Abstract
Research in speakers of closely related varieties has shown that bilectalism and non-standardization affect speakers’ perception of the variants that exist in their native languages in a way that is absent from the performance of their monolingual peers. One possible explanation for this difference is that non-standardization blurs the boundaries of grammatical variants and increases grammatical fluidity. Affected by such factors, bilectals become less accurate in identifying the variety to which a grammatical variant pertains. Another explanation is that their differential performance derives from the fact that they are competent in two varieties. Under this scenario, the difference is due to the existence of two linguistic systems in the course of development, and not to how close or standardized these systems are. This study employs a novel variety-judgment task in order to elucidate which of the two explanations holds. Having administered the task to monolinguals, bilectals, and bilinguals, including heritage language learners and L1 attriters, we obtained a dataset of 16,245 sentences. The analysis shows differential performance between bilectal and bilingual speakers, granting support for the first explanation. We discuss the role of factors such as non-standardization and linguistic proximity in language development and flesh out the implications of the results in relation to different developmental trajectories.
Highlights
Linguistic research has shown that non-standard varieties allow for greater grammatical fluidity in a way that blurs the boundaries across them and affects speakers’ perception of whether a specific variant belongs to their linguistic repertoire or not (Cheshire and Stein, 1997; Henry, 2005)
Bilingual speakers benefit from the cognitive advantages of bilingualism, which have an impact on the processing mechanisms that are active during the acquisition process
The present study aims to answer the question of whether the differential performance across monolinguals and bilectals reported in Leivada et al is the result of being exposed to more than one linguistic system in the course of development
Summary
Linguistic research has shown that non-standard varieties allow for greater grammatical fluidity in a way that blurs the boundaries across them and affects speakers’ perception of whether a specific variant belongs to their linguistic repertoire or not (Cheshire and Stein, 1997; Henry, 2005). Nonstandardization affects cross-linguistic boundaries and the norms of acceptability that define variants (Milroy, 2001). This, in turn, affects speakers’ perception and ultimate performance of grammatical variants in their native variety or varieties (Henry, 2005; Papadopoulou et al, 2014). A second important factor that affects linguistic development is variation in the input, as happens when the linguistic environment involves exposure to more than one language.
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