners that has received little attention, namely heritage speaker (HS) L3 learners, who grow up speaking two languages in early childhood. Unlike traditionally studied L3 learners, who acquired their L2 as older children, HSs have two naturalistically acquired languages to draw from, which has been suggested to have implications for L3 acquisition. By examining existing linguistically oriented research with HS L3ers, we discuss (1) whether patterns of acquisition differ in HS L3ers as compared to traditionally studied populations, and (2) whether this differs for L3 morphosyntax versus L3 phonetics-phonology. After a brief discussion of methodological limitations, we conclude that transfer patterns in early bilinguals in many respects mirror those for late bilinguals. However, differences across the domains of L3 morphosyntax versus L3 phonology are evident, with phonetic–phonological transfer more likely to stem from the dominant language. Some explanations and suggestions for further research are offered.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Third Language Acquisition , pp. 354 - 379
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Archibald, J. (2021). Turtles All the Way Down: Micro-cues and Piecemeal Transfer in L3 Phonology and Syntax. Second Language Research, 37(3), 415–421.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.Google Scholar
Bardel, C., & Falk, Y. (2012). The L2 Status Factor and the Declarative/Procedural Distinction. In Cabrelli Amaro, J., Flynn, S., & Rothman, J. (Eds.), Third Language Acquisition in Adulthood (pp. 61–78). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Benmamoun, E., Montrul, S., & Polinsky, M. (2013). Heritage Languages and Their Speakers: Opportunities and Challenges for Linguistics. Theoretical Linguistics, 39(3–4), 129–181.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. (2009) Effects of Bilingualism on Cognitive and Linguistic Performance across the Lifespan. In Gogolin, I. & Neumann, U. (Eds.), Streitfall Zweisprachigkeit – The Bilingualism Controversy (pp. 53–67). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag Für Sozialwissenschaften.Google Scholar
Birdsong, D., Gertken, L., & Amengual, M. (2012). Bilingual Language Profile: An Easy-to-Use Instrument to Assess Bilingualism. COERLL. University of Texas.Google Scholar
Bley-Vroman, R. (1989). What Is the Logical Problem of Foreign Language Learning? In Gass, S. & Schachter, J. (Eds.), Linguistic Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition (pp. 41–68). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cabrelli, J., & Iverson, M. (2023). Why Do L3 Learners Overcome Non-facilitative L3 Transfer from an L2 Faster Than an L1? The Cumulative Input Threshold Hypothesis. International Journal of Multilingualism.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabrelli, J., & Pichan, C. (2021). Initial Phonological Transfer in L3 Brazilian Portuguese and Italian. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 11(2), 131–167.Google Scholar
Cabrelli, J., Iverson, M., Giancaspro, D., & González, B. H. (2020). The Roles of L1 Spanish Versus L2 Spanish in L3 Portuguese Morphosyntactic Development. In Molsing, K., Becker Lopes Perna, C., & Tramunt Ibaños, A. M. (Eds.), Linguistic Approaches to Portuguese as an Additional Language (pp. 11–33). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J. (2013). The Influence of Bilingualism on Third Language Acquisition: Focus on Multilingualism. Language Teaching, 46, 71–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J., & Jessner, U. (2000). English in Europe: The Acquisition of a Third Language. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. (2000). Putting Language Proficiency in Its Place: Responding to Critiques of the Conversational/Academic Language Distinction. In Cenoz, J. & Jessner, U. (Eds.), English in Europe: The Acquisition of a Third Language (pp. 54–83). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Diehl, C., Hunkler, C., & Kristen, C. (Eds.) (2016). Ethnische Ungleichheiten im Bildungsverlauf. Mechanismen, Befunde, Debatten. Cham: Springer VS.Google Scholar
Domene Moreno, C. (2021). Beyond Transfer? The Acquisition of an Additional-Phonological System by Young Monolingual and Bilingual Learners. Doctoral dissertation. University of Wurzburg.Google Scholar
Fallah, N., & Jabbari, A. A. (2018). L3 Acquisition of English Attributive Adjectives: Dominant Language of Communication Matters for Syntactic Cross-Linguistic Influence. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 8(2), 193–216.Google Scholar
Fallah, N., Jabbari, A. A., & Fazilatfar, A. M. (2016). Source(s) of Syntactic Cross-Linguistic Influence (CLI): The Case of L3 Acquisition of English Possessives by Mazandarani Persian Bilinguals. Second Language Research, 32(2), 225–245.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 of Relative Clauses. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1(1), 3–16.Google Scholar
Gabriel, C., Kupisch, T., & Seoudy, J. (2016). VOT in French as a Foreign Language. A Production and Perception Study with Mono- and Multilingual Learners (German/ Mandarin-Chinese). Conference presentation. Actes du 5eCongrès Mondial d Linguistique Française. Tours. https://dx.doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20162709002.Google Scholar
Gabriel, C., Krause, M., & Dittmers, T. (2018). VOT Production in Multilingual Learners of French as a Foreign Language: Cross-Linguistic Influence from the Heritage Languages Russian and Turkish. Revue française de linguistique appliquée, 23(1), 59–72.Google Scholar
García Mayo, M. Del P., & Slabakova, R. (2015). Object Drop in L3 Acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism, 19(5), 483–498.Google Scholar
Geiss, M., Gumbsheimer, S., Svenja, S., Lloyd-Smith, A., & Kupisch, T., (2021). Voice Onset Time in Multilingual Speakers: Italian Heritage Speakers in Germany with L3 English. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 44(2), 435–459.Google Scholar
Giancaspro, D., Halloran, B., & Iverson, M. (2015). Transfer at the Initial Stages of L3 Brazilian Portuguese: A Look at Three Groups of English/Spanish Bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 191–207.Google Scholar
González Alonso, J., & Rothman, J. (2017). Coming of Age in L3 Initial Stages Transfer Models: Deriving Developmental Predictions and Looking towards the Future. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 683–697.Google Scholar
González Alonso, J., Puig-Mayenco, E., Fábregas, A., Chaouch-Orozco, A., & Rothman, J. (2021). On the Status of Transfer in Adult Third Language Acquisition of Early Bilinguals. PLoS ONE, 16(3), article e0247976.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hesse, H. G., & Göbel, K. (2009). Mehrsprachigkeit als Kapital: Ergebnisse der DESI Studie. In Gogolin, I. & Neumann, U. (Eds.), Streitfall Zweisprachigkeit – The bilingualism controversy. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.Google Scholar
Hopp, H. (2019). Cross-Linguistic Influence in the Child Third Language Acquisition of Grammar: Sentence Comprehension and Production Among Turkish–German and German Learners of English. International Journal of Multilingualism, 23(2), 567–583.Google Scholar
Hopp, H., Vogelbacher, M., Kieseier, T., & Thoma, D. (2019). Bilingual Advantages in Early Foreign Language Learning: Effects of the Minority and the Majority Language. Learning and Instruction, 61, 99–110.Google Scholar
Iverson, M. (2009). Competing SLA Hypotheses Assessed: Comparing Heritage and Successive Spanish Bilinguals of L3 Brazilian Portuguese. In Pires, A. & Rothman, J. (Eds.), Minimalist Inquiries into Child and Adult Language Acquisition: Case Studies Across Portuguese (pp. 221–243). Berlin: Mouton DeGruyter.Google Scholar
Iverson, M. (2010). Informing the Age of Acquisition Debate: L3 as a Litmus Test. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (IRAL), 48(2–3), 221–243.Google Scholar
Jensen, I., N., Mitrofanova, N., Anderssen, M., et al. (2021). Crosslinguistic Influence in L3 Acquisition across Linguistic Modules. International Journal of Multilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2021.1985127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jessner, U. (2006). Linguistic Awareness in Multilinguals. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Kopečková, R. (2016). The Bilingual Advantage in L3 Learning: A Developmental Study of Rhotic Sounds. International Journal of Multilingualism, 13(4), 410–425.Google Scholar
Kupisch, T. (2019). 2L1 Simultaneous Bilinguals as Heritage Speakers in Morpho-syntax and Phonology. In Schmid, M. & Köpcke, B. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Language Attrition (pp. 458–469). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kupisch, T. (2020). Towards Modelling Heritage Speakers’ Sound Systems. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23, 20–30.Google Scholar
Kupisch, T. (2021). Heritage Languages in Europe. In Montrul, S. & Polinsky, M. (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics (pp. 45–68). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kupisch, T., & Rothman, J. (2018). Terminology Matters! Why Difference Is Not Incompleteness and How Early Child Bilinguals Are Heritage Speakers. International Journal of Bilingualism, 22(5), 564–582.Google Scholar
Kupisch, T., Snape, N., & Stangen, I. (2013). Foreign Language Acquisition in Heritage Speakers: The Acquisition of Articles in L3-English by German–Turkish Bilinguals. In Duarte, J. & Gogolin, I. (Eds.), Linguistic Super-Diversity in Urban Areas: Research Approaches (pp. 99–122). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Kupisch, T., Lloyd-Smith, A., & Stangen, I. (2020). Perceived Global Accent in Turkish Heritage Speakers in Germany: The Impact of Exposure and Use for Early Bilinguals. In Bayram, F. (Ed.), Turkish as a Heritage Language (pp. 207–229). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Kupisch, T., Kolb, N., Rodina, Y, & Urek, O. (2021). Foreign Accent in Pre- and Primary School Heritage Bilinguals. Languages, 6(96), 1–19.Google Scholar
Lasagabaster, D. (2000). Three Languages and Three Linguistic Models in the Basque Educational System. In Cenoz, J. & Jessner, U. (Eds.), English in Europe: The Acquisition of a Third Language (pp. 179–197). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Llama, R., & López-Morelos, L. P. (2016). VOT Production by Spanish Heritage Speakers in a Trilingual Context. International Journal of Multilingualism, 13(4), 444–458.Google Scholar
Llama, R., & López-Morelos, L. P. (2020). On Heritage Accents: Insights from VOT Production by Trilingual Heritage Speakers of Spanish. In Babatsouli, E. & Ball, M. J. (Eds.), An Anthology of Bilingual Child Phonology (pp. 209–231). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Lloyd-Smith, A. (2020). Heritage Bilingualism and the Acquisition of English as a Third Language. Doctoral dissertation. University of Konstanz.Google Scholar
Lloyd-Smith, A. (2021). Perceived Foreign Accent in L3 English: The Effects of Heritage Language Use. International Journal of Multilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2021.1957899.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloyd-Smith, A., Gyllstad, H., & Kupisch, T. (2017). Transfer into L3 English: Global Accent in German-Dominant Heritage Speakers of Turkish. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 7(2), 131–162.Google Scholar
Lloyd-Smith, A., Gyllstad, H., Kupisch, T., & Quaglia, S. (2021). Heritage Language Proficiency Does Not Predict Syntactic CLI into L3 English. International Journal for Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 24(3), 435–451.Google Scholar
Lorenz, E., Toprak, T. E., & Siemund, P (2021). English L3 Acquisition in Heritage Contexts: Modelling a Path Through the Bilingualism Controversy. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, 57(2), 273–298.Google Scholar
Lorenz, E., Toprak-Yildiz, T. E., & Siemund, P. (2022). Why Are They So Similar? The Interplay of Linguistic and Extra-linguistic Variables in Monolingual and Bilingual Learners of English. Pedagogical Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1075/pl.21016.lorCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S. (2008). Incomplete Acquisition in Bilingualism. Re-examining the Age Factor. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Montrul, S. (2015). Dominance and Proficiency in Early and Late Bilingualism. In Treffers-Daller, J. & Silva-Corvalán, C. (Eds.), Language Dominance in Bilinguals. Issues of Measurement and Operationalization (pp. 15–35). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Montrul, S. (2016). The Acquisition of Heritage Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Muñoz, C. (2000). Bilingualism and Trilingualism in School Students in Catalonia. In Cenoz, J. & Jessner, U. (Eds.), English in Europe: The Acquisition of a Third Language (pp. 157–178). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Oh, J. S., Jun, S. A., Knightly, L. M., & Au, T. K. F. (2003). Holding on to Childhood Language Memory. Cognition, 86(3), B53–B64.Google Scholar
Paradis, M. (2004). A Neurolinguistics Theory of Bilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Paradis, M. (2009). Declarative and Procedural Determinants of Second Languages.Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polinsky, M. (2015). When L1 Becomes an L3: Assessing Grammatical Knowledge in Heritage Speakers/Learners. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18, 163–378.Google Scholar
Puig-Mayenco, E. (2019). Polarity in L3 English: The Initial Stages and Beyond. Doctoral dissertation. University of Reading.Google Scholar
Puig-Mayenco, E., & Marsden, H. (2018). Polarity-Item Anything in L3 English: Where Does Transfer Come from When the L1 is Catalan and the L2 is Spanish? Second Language Research, 34, 487–515.Google Scholar
Puig-Mayenco, E., Rothman, J., & Tubau, S. (2020). Language Dominance in the Previously Acquired Languages Modulates Rate of Third Language (L3) Development over Time: A Longitudinal Study. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(5), 1641–1664.Google Scholar
Putnam, M. T., & Sánchez, L. (2013). What’s So Incomplete about Incomplete Acquisition? A Prolegomenon to Modeling Heritage Language Grammars. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 3(4), 478–508.Google Scholar
Ringbom, H. (1987). The Role of L1 in Foreign Language Learning. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2009). Understanding the Nature and Outcomes of Early Bilingualism: Romance Languages as Heritage Languages. International Journal of Bilingualism, 13(2), 155–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothman, J. (2011). L3 Syntactic Transfer Selectivity and Typological Determinacy: The Typological Primacy Model. Second Language Research, 27(1), 107–127.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (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, 18(2), 179–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothman, J., & Cabrelli Amaro, J. (2010). What Variables Condition Syntactic Transfer? A Look at the L3 Initial State. Second Language Research, 26(2),189–218.Google Scholar
Rothman, J., González Alonso, J., & Puig-Mayenco, E. (2019). Third Language Acquisition and Linguistic Transfer (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sagasta Errasti, M. P. (2003). Acquiring Writing Skills in a Third Language: The Positive Effects of Bilingualism. International Journal of Bilingualism, 7(1), 27–42.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. D., & Sprouse, R. (1996). L2 Cognitive States and the Full Transfer/Full Access Model. Second Language Research, 12, 40–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scontras, G., Fuchs, Z., & Polinsky, M. (2015). Heritage Language and Linguistic Theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, article 1545.Google Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M., & Kellerman, E. (1986). Crosslinguistic Influence in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Siemund, P., & Lechner, S. (2015). Transfer Effects in the Acquisition of English as an Additional Language by Bilingual Children in Germany. In Peukert, H. (Ed.), Transfer Effects in Multilingual Language Development (pp. 147–160). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Silva-Corvalán, C., & Treffers-Daller, J. (2015). Digging into Dominance: A Closer Look at Language Dominance in Bilinguals. In Treffers-Daller, J. & Silva-Corvalán, C. (Eds.), Language Dominance in Bilinguals: Issues of Measurement and Operationalization (pp. 1–14). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2017). The Scalpel Model of Third Language Acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 651–665.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R., & Garcia Mayo, M. Del P. (2015). The L3 Syntax–Discourse Interface. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 208–226.Google Scholar
Sorace, A. (2011). Pinning Down the Concept of “Interface” in Bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 1, 1–34.Google Scholar
Statisches Bundesamt (Destatis). (2019). Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund – Ergebnisse des Mikrozensus 2018, Fachserie. 1, Reihe 2.2, Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit.Google Scholar
Stangen, I., Kupisch, T., Proietti Erguen, A. L., & Zielke, M. (2015). Foreign Accent in Heritage Speakers of Turkish in Germany. In Peukert, H. (Ed.), Transfer Effects in Multilingual Language Development (pp. 87–108). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Suhonen, L-V. (2020). Snakes and Ladders: Developmental Aspects of Lexical Conceptual Relationships in the Multilingual Mental Lexicon. Doctoral dissertation. Lund University.Google Scholar
Thomas, J. (1988). The Role Played by Metalinguistic Awareness in Second and Third Language Learning. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 9, 235–246.Google Scholar
Unsworth, S. (2016). Quantity and Quality of Language Input in Bilingual Language Development. In Nicoladis, E. & Montanari, S. (Eds.), Lifespan Perspectives on Bilingualism (pp. 136–196). Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Westergaard, M. (2021). Microvariation in Multilingual Situations: The Importance of Property-by-Property Acquisition. Second Language Research, 37(3), 379–407Google Scholar
Westergaard, M., Mitrofanova, N., Mykhaylyk, R., & Rodina, Y. (2017). Crosslinguistic Influence in the Acquisition of a Third Language. The Linguistic Proximity Model. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 666–682.Google Scholar
White, L. (2003). Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×