Cross-linguistic influence in acceptability: possessive structures in Norwegian-Italian
bilingual children
This study investigates cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in possessive structures in
Norwegian-Italian bilingual children (n=31, mean age= 6;5) residing in Norway.
Both languages feature prenominal and postnominal possessives, but with
opposite distributions (e.g. context and frequency-Table 1). This presents potential for
CLI since there is structural overlap at interface between two modules of grammar (Hulk
& Müller, 2001). Previous studies have found that CLI may affect processing (Sorace et
al., 2009).
We designed an online forced-choice acceptability judgment task testing the
neutral and the contrastive condition. Preliminary results (Table 2) show that in Italian
marginally more marked variants (postnominal) are used in the contrast condition when
compared to the neutral condition (p<0.1) (pragmatically appropriate); marginally more
marked variants (prenominal) used in neutral condition in Norwegian than in Italian,
which may indicate CLI from Italian to Norwegian. No statistical evidence of CLI from
Norwegian to Italian was found, although data trends suggest an increase in postnominal
use in neutral contexts over contrastive ones in Italian.
Reaction times (RT) revealed no significant differences (Table 3), but highlighted
that the children responded faster in Norwegian, the majority language. Here the RTs
reflected the contextual use: the fastest responses were prenominals in contrast and
postnominals in neutral condition. In Italian the fastest mean RTs were for the
prenominal in neutral condition, but the children were slowest in choosing the
postnominals in contrast condition, indicating that they still struggle with this choice.
The results from the responses and RTs incompatible: CLI from Italian to Norwegian
is more pronounced, but the responses for Italian are slower and indicate that the choice
of variant in the contrastive condition may still be problematic.
The study reveals a complex interplay between linguistic response and processing
in bilingual children.