Jennifer Cabrelli

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University of Illinois Chicago

The present study investigates the extent to which L1 versus adult L2 syntactic systems resist influence from a third language (L3). Based on the tenets of the Phonological Permeability Hypothesis (Cabrelli Amaro, 2013; Cabrelli Amaro & Rothman, 2010), we test the hypothesis that adult-acquired L2 syntactic systems are different from early-acquired...

While formal L3 morphosyntactic acquisition research has focused on the roles of the L1 versus L2 during the L3 initial stages, we examine their roles during development. Specifically, we explore whether the L3 (here, Portuguese) revision process after non-facilitative transfer differs whether the initial L3 representation reflects the L1 or L2. If...

Much of the formal linguistic research on third language (L3) acquisition has focused on transfer source selection, with the overall finding that (global) structural similarity between the L1/L2 and L3 is the strongest predictor of initial transfer patterns. Recently, Cabrelli and Pichan (2021) reported data from the production of underlyingly inte...

This chapter focuses on the study of language attrition in the context of L3 acquisition. Following a growing body of research on L2 effects on an L1, it is accepted that an L1 is not a static linguistic system and that L2 influence can present at the lexical, morphosyntactic, and phonological levels from even the earliest stages of L2 acquisition...

Few studies have examined global foreign accent (GFA) in bilingual children, and little is known about how GFA changes over time and what factors determine change. Here, we examine GFA trajectories in Japanese–English bilingual returnees (Japanese children who returned to Japan after having lived in a majority English environment for several years)...

In our increasingly multilingual modern world, understanding how languages beyond the first are acquired and processed at a brain level is essential to design evidence-based teaching, clinical interventions and language policy. Written by a team of world-leading experts in a wide range of disciplines within cognitive science, this Handbook provides...

This study examines whether L1 English/L2 Spanish learners at different proficiency levels acquire a novel L2 phoneme, the Spanish palatal nasal /ɲ/. While alveolar /n/ is part of the Spanish and English inventories, /ɲ/, which consists of a tautosyllabic palatal nasal+glide element, is not. This crosslinguistic disparity presents potential difficu...

The purpose of this study is to examine phonetic interactions in early Spanish/English bilinguals to see if they have established a representation for the Spanish palatal nasal /ɲ/ (e.g., /kaɲon/ cañón ‘canyon’) that is separate from the similar, yet acoustically distinct English /n+j/ sequence (e.g., /kænjn̩/ ‘canyon’). Twenty heritage speakers of...

When we think of the debates surrounding linguistic transfer in L3 acquisition, one of the most prominent discussions concerns whether transfer occurs in a wholesale fashion or whether it is property-by-property. One such model is the Linguistic Proximity Model (LPM, Mykhaylyk et al., 2015; Westergaard et al., 2017; Westergaard, 2019), which mainta...

This project examines whether heritage speakers of Spanish distinguish when Spanish clitic-doubled left dislocation (CLLD) is discursively appropriate via an acceptability judgment task (AJT) and a speeded production task (SPT). This two-task experimental design is intended to determine whether heritage speakers diverge from an L1 Spanish/L2 Englis...

This project examines whether second language (L2) learners can converge on a native-like pattern at the interface between syntax and discourse under low and high processing pressure, using Spanish clitic-doubled left dislocation (CLLD) as a test case. Previous research predicts that L2 competence on syntax-discourse interface structures may diverg...

This book includes a selection of theoretical and practical accounts of the acquisition of Portuguese from a broad range of linguistic perspectives. This collection is particularly appealing in the broad academic sphere of language acquisition due to the fact that there has yet to be one entirely dedicated to Portuguese as an Additional Language (P...

This paper serves as a critical discussion of the phenomenon of intraword code-switching (ICS), or the combining of elements (e. g., a root and an affix) from different languages within a single word. Extensive research over the last four decades (Poplack, 1988; Myers-Scotton, 2000; MacSwan, 2014) has revealed CS to be a rule-governed speech practi...

This study examines five variables posited to drive(s) initial phonological transfer of (part of) one system over another in an L3: language status (L1/L2), facilitation, global structural similarity, dominance, and bilingual experience. Specifically, we investigate production of intervocalic voiced stops by English/Spanish bilinguals at the initia...

This study examines potential changes to L1 (Brazilian Portuguese, BP) perception of phonotactic structure as a function of L2 (English) experience. Syllables with a coda stop violate syllable structure constraints in BP, but are licit in English. As a result, BP monolinguals perceive an illusory /i/ after an illicit coda (e.g., ob/i/ter ‘to obtain...

This study examines potential changes to L1 (Brazilian Portuguese, BP) perception of phonotactic structure as a function of L2 (English) experience. Syllables with a coda stop violate syllable structure constraints in BP, but are licit in English. As a result, BP monolinguals perceive an illusory /i/ after an illicit coda (e.g., ob/i/ter 'to obtain...

This volume compiles eight original chapters dedicated to different topics within bilingual grammar and processing with special focus on code-switching. Three main features unify the contributions to this volume. First, they focus on making a contribution to our understanding of the human language within a coherent theoretical framework; second, th...

The Cambridge Handbook of Spanish Linguistics - edited by Kimberly L. Geeslin August 2018

Clitic-doubled Left Dislocation in Heritage Spanish: Speeded Production Data This project examines whether early Spanish-English bilinguals (heritage speakers, HSs) distinguish when it is discursively appropriate to use Spanish Clitic-doubled Left Dislocation (CLLD) in a speeded production task. It also compares these HS production results with HS...

This study tests the hypothesis that late first-language English / second-language Spanish learners (L1 English / L2 Spanish learners) acquire spirantization in stages according to the prosodic hierarchy (Zampini, 1997, 1998). In Spanish, voiced stops [b d g] surface after a pause or nasal stop, and continuants [β̞ ð̞ ɣ̞] surface postvocalically, a...

Over the last several years we have been witness to a growing body of work that examines the acquisition of Portuguese as an L3 here in the US Spanish speakers account for 45% of students enrolled in Portuguese classes (Milleret 2012), divided among L1 Spanish speakers, L2 Spanish speakers, and heritage speakers. While these three groups are all sp...

CLLD in L2 Spanish: Data from a Speeded Production Task (poster)

CLLD in L2 Spanish: Data from a Speeded Production Task (presentation)

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: We investigate the extent to which L1 versus adult L2 phonological systems resist influence from an L3. We test the Phonological Permeability Hypothesis (Cabrelli Amaro & Rothman, 2010), which states that adult L2 phonological systems are different from L1 systems with regards to instability. Design/...

The present study investigates the extent to which L1 versus adult L2 syntactic systems resist influence from a third language (L3). Based on the tenets of the Phonological Permeability Hypothesis (Cabrelli Amaro, 2013; Cabrelli Amaro & Rothman, 2010), we test the hypothesis that adult-acquired L2 syntactic systems are different from early-acquired...

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions We investigate the extent to which L1 versus adult L2 phonological systems resist influence from an L3. We test the Phonological Permeability Hypothesis (Cabrelli Amaro & Rothman, 2010), which states that adult L2 phonological systems are different from L1 systems with regards to instability. Design/M...

(In press, to appear in Studies in Second Language Acquisition). Abstract: This study considers L1 phonological influence as part of the explanation for problems in L2 functional morphology production. We compare the predictions of Representational Deficit Approaches and Full Access Approaches regarding L2 English past tense acquisition via morphol...

The present study examines three competing models of morphosyntactic transfer in third language (L3) acquisition, examining the particular domain of the feature configuration of embedded T in L3 Brazilian Portuguese (BP) at the initial stages and then through development. The methodology alternates Spanish and English as the L1 and L2 to tease apar...

This article presents results of two off-line comprehension tasks investigating the acceptability of unconventional and conventional metonymy by native speakers of Korean and Spanish who speak English as a second language. We are interested in discovering whether learners differentiate between conventional and unconventional metonymy, and whether t...

This article presents results of two off-line comprehension tasks, investigating the acceptability of novel and regular metonymy by speakers of English, Korean, and Spanish. We are interested in uncovering regular–novel metonymy computation discrepancies, and whether they are treated differently in the different languages. The distinction between n...

The design and implementation of a meticulously developed methodology is the foundation of empirical research, as it allows the researcher to collect data and answer a research question in a logical and systematic way, while controlling for myriad possible intervening variables. In the field of second language phonology, there are several macro iss...

In recent years, researchers have acknowledged that the study of third language acquisition cannot simply be viewed as an extension of the study of bilingualism, and the present volume’s authors agree that a point of departure that embraces the unique properties that differentiate L2 acquisition from L3/Ln acquisition is essential. From linguistic,...

In recent years, researchers have acknowledged that the study of third language acquisition cannot simply be viewed as an extension of the study of bilingualism, and the present volume’s authors agree that a point of departure that embraces the unique properties that differentiate L2 acquisition from L3/Ln acquisition is essential. From linguistic,...

In recent years, researchers have acknowledged that the study of third language acquisition cannot simply be viewed as an extension of the study of bilingualism, and the present volume’s authors agree that a point of departure that embraces the unique properties that differentiate L2 acquisition from L3/Ln acquisition is essential. From linguistic,...

The goal of this article is to make an epistemological and theoretical contribution to the nascent field of third language (L3) acquisition and show how examining L3 development can offer a unique view into longstanding debates within L2 acquisition theory. We offer the Phonological Permeability Hypothesis (PPH), which maintains that examining the...

This study investigates transfer at the third-language (L3) initial state, testing between the following possibilities: (1) the first-language (L1) transfer hypothesis (an L1 effect for all adult acquisition), (2) the second-language (L2) transfer hypothesis, where the L2 blocks L1 transfer (often referred to in the recent literature as the 'L2 sta...