Directionality of cross-linguistic influence: Which referring choices do bilingual Ukrainian–English children make?

• Roksolana Mykhaylyk ^[1] ; Elinor Ytterstad ^[2]
  1. [1] Harvard University

     Harvard University

     City of Cambridge, Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] The Arctic University of Norway

     The Arctic University of Norway

     Noruega

     
• Localización: International Journal of Bilingualism: interdisciplinary studies of multilingual behaviour, ISSN 1367-0069, Vol. 21, Nº. 1, 2017, págs. 99-121
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Aims and research questions:

    This paper presents a new study addressing the issue of cross-linguistic influence in acquisition of referring expressions. The main research question is how to predict directionality of this influence in a dual language development.

    Methodology:

    The method is an elicited production task. We consider the phenomenon of direct object referring choices, i.e. noun, pronoun and null element, in a ‘null-object’–‘overt-object’ language pair (Ukrainian and English).

    Data and Analysis:

    Participants of the experiment are 4–6-year-old Ukrainian–English bilinguals (N20) and Ukrainian monolinguals (N21). The data are analyzed in the statistical program R, utilizing the R-library function lme4. The results are presented as odds ratios (ORs) of each direct object type.

    Findings:

    Our data reveal that while there is no significant difference in Ukrainian object types in most of the age groups, there is a considerable amount of null object usage in English at the ages of four to five.

    Originality:

    The innovative nature of this study lies in: (i) the consideration of a licit object omission at a later stage of language development (from 4 to 6 years of age); (ii) the examination of an under-investigated language combination (i.e. English and Ukrainian); and (iii) the innovative approach to linguistic data analysis (e.g. comparing OR values).

    Implications:

    Our findings suggest that the directionality of influence in dual language acquisition depends on the developmental stage, language-specific means of syntax–pragmatics interaction, and extra-linguistic input-related factors. At the early stages of development, the null-object language is likely to influence the overt-object language, especially under conditions of limited exposure to the latter.