Abstract
According to the Interface Hypothesis in the field of bilingualism, the interface connecting a linguistic module with a language-external domain (e.g., syntax-discourse) will present prolonged difficulties for adult bilingual learners, as compared with the interface connecting language-internal modules (e.g., syntax-semantics). This study tested whether the Interface Hypothesis is applicable to the acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a heritage language. An internet-based acceptability judgment task (AJT) was administered to 58 advanced and intermediate adult Chinese heritage speakers to collect data in accuracy and reaction time to investigate the adult heritage speakers’ mastery of referential nominal expressions regulated at the syntax-semantics and syntax-discourse interfaces, respectively, in Mandarin Chinese. The target linguistic phenomena involved three nominal expressions (i.e., the bare N(oun), the [Cl(assifier)-N], and the [Num(eral)-Cl-N]) under four interface-regulated referential readings (i.e., type-denoting, quantity-denoting, indefinite individual-denoting, and definite individual-denoting). In terms of accuracy, the results showed that (i) for the N and the [Num-Cl-N], regardless of the interface type, the advanced group acquired the target phenomena to a nativelike level, who significantly outperformed the intermediate group; (ii) for the [Cl-N], the advanced group exhibited nativelike attainment at the syntax-discourse interface but not at the syntax-semantics interface, and performed significantly better than the intermediate group at both interfaces. Regarding reaction time, no significant differences were reported between the advanced group and the native group for the target structures at either the syntax-semantics or the syntax-discourse interface, while the advanced group performed significantly better than the intermediate group, regardless of the interface type and the structure type. The findings suggest that the nature of the language interface, i.e., whether it pertains to language-external domains (i.e., the external interface) or not (i.e., the internal interface), should not be a reliable factor for predicting the (im)possibility of nativelike attainment of bilingual grammar knowledge, contra the predictions of the Interface Hypothesis. The present study provides new empirical evidence to show that language-external interface properties are not necessarily destined for prolonged difficulties in heritage language acquisition, and that it is possible for adult heritage speakers to make developmental progress in both accuracy and processing efficiency at different types of interfaces.
Highlights
In the field of bilingualism research under the generative linguistic framework, an issue that has been of immense scholarly interest in the past decade is the discrepancy of learning difficulties exhibited by different linguistic modules
The study will advance the current discussion on heritage language acquisition at interfaces in three dimensions: (i) target language: while most of the prior research targeted Indo-European heritage languages, this study extends the scope of exploration to an under-researched heritage language, i.e., Mandarin Chinese as a heritage language; (ii) target phenomenon: while the target phenomena of the existing studies were mostly concerned with the external interface only, the present study features a comparison of heritage speakers’ mastery of internal interface and external interface grammar knowledge in the heritage language; and (iii) methods: while the instruments adopted in previous studies were mainly restricted to offline tasks, this study evaluates heritage speakers’ performance at interfaces via real-time paradigms examining both accuracy and processing proficiency
The results reported in the literature were mixed: while some studies showed that advanced L2 learners could achieve nativelike attainment only at the internal interface but not at the external interface, which borne out the IH (e.g., Lozano, 2006; Valenzuela, 2006; Belletti et al, 2007), others found that advance L2 learners could master the external interface knowledge to a nativelike level, which constituted evidence against the IH (e.g., Donaldson, 2012; Ivanov, 2012; Leal, 2016)
Summary
In the field of bilingualism research under the generative linguistic framework, an issue that has been of immense scholarly interest in the past decade is the discrepancy of learning difficulties exhibited by different linguistic modules. The IH was first put forth to explain the non-nativelike attainment at the end stage of adult second language (L2) acquisition, which claimed that the language structures involving an interface between syntax and other domains would exhibit persistent vulnerability as compared with those involving purely syntactic properties (i.e., the so-called “narrow syntax”) (Sorace, 2000, 2005; Sorace and Filiaci, 2006; Belletti et al, 2007). B. ∗chang-toufa de yi ge nüsheng long-hair DE one CL girl Intended: “a long-haired girl” Such a restriction can be overridden at the syntax-discourse interface: a modifier denoting a stable, non-episodic property of the modified can be allowed to appear in front of [Num-Cl] if the modifier is associated with a contrastive focus reading (Jin, 2020). The present study will contribute to the ongoing debate on the IH via presenting new evidence from the perspective of adult heritage speakers’ acquisition of interfaceregulated referential nominal expressions in Mandarin Chinese as a heritage language, which remains an under-explored area in the prior studies
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