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11 Reaction times in the lexical decision task for native speakers and heritage speakers. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean across participants.
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Diese Dissertation betrachtet die Beziehung zwischen Parser und Grammatik bei Muttersprachlern (Native Speakers, NS) und Heritage- (Erb-) Sprechern (HS) des Griechischen, indem sie die Mechanismen untersucht, die einer pseudo-Lizenzierung bei Verletzungen der Kongruenz des grammatischen Geschlechts zugrunde liegen. Diese Verletzungen sind Fehler, d...
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Citations
... The acquisition of gender in Greek as an HL in Germany has been investigated in children (Kaltsa et al. 2017) and adults (Paspali 2019). Greek and German have grammatical gender with a three-way distinction (masculine, feminine, neuter). ...
... A second group of studies showed vulnerabilities in HSs of Greek. These include the production of gender agreement (Kaltsa et al. 2017;Paspali 2019), the judgment of ungrammatical sentences involving aspect (Paspali et al. 2021), optionality of (un)marked anticausatives and passives, a late acquired structure (Paspali et al. 2024). What makes these structures vulnerable? ...
Research on heritage languages (HLs) has expanded considerably within the last 10 years worldwide. Despite the large waves of migration from Greece to other countries in Europe, the Americas, and Australia within the 20th century, research on Greek as an HL is still in its infancy. The present paper focuses on Greek as an HL in Germany. It starts with demographic information on the basis of official census data about the number of Greeks with a migration background who currently live in Germany. Then, it thematically presents 18 published studies to date that report on how Greek develops as an HL in children and adults in Germany and the acquisition of phonetics/phonology, morphosyntax, syntactic complexity, and narrative production. Several studies address the role of internal and external factors, the role of literacy, and the role of language proficiency and language dominance, as well as the effects of cross-linguistic influence between German and Greek. The paper concludes with a critical discussion of the literature and a reflection about open questions and directions for future research.
... Following the retrieval accounts [53], it has been hypothesized that enhanced inhibitory control could prevent the parser from selecting the wrong NP for agreement [52]. In this context, we expect to find an effect of bilingualism on the computation of such grammatical illusions: If bilingualism leads to cognitive adaptations involving EFs, inhibitory control, and WM [9,54,55], testing grammatical illusions should reveal potential differences between monolingual and bilingual language processing [56]. ...
... Based on previous literature, we expect different findings regarding RQ I. While it is plausible to anticipate comparable attraction effects in both monolingual and bilingual/bidialectal participants [56][57][58][59], we can equally expect to find some differences in the rates bilingual and bidialectal individuals detect Subject-Verb agreement mismatches in comparison to monolinguals, due to the ongoing language monitoring involved in the bilingual experience [25,60]. Regarding RQ II, we predict that these differences may be modulated by factors related to language use practices [59], which have been reported to affect cognitive control [1,75]. ...
... The language of testing is Italian, which amounts to the only native language of the monolingual group and one of the native languages of the bilingual/ bidialectal groups. In this regard, three possible scenarios have been proposed [56]: (i) greater processing difficulties for bilinguals compared to monolinguals, (ii) better bilingual performance in spotting agreement mismatches, since bilinguals' executive control components are regularly trained to suppress linguistic interference, and (iii) similar attraction effects between bilinguals and monolinguals. Our overall findings do not squarely fit into one of these predictions; instead, they fall into different scenarios according to the linguistic profile of the participants. ...
Bilingual adaptations remain a subject of ongoing debate, with varying results reported across cognitive domains. A possible way to disentangle the apparent inconsistency of results is to focus on the domain of language processing, which is what the bilingual experience boils down to. This study delves into the role of the bilingual experience on the processing of agreement mismatches. Given the underrepresentation of minority bilingual speakers of non-standard varieties, we advance a unique comparative perspective that includes monolinguals, standard language bilinguals, and different groups of minority language bilinguals, taking advantage of the rich linguistic diversity of the Italian peninsula. This comparative approach can reveal the impact of various sociolinguistic aspects of the bilingual experience across different bilingual trajectories. We developed an auditory acceptability judgement task in Italian, featuring Subject-Verb agreement mismatches. Participants evaluated the stimuli on a 5-point Likert scale and reaction times were recorded. The results do not reveal significant differences between the speakers of standard languages: Italian monolinguals and Italian-Spanish bilinguals. Instead, significant differences are found between monolinguals and the two groups of minority language bidialectals, as well as between the bidialectal groups themselves: Italian-Pavese bidialectals were faster than both Italian-Agrigentino bidialectals and Italian monolinguals, while Italian-Agrigentino bidialectals were less accurate than both Italian-Pavese bidialectals and Italian monolinguals. This intricate picture is explained through variables associated with second language use and language switching. Our findings suggest that if bilingualism is viewed as a yes/no phenotype, it is unavoidable that the bilingual experience will remain a mystery linked to intensely debated results. If, however, one accepts that bilingual adaptations are shaped by the environmental ecology of each trajectory, variation across bilingual processing outcomes is unsurprising. Overall, we argue that specific sociolinguistic factors behind each bilingual experience can reveal where bilingual adaptations on language and cognition stem from.
... Hypothesis 2: Greek is a highly inflectional language, and several studies have shown that Greek HSs exhibit vulnerability in this domain (Paspali 2019;Alexiadou et al. 2021). If nominal concord and verbal agreement indeed appear to be different processes Norris 2014), we expect an asymmetry in the number of mismatches produced by HSs in these two domains. ...
Research on different populations of heritage speakers (HSs) has demonstrated that these speakers (i) frequently produce fewer adjectives, and (ii) produce more errors in nominal concord than in subject-verb agreement. The first point, (i), has been attributed in the literature to the optionality of adjectives and to the fact that adjectives characterize the literary language and HSs lack familiarity with this register. The second point, (ii), is viewed by other researchers as supporting theories that treat nominal concord as being different from subject-verb agreement. In this paper, we contribute data on production of adjectives and agreement asymmetries with adjectives from heritage Greek. We show that these cannot be viewed as supporting claims with respect to (i) but conclude that nominal concord and subject-verb agreement involve different mechanisms. We furthermore explore ways to account for a slight contrast we observe between prenominal and postnominal agreement.
... Although there is an increasing body of work on the development of morphosyntactic properties of child and adult HSs, including heritage Greek (e.g., Dosi, 2016;Paspali, 2019;Paspali et al., 2021), less is known about the narrative abilities of adult HSs. Currently, there are three (pilot) studies targeting certain levels of the micro-structure in adult HSs and/or focusing on the comparison between L2 learners and HSs. ...
... The information gathered and reported here was collected from a background Questionnaire(Paspali, 2019). ...
Narratives have been extensively used as a tool to investigate language development in various populations, such as children and second language learners. However, the narrative abilities of heritage populations remain underexplored, and the body of work especially in heritage adults is very limited. The present study explores the micro-structure of spoken narratives (i.e., number of words and clauses, lexical diversity, subordination, and conjunctions) produced by adult Greek-German heritage bilinguals residing in Germany and compares them with the monolingual groups. Additionally, the study explores the narrative performance between the heritage and the majority language of the heritage group with the aim to explore the same/different patterns they follow in each language as well as individual variation (i.e., working memory). The results show that heritage adults exhibit both similarities and differences compared to monolinguals, with differences being more prominent in the heritage language, while working memory modulates narration length and syntactic complexity.
... Furthermore, Alexiadou et al. (2021) report similar results for gender agreement in Greek HSs with the same language combinations and highly similar sociolinguistic backgrounds (HSs-US exhibited deviation from MSs, while HSs-Germany did not). Paspali (2017; also found ceiling performance for HSs-Germany in simple gender agreement tasks but also deviations in more cognitively demanding tasks (oral narrations and self-paced listening) similarly to the present findings. Furthermore, education in the heritage language in the current study seems to enhance performance on aspect in line with previous studies (see Andreou et al., 2021;Dosi & Papadopoulou, 2019;Kupisch & Rothman, 2018, for discussion). ...
This study tests grammatical aspect in adult Heritage Speakers (HSs) of Greek in Germany (HSs-Germany) and the US (HSs-US), a topic which has not been investigated before for this language, exploring the role of the dominant language and the default value as an acquisition strategy. In an oral elicitation task (Experiment 1) targeting the production of aspectual marking in Greek, Greek monolinguals (MSs) and HSs-Germany exhibited ceiling performance, while HSs-US were significantly less accurate. Education in Greek reliably predicted their accuracy. In a speeded Grammaticality Judgment task (Experiment 2) targeting the comprehension of aspect in a Grammaticality x Aspect repeated measures design, similar results were obtained for the grammatical conditions as in Experiment 1. In ungrammatical conditions, accuracy on aspect was affected for all groups, and this was more evident for HSs. HSs-US were overall less accurate with the morphologically marked form (perfective). Decision Times (DTs) revealed that only MSs and HSs-Germany were sensitive to aspect violations exhibiting longer DTs. Education in Greek reliably predicted accuracy and DTs. The results are discussed within the realm of heritage languages, language contact, and aspect acquisition in Greek bilingual populations. Finally, certain novel verbal forms produced by HSs are also discussed.
... In Section 4.2, we will compare our results to theirs, although ours is a corpus study and theirs an elicited experimental one, by briefly also discussing preliminary results from Greek HSs in Germany. We will also compare our results to Seaman's (1972) study, who interviewed Greek speakers in the area of Chicago in the 1970s, where some of our speakers are located, and to Paspali's (2019) experimental study of adult HSs of Greek in Germany. We will also consider Karatsareas's (2011) discussion of Asia Minor Greek dialects, which looks at gender re-analysis in these dialects from the perspective of the Agreement Hierarchy. ...
This paper investigates gender agreement mismatches between nominal expressions and the targets of agreement they control in two groups (adults and adolescents) of Heritage Greek speakers in the USA. On the basis of language production data elicited via a narration task, we show that USA Greek Heritage speakers, unlike monolingual controls, show mismatches in gender agreement. We will show that the mismatches observed differ with respect to the agreement target between groups, i.e., noun phrase internal agreement seems more affected in the adolescent group, while personal pronouns appear equally affected. We will argue that these patterns suggest retreat to default gender, namely neuter in Greek. Neuter emerges as default when no agreement pattern can be established. As adult speakers show less mismatches, we will explore the reasons why speakers improve across the life span.
... In Section 4.2, we will compare our results to theirs, although ours is a corpus study and theirs an elicited experimental one, by briefly also discussing preliminary results from Greek HSs in Germany. We will also compare our results to Seaman's (1972) study, who interviewed Greek speakers in the area of Chicago in the 1970s, where some of our speakers are located, and to Paspali's (2019) experimental study of adult HSs of Greek in Germany. We will also consider Karatsareas's (2011) discussion of Asia Minor Greek dialects, which looks at gender re-analysis in these dialects from the perspective of the Agreement Hierarchy. ...
This paper investigates gender agreement mismatches between nominal expressions and the targets of agreement they control in two groups (adults and adolescents) of Heritage Greek speakers in the USA. On the basis of language production data elicited via a narration task, we show that USA Greek Heritage speakers, unlike monolingual controls, show mismatches in gender agreement. We will show that the mismatches observed differ with respect to the agreement target between groups, i.e., noun phrase internal agreement seems more affected in the adolescent group, while personal pronouns appear equally affected. We will argue that these patterns suggest retreat to default gender, namely neuter in Greek. Neuter emerges as default when no agreement pattern can be established. As adult speakers show less mismatches, we will explore the reasons why speakers improve across the life span.
This study investigates the acquisition of grammatical gender in Heritage Greek as acquired by children (6–8 years of age) and adolescents (15–18 years) growing up in Adelaide, South Australia. The determiner elicitation task from Varlokosta (2005) was employed to assess the role of morphological and semantic cues when it comes to gender assignment for real and novel nouns. Ralli’s (1994) inflectional classes for Greek nouns and Anastasiadi-Symeonidi and Cheila-Markopoulou’s (2003) categories of prototypicality were employed in the analysis of the collected data. The performance of heritage speakers was compared to that of monolingual speakers from Greece (Varlokosta, 2011). The results indicate that–beyond age differences in the two groups–a formal phonological rule guides gender assignment in the production of heritage speakers which departs from initial expectations.
This study investigates the acquisition of grammatical gender in Heritage Greek as acquired by children (6–8 years of age) and adolescents (15–18 years) growing up in Adelaide, South Australia. The determiner elicitation task from Varlokosta (2005) was employed to assess the role of morphological and semantic cues when it comes to gender assignment for real and novel nouns. Ralli’s (1994) inflectional classes for Greek nouns and Anastasiadi-Symeonidi and Cheila-Markopoulou’s (2003) categories of prototypicality were employed in the analysis of the collected data. The performance of heritage speakers was compared to that of monolingual speakers from Greece (Varlokosta, 2011). The results indicate that–beyond age differences in the two groups–a formal phonological rule guides gender assignment in the production of heritage speakers which departs from initial expectations.
