Cross-linguistic influence in scope ambiguity
Evidence for acceleration
Cross-linguistic influence of interface-conditioned properties in bilingual language acquisition has been reported in a large number of studies and various linguistic domains. While many of these studies have found that cross-linguistic influence can occur in the form of delay, few have shown evidence for acceleration (a.o., Kupisch, 2007; Meisel, 2007; Schwartz, Nir, Leikin, Levie, & Ravid, 2014). In this paper we investigate the interpretation of indefinites in sentences containing negation by simultaneous bilingual (2L1) English-Dutch and Italian-Dutch children. Our results provide evidence for cross-linguistic influence from Italian to Dutch in the form of acceleration, only. We conclude that in cases of partial overlap between a bilingual child’s two languages, the direction of cross-linguistic influence can also depend on language-internal properties.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Cross-linguistic influence in the area of syntax-semantics
- 3.Indefinites and negation in Dutch and English monolingual development
- 4.Study 1: Indefinites and negation in English-Dutch bilinguals
- 4.1Participants and method
- 4.2Results
- 4.3Discussion
- 5.Specific indefinites in Italian
- 6.Study 2a: Indefinites and negation in monolingual Italian children and adults
- 6.1Participants and method
- 6.2Results
-
6.3Discussion
- 7.Study 2b: Indefinites and negation in Italian-Dutch bilinguals
-
7.1Participants and method
- 7.2Results
- 7.3Discussion
- 8.Comparison of Study 1 and Study 2
- 9.Conclusion
-
Notes
-
References
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