PDF Download
PubReader
Export Citation
Email the Author
Share Facebook
Share Twitter
Cited by 0 Article
Metrics (View:75)
QR Code of this Article:
Article
How previous languages shape initial stages of L3 acquisition: Insights from Korean learners of Spanish
1
,
†
Received: Oct 31, 2024 ; Revised: Dec 05, 2024 ; Accepted: Dec 07, 2024
Published Online: Dec 31, 2024
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the influence of two previously acquired languages, Korean (L1) and English (L2), on the acquisition of Spanish as a third language (L3). Sixty beginner-level learners completed acceptability judgment tasks, which revealed that cross-linguistic influence occurs on a property-by-property basis instead of as wholesale transfer from a single-source language. The comprehensive analysis confirmed that L1 representations guided linguistic judgments of null and overt subjects in Overt Pronoun Constraint contexts, thus facilitating accurate interpretations in the target language. By contrast, L2 influence was identified in topic-continuity contexts, with non-facilitative transfer exhibited in Spanish. These findings align with the predictions of the Linguistic Proximity Model, in which both background languages can shape L3 acquisition depending on the linguistic properties. This study provides valuable insights by examining an underexplored learner group in the Third Language Acquisition literature. Additionally, via an analysis of two grammatical features, it demonstrates how influences from L1 and L2 emerge distinctly across properties, thus highlighting the nuanced nature of cross-linguistic influence.
Keywords: Crosslinguistic influence; L3 Spanish; L2 English; L1 Korean; null and overt subjects; L3 transfer models; third language acquisition
References
1.
Ahn, D. (2019). Finding 'who': Position of antecedent hypothesis in non-native Spanish. In Proceedings of GALA 2017: Language Acquisition and Development (pp. 345-361). Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing .
2.
Ahn, D. (2022). Linguistic Transfer in L3 Acquisition of Null and Overt Spanish Subjects. [Doctoral Dissertation. Seoul National University] .
3.
Arıbaş, D. Ş., & Cele, F. (2021). Acquisition of articles in L2 and L3 English: The influence of L2 proficiency on positive transfer from L2 to L3. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 42(1), 19-36 .
4.
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 .
5.
Bardel, C., & Falk, Y. (2012). The L2 status factor and the declarative/procedural distinction. In J. Cabrelli Amaro, S. Flynn, & J. Rothman (Eds.), Third Language Acquisition in Adulthood (pp. 61-78). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company .
6.
Bardel, C., & Sánchez, L. (2017). The L2 status factor hypothesis revisited. In T. Angelovska & A. Hahn (Eds.), L3 Syntactic Transfer: Models, New Developments and Implications (pp. 85-101). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company .
7.
Berkes, É., & Flynn, S. (2012). Further evidence in support of the cumulative-enhancement model. In Third Language Acquisition in Adulthood: Studies in Bilingualism, 46, (pp. 143-164). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company .
8.
Cabrelli, J., & Iverson, M. (2024). Why do learners overcome non-facilitative transfer faster from an L2 than an L1? The cumulative input threshold hypothesis. International Journal of Multilingualism, 21(3), 1594-1620 .
9.
Choe, H. S. (1988). Restructuring parameters and complex predicates: A transformational approach. RLE Progress Report, 304-306 .
11.
Clements, M. (2017). Exploring the role of previously acquired languages in third language (L3) acquisition: a feature-based approach. [Doctoral Dissertation. University of Southampton] .
12.
Clements, M., & Domínguez, L. (2018). Null and overt subject usage in L3 Chinese: Empirical support for the Scalpel Model. In J. Benjamins (Ed.), Studies in bilingualism (Vol. 55, pp. 73-96). John Benjamins Publishing Company .
13.
De Angelis, G. (2007). Third or Additional Language Acquisition (Vol. 24). Clevedon/Buffalo: Multilingual Matters .
14.
Falk, Y., & Bardel, C. (2010). The study of the role of background languages in third language acquisition: The state of the art. IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 48, 185-219 .
15.
Falk, Y., & Bardel, C. (2011). Object pronouns in German L3 syntax: Evidence for the L2 status factor. Second Language Research, 27(1), 59-82 .
16.
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 .
17.
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 .
18.
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 .
19.
Hermas, A. (2010). Language acquisition as computational resetting: Verb movement in L3 initial state. International Journal of Multilingualism, 7(4), 343-362 .
20.
Hermas, A. (2014a). Multilingual transfer: L1 morphosyntax in L3 English. International Journal of Language Studies, 8(2), 1-24 .
21.
Hermas, A. (2014b). Restrictive relatives in L3 English: L1 transfer and ultimate attainment convergence. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 34(3), 361-387 .
22.
Hong, S. (1985). A and A' binding in Korean and English: Government-binding parameters. [Doctoral dissertation. University of Connecticut] .
23.
Hong, S. (1986). Some constraints on pronominal binding. Korean Journal of Linguistics, 11(1), 75-97 .
24.
Jo, K., Kim, K., & Kim, H. (2021). Children's interpretation of negation and quantifier scope in L3 English. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 24(3), 427-438 .
25.
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). Bristol: Multilingual Matters .
26.
Kellerman, E. (1983). Now you see it, now you don't. In S. M. Gass & L. Selinker (Eds.), Language Transfer in Language Learning (pp. 112-134). Rowley, MA: Newbury House .
27.
Leung, Y.-K. I. (2007). Third language acquisition: Why it is interesting to generative linguists. Second Language Research, 23(1), 95-114 .
28.
Li, C., & Thompson, S. (1976). Subject and topic: A new typology of language. In C. Li & S. Thompson (Eds.), Subject and topic (pp. 457-489). New York: Academic Press .
29.
Lozano, C. (2002). The interpretation of overt and null pronouns in non-native Spanish. Durham Working Papers in Linguistics, 8, 52-66 .
30.
May, S. (2014). The multilingual turn: implications for SLA, TESOL, and Bilingual Education. New York: Routledge .
31.
Meisel, J. (1983). Transfer as a second language strategy. Language and Communication, 3, 11-46 .
32.
Montalbetti, M. (1984). After binding: On the interpretation of pronouns. [Doctoral Dissertation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology] .
33.
Montrul, S., & Louro, C. R. (2006). Beyond the syntax of the null subject parameter: A look at the discourse-pragmatic distribution of null and overt subjects by L2 learners of Spanish. In V. Torrens & L. Escobar (Eds.), The acquisition of syntax in Romance languages (pp. 401-418). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company .
34.
Mykhaylyk, R., Mitrofanova, N., Rodina, Y., & Westergaard, M. (2015). The linguistic proximity model: The case of verb-second revisited. Proceedings of BUCLD, 39, 1-13 .
35.
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). Bristol: Multilingual Matters .
36.
Ortega, L. (2013). SLA for the 21st century: Disciplinary progress, transdisciplinary relevance, and the bi/multilingual turn. Language Learning, 63, 1-24 .
37.
Paradis, M. (1994). Neurolinguistic aspects of implicit and explicit memory: Implications for bilingualism and second language acquisition. In N. C. Ellis (Ed.), Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages (pp. 393-419). London: Academic Press .
38.
Paradis, M. (2004). A Neurolinguistic Theory of Bilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing .
39.
Paradis, M. (2009). Declarative and procedural determinants of second languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing .
40.
Quesada, M. L. (2015). The L2 Acquisition of Spanish Subjects: Multiple Perspectives (Vol. 50). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter .
41.
Rothman, J. (2010). On the typological economy of syntactic transfer: Word order and relative clause high/low attachment preference in L3 Brazilian Portuguese. IRAL-International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 48(2-3), 245-273 .
42.
Rothman, J. (2011). L3 syntactic transfer selectivity and typological determinacy: The typological primacy model. Second Language Research, 27(1), 107-127 .
43.
Rothman, J. (2013). Cognitive economy, non-redundancy, and typological primacy in L3 acquisition: Evidence from initial stages of L2 Romance. In E. O. Aboh, J. Schaeffer, & P. Sleeman (Eds.), Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2011 (pp.217-248). Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company .
44.
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 .
45.
Rothman, J., González Alonso, J., & Puig-Mayenco, E. (2019). Third Language Acquisition and Linguistic Transfer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
46.
Saunders, J. K. (1999). Null and overt references in Spanish second language acquisition: A discourse perspective. [Doctoral dissertation. The University of Texas at Austin] .
47.
Schwartz, B. D., & Sprouse, R. (1996). L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model. Second Language Research, 12(1), 40-72 .
48.
Schwartz, B. D., & Sprouse, R. A. (2021). The full transfer/full access model and L3 cognitive states. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 11(1), 1-29 .
49.
Sprouse, R., & Schwartz, B. (2023). L3 cognitive states and the abbreviated grappling period model. In V. Sheu, A. Zhou, & J. Weirick (Eds.), Variation in linguistics: Second language acquisition, discourse studies, sociolinguistics, syntax (pp. 2-25). Cambridge University Press .
50.
Shim, S.-W. (2003). Comparative study on pro-drop: Pedagogical approach. Revista Iberoamericana, 14, 113-132 .
51.
Slabakova, R. (2017). The scalpel model of third language acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 651-665 .
52.
Westergaard, M. (2021). L3 acquisition and crosslinguistic influence as co-activation. Second Language Research, 37(3), 501-518 .
53.
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 .
54.
Westergaard, M., Mitrofanova, N., & Mykhaylyk, I. (2023). Full transfer in L3 acquisition: A critical review of the Scalpel Model and its implications. In V. Sheu, A. Zhou, & J. Weirick (Eds.), Variation in linguistics: Second language acquisition, discourse studies, sociolinguistics, syntax (pp. 56-78). Cambridge University Press .