The end state grammars of heritage speakers and adult second language learners

The proposed program of research investigates the steady state grammars of Spanish heritage speakers and adult second language learners of Spanish. The aim of this research is to better understand the process and characterization of second language grammars in general and to examine to what extent early and late acquisition differs at the steady state in particular. That is whether or not there is influence from the first language or community language depending on the age of acquisition. The research will be conducted within the framework of generative linguistics which assumes an innate component for language acquisition called Universal Grammar (UG) as proposed by Chomsky (1995, 1986, 1981). Since language is assumed to be innate, an adequate characterization of a particular stage in language development involves characterizing the underlying mental representation of the given grammar. As such, subtle properties of the grammar which are not readily available in the input constitute suitable testing grounds for such research.

The research proposed here will look at the acquisition of a syntax-discourse interface property known as topic (old information). Topic constructions are complex areas of the grammar because they involve the interface of syntax (word order) with discourse (speech context). Because of the difficulty in creating proper testing environments for interface properties, this remains an underexplored area of the grammar from a theoretical framework. Previous research on the adult second language acquisition of Spanish topic constructions found that the syntax was acquired but the syntax/discourse interface (interpretive domain) was not always acquired in post-childhood learners. I propose to investigate the acquisition of topic constructions by Spanish heritage speakers in Canada, which has been little explored, and compare the status of this interface property to adult second language learners of Spanish. In this way, I propose to examine whether interface levels are vulnerable across the board or whether age and input can facilitate in processing the interface domain.

This research will examine end state grammars from two perspectives. Firstly, there will be two subject groups. The first group is of heritage speakers who learned two languages simultaneously in early childhood. The second group will be made up of post-childhood learners of a second language. Secondly, this research will explore an extremely subtle area of the grammar, the syntax-discourse interface, and examine, first, whether potentially ambiguous input may result in incomplete acquisition and, second, to what extent there is interference from the first language depending on the of age of acquisition.