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The acquisition of the syntactic and morphological properties of Spanish imperatives in heritage and second language

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TitleInfo
Title
The acquisition of the syntactic and morphological properties of Spanish imperatives in heritage and second language
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Lopez Otero
NamePart (type = given)
Julio Cesar
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Julio Cesar Lopez Otero
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author
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Sanchez
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Liliana
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Liliana Sanchez
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Advisory Committee
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chair
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Camacho
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Jose
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Jose Camacho
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Advisory Committee
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internal member
Name (type = personal)
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Casillas
NamePart (type = given)
Joseph
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Joseph Casillas
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Advisory Committee
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RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name (type = personal)
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Cuza
NamePart (type = given)
Alejandro
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Alejandro Cuza
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Advisory Committee
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outside member
Name (type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name (type = corporate)
NamePart
School of Graduate Studies
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RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
school
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Text
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theses
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DateCreated (encoding = w3cdtf); (keyDate = yes); (qualifier = exact)
2020
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2020-05
Language
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English
Abstract (type = abstract)
Imperatives are one of the three major clause types of human language, along with declaratives and interrogatives (Aikhenvald, 2010; Alcázar & Saltarelli, 2014; Portner, 2016). Imperatives are usually employed to express commands, but they can convey other meanings such as entreaties, requests, advice or instructions (Aikhenvald, 2010). The current study investigates the acquisition of syntactic and morphological properties of imperatives in Spanish in order to test previous proposals on the order of acquisition of language components for L2 learners and heritage speakers. Moreover, this study examines whether the acquisition of this structure is modulated by extra-linguistic factors (e.g., proficiency in Spanish, age of onset of acquisition of Spanish and English, and patterns of language exposure and use) and by lexical frequency (i.e., how frequently a given lexical item appears in the input).

Previous proposals on the order of acquisition of language components in L2 learners agree on that morphology is the most challenging language component to acquire for L2 learners (Jiang, 2000; Lardiere, 2008, 2009; Slabakova, 2013). A similar focus on the difficulty to acquire morphology is found in proposals on heritage language acquisition and maintenance (Putnam & Sánchez, 2013). This study aims to test the validity of these proposals by examining the acquisition of imperatives in Spanish, which present a complex syntax and a relatively poor morphology (Alcázar & Saltarelli, 2013; Ezeizabarrena, 1997; Rivero & Terzi, 1995). Furthermore, this study also tests previous approaches that underline the importance of language activation in the acquisition of second and heritage languages (Gollan, Weissberger, Runnqvist, Montoya, & Cera, 2012; Paradis, 1993; Putnam & Sánchez) by examining the role of extra-linguistic factors that measure the activation of their non-dominant language, Spanish, throughout their lives. Along the lines of language activation, this study also investigates the effects of lexical frequency on the acquisition of morphology. Specifically, lexical frequency is used as a proxy for language activation: more frequent lexical items are more frequently activated in the bilingual mind for production and comprehension purposes (Putnam & Sánchez, 2013).

A group of L2 learners (n = 51) and heritage speakers (n = 58) of varied proficiency levels completed an elicited production task, an acceptability judgment task, and a self-reported lexical frequency test, as well as several screening tasks and tests. A group of 12 Spanish-dominant bilinguals and 20 Spanish instructors served as comparison groups for the heritage speakers and the L2 learners, respectively. The results, which are not consistent with previous second language proposals and hypotheses (Jiang, 2000; Lardiere, 2008, 2009; Slabakova, 2013), show that L2 learners acquire some functional morphology, namely number morphology (e.g., ¡mira! ‘(singular you) Look!’ vs ¡miren! ‘(plural you) Look!’), which is less challenging than purely syntactic operations, as seen in clitic placement. The heritage speakers, on the other hand, present a more stable syntax than morphology, consistently with Putnam and Sánchez (2013). Additionally, language activation, as measured by proficiency and age of onset of acquisition of Spanish and English, has an effect on the acquisition of the properties under examination. On the other hand, patterns of language exposure and use, and lexical frequency (e.g., ¡mira! ‘Look!’ vs ¡cose! ‘Sew!’) only play a role in the acquisition of morphology in heritage speakers, but not in L2 learners. These findings support claims that heritage language activation is crucial for its acquisition and maintenance (Putnam & Sánchez, 2013) and that heritage speakers present differential access to their grammatical knowledge as a function of lexical frequency (Pérez-Cortés, Putnam, & Sánchez, 2019).

The contributions of this study are threefold: First, this is the first study that investigates the acquisition of Spanish imperatives in L2 learners and heritage speakers. Second, this study challenges previous literature (Lardiere, 2008, 2009; Slabakova, 2013, 2019) by finding that L2 learners acquire functional morphology earlier than a purely syntactic operation. Third, this is the first study that found lexical frequency effects in the acquisition of morphology with morphologically regular verbs in heritage speakers.
Subject (authority = LCSH)
Topic
Spanish language -- Imperative
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Spanish
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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ETD
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ETD_10753
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application/pdf
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text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (xvi, 247 pages) : illustrations
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
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Title
School of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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rucore10001600001
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NjNbRU
Identifier (type = doi)
doi:10.7282/t3-2ga4-6f63
Genre (authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights

RightsDeclaration (ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder (type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Lopez Otero
GivenName
Julio Cesar
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact); (point = start)
2020-04-15 21:21:07
AssociatedEntity
Name
Julio Cesar Lopez Otero
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. School of Graduate Studies
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License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
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Type
Embargo
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact); (point = start)
2020-05-31
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact); (point = end)
2022-05-31
Detail
Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author's request. It will be publicly available after May 31st, 2022.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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2020-04-16T01:01:42
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2020-04-16T01:01:42
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