Dominant L1 Research Articles

Particle verbs versus simplex verbs in Maldivian English

AbstractNotwithstanding current indications that English might soon become the country's dominant L1, the structures of English in the Maldives have—despite laudable exceptions—not yet received sufficient academic attention. The present paper studies the contrast between simplex verbs (e.g. COMPRISE) and their innovative particle–verb alternatives (e.g. COMPRISE of) (a) in a short‐term diachronic database of Maldivian newspaper texts and (b) with the help of acceptability ratings of the forms concerned collected through an online survey. The research questions address the relative frequencies of use of innovative particle verbs as opposed to corresponding simplex verbs, the diachronic variability of these relative frequencies and the degree to which the local speech community accepts innovative verb–particle combinations. While the well‐established simplex verbs constitute the overall dominant structural choices, each of the innovative particle verbs has become more frequent in the course of the 14‐year time period observed. These corpus‐based insights align with the generally high acceptability ratings for the innovative particle–verb constructions evident from the survey data, where young women display the largest degree of acceptance towards the innovative particle verbs.

Trilingual parallel processing: Do the dominant languages grab all the attention?

Abstract Twenty-five L1 Nepali speaking participants living in Trondheim, Norway who spoke English as L2 and Norwegian as L3 (late adult learners) participated in this study. Participants’ L2 proficiency was established as advanced in LexTALE. We administered language comprehension and production tasks in a trilingual design. In a mouse tracking trilingual parallel activation experiment, participants performed a language comprehension task in which they listened to the spoken word in their L1, L2 and L3 and clicked on the matching target picture. Mouse trajectories of their response pattern were recorded and analyzed. The language production task included a phonological and a semantic verbal fluency task (VFT), which also served as an executive control task. VFT showed their dominance in L1 and L2 compared to L3. This study contributes novel knowledge on trilingual parallel activation and suggests that in the presence of a non-dominant L3, a dominant L1 and a dominant L2 are processed faster than the non-dominant language in phonologically competing conditions.

The correlated influence of semantic types, L1 translation equivalents and language proficiency on EFL learners' production of polysemous words.

The current research investigated the influencing factors of the full mastery of L2 (English) polysemous words with a Chinese-English translation test. The concepts of "meaning" and "L2 equivalent" were strictly distinguished when designing the test. The manipulation of variables came to a mixed design of 2 (semantic types: core meaning, periphery meaning) × 2 (types of L1 translation equivalents: dominant L1 translation equivalent, non-dominant L1 translation equivalent) × 2 (language proficiency: low proficiency, high proficiency). The results showed that: (1) The semantic types and L1 translation equivalents had significant influence on the production of polysemous words in that the core meanings and the dominant L1 translation equivalent helped the learners access the words quickly and produce them more efficiently; The dominant L1 translation equivalents could facilitate the production of the words presented with their periphery meanings; (2) On the whole, there was no significant difference of the productive competence between the two groups of participants. Comparatively, the high proficiency learners performed better in the production of words presented in their periphery meanings corresponding to non-dominant L1 translation equivalents. And they showed a less degree of dependence on L1 translation equivalents in the process of language production.

Proactive and reactive language control in bilingual language production revealed by decoding sustained potentials and electroencephalography oscillations.

Adopting highly sensitive multivariate electroencephalography (EEG) and alpha-band decoding analyses, the present study investigated proactive and reactive language control during bilingual language production. In a language-switching task, Chinese-English bilinguals were asked to name pictures based on visually presented cues. EEG and alpha-band decoding accuracy associated with switch and non-switch trials were used as indicators for inhibition over the non-target language. Multivariate EEG decoding analyses showed that the decoding accuracy in L1 but not in L2, was above chance level shortly after cue onset. In addition, alpha-band decoding results showed that the decoding accuracy in L1 rose above chance level in an early time window and a late time window locked to the stimulus. Together, these asymmetric patterns of decoding accuracy indicate that both proactive and reactive attentional control over the dominant L1 are exerted during bilingual word production, with a possibility of overlap between two control mechanisms. We addressed theoretical implications based on these findings for bilingual language control models.

Multiple wh-interrogatives in child heritage Romanian: On-line comprehension and production.

This study compared the online comprehension and the production of multiple interrogatives in 18 Romanian-English bilingual children aged 6;0-9;2 (MAGE = 8;0) living in the UK who have Romanian as heritage language (L1) and English as majority language (L2) and 32 Romanian monolingual children aged 6;11 to 9;8 (MAGE = 8;3). We examined whether differences emerge between heritage and monolingual children in the online comprehension and in the production of multiple interrogatives in Romanian, which requires fronting of all wh-phrases, contrary to English. The main aim was to uncover to which extent similarities or differences in morphosyntactic properties between the L1 and the L2 systems affect the acquisition and processing of the heritage language/L1. Online comprehension was assessed in a self-paced listening task, while production was assessed using an elicitation task. The results reveal that Romanian heritage children show similar online comprehension patterns to monolingual children for multiple interrogatives in Romanian. A different pattern emerges for production as heritage children produce less complex multiple questions in Romanian and avoid movement of two wh-phrases in all elicited structures. Given that their predominant responses for multiple interrogatives only make use of the structural option present in English, namely one fronted wh-phrase and one in-situ, we take this to show that there is transfer from the majority language to the heritage language. Thus, language production in the children's L1 seems to be affected by properties of the dominant L2, under cross-linguistic influence. Taken together, the results for both comprehension and production suggest that heritage children are able to establish the underlying representation of multiple wh-movement structures, similarly to monolinguals, but have difficulties activating the more complex structure in production.

Phonetic and Lexical Encoding of Tone in Cantonese Heritage Speakers.

Heritage speakers contend with at least two languages: the less dominant first language (L1), that is, the heritage language, and the more dominant second language (L2). In some cases, their L1 and L2 bear striking phonological differences. In the current study, we investigate Toronto-born Cantonese heritage speakers and their maintenance of Cantonese lexical tone, a linguistic feature that is absent from English, the more dominant L2. Across two experiments, Cantonese heritage speakers were tested on their phonetic/phonological and lexical encoding of tone in Cantonese. Experiment 1 was an AX discrimination task with varying inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs), which revealed that heritage speakers discriminated tone pairs with disparate pitch contours better than those with shared pitch contours. Experiment 2 was a medium-term repetition priming experiment, designed to extend the findings of Experiment 1 by examining tone representations at the lexical level. We observed a positive correlation between English dominance and priming in tone minimal pairs that shared contours. Thus, while increased English dominance does not affect heritage speakers' phonological-level representations, tasks that require lexical access suggest that heritage Cantonese speakers may not robustly and fully distinctively encode Cantonese tone in lexical memory.

High fluoroquinolone resistance proportions among multidrug-resistant tuberculosis driven by dominant L2 Mycobacterium tuberculosis clones in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region

BackgroundMultidrug-resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) strains are a serious health problem in India, also contributing to one-fourth of the global MDR tuberculosis (TB) burden. About 36% of the MDR MTBC strains are reported fluoroquinolone (FQ) resistant leading to high pre-extensively drug-resistant (pre-XDR) and XDR-TB (further resistance against bedaquiline and/or linezolid) rates. Still, factors driving the MDR/pre-XDR epidemic in India are not well defined.MethodsIn a retrospective study, we analyzed 1852 consecutive MTBC strains obtained from patients from a tertiary care hospital laboratory in Mumbai by whole genome sequencing (WGS). Univariate and multivariate statistics was used to investigate factors associated with pre-XDR. Core genome multi locus sequence typing, time scaled haplotypic density (THD) method and homoplasy analysis were used to analyze epidemiological success, and positive selection in different strain groups, respectively.ResultsIn total, 1016 MTBC strains were MDR, out of which 703 (69.2%) were pre-XDR and 45 (4.4%) were XDR. Cluster rates were high among MDR (57.8%) and pre-XDR/XDR (79%) strains with three dominant L2 (Beijing) strain clusters (Cl 1–3) representing half of the pre-XDR and 40% of the XDR-TB cases. L2 strains were associated with pre-XDR/XDR-TB (P < 0.001) and, particularly Cl 1–3 strains, had high first-line and FQ resistance rates (81.6–90.6%). Epidemic success analysis using THD showed that L2 strains outperformed L1, L3, and L4 strains in short- and long-term time scales. More importantly, L2 MDR and MDR + strains had higher THD success indices than their not-MDR counterparts. Overall, compensatory mutation rates were highest in L2 strains and positive selection was detected in genes of L2 strains associated with drug tolerance (prpB and ppsA) and virulence (Rv2828c). Compensatory mutations in L2 strains were associated with a threefold increase of THD indices, suggesting improved transmissibility.ConclusionsOur data indicate a drastic increase of FQ resistance, as well as emerging bedaquiline resistance which endangers the success of newly endorsed MDR-TB treatment regimens. Rapid changes in treatment and control strategies are required to contain transmission of highly successful pre-XDR L2 strains in the Mumbai Metropolitan region but presumably also India-wide.

Language contact across ethnic boundaries

Abstract Throughout antiquity, the Chittagong Hill Tract was a sparsely populated region. This population increased with the immigration of different speech communities, thus changing its linguistic mosaic, and creating conditions for language contact between vernacular Bangla and between its ancestral Indo-Aryan variety Pali, the superstrate, and the Tibeto-Burman variety, the substratum. In the changing language contact situation, language contact involved various phenomena, such as language maintenance, the creation of new contact languages, i.e. pidgins and creoles as well as the acquisition and integration into a dominant L2. Through this language contact, the processes of language contact have had particular linguistic, social, and political outcomes that have shaped the region. The linguistic outcomes include lexical borrowing, calquing, and structural convergence, as well as the creation of a new contact language combining both the Indo-Aryan vernacular and Tibeto-Burman vernacular. This paper discusses these outcomes, and describes that changes in the social and political makeup of the region have ultimately led to language change. The study argues that linguistic change appears at present in several ways: The lexical makeup, phraseology and syntactic structure of Indo-Aryan varieties spoken by the Tibeto-Burman speech communities; pidgins including Chakma and Tanchangya which have emerged from contact between the Indo-Aryan variety and the Arakanese vernacular; a Tibeto-Burman pidgin which has emerged from contact between the superstrata Marma and the substrates Chak, Khumi, and Kheyang, which are spoken by the Marma, Chak, Khumi, and Kheyang ethnicities. Ultimately, the study presents that these social and linguistic outcomes have manifested themselves in the form of bilingualism and so code-mixing, and where the political outcomes of language contact have forged the political makeup of the Chittagong Hill Tract to bring the region to become one part of the larger political superstructure of Bangladesh.

Native and second language processing of quantifier scope ambiguity

The present study investigates native (L1) and second language (L2) processing of scope ambiguities in English sentences containing the universal quantifier every in subject NP and negation. Previous studies in L1 and L2 processing of scope ambiguities have found speakers to generally employ a ‘minimal effort’ principle that highly prefers the surface scope reading regardless of contextual support because accessing the inverse scope reading incurs significant processing cost. The present study compared L1 and L2 scope judgments and processing strategies of sentences such as Every horse didn’t jump over the fence and examined whether the two groups differ in their speed and manner of analysis. Thirty native English speakers and 42 Korean learners of English participated in a self-paced reading/interpretation task that has context (ambiguous vs. unambiguous) and scope reading (surface vs. inverse) as variables. The results revealed significant differences in scope endorsement rates with L2 learners arriving at the surface scope as the dominant reading and L1 learners’ judgments being highly dependent on contextual ambiguity. Moreover, L1 vs. L2 differences in processing strategies were found: L2 learners exhibited a strong tendency to arrive at the most economical interpretation while L1 speakers consulted detailed syntactic and semantic rules of computation.

Overlapping but Language-Specific Mechanisms in Morphosyntactic Processing in Highly Competent L2 Acquired at School Entry: fMRI Evidence From an Alternating Language Switching Task.

Many bilingual individuals acquire their second language when entering primary school; however, very few studies have investigated morphosyntax processing in this population. Combining a whole-brain and region of interest (ROI)-based approach, we studied event-related fMRI during morphosyntactic processing, specifically person-number phi-features, in Turkish (L1) and Persian (L2) by highly proficient bilinguals who learned Persian at school entry. In a design with alternating language switching and pseudorandomized grammaticality conditions, two left-lateralized syntax-specific ROIs and 11 bilateral ROIs involved in executive functions (EF) were analyzed for the intensity of activation relative to a resting baseline. Our findings indicate a strong overlap of neural networks for L1 and L2, suggesting structural similarities of neuroanatomical organization. In all ROIs morphosyntactic processing invoked stronger activation in L1 than in L2. This may be a consequence of symmetrical switch costs in the alternating design used here, where the need for suppressing the non-required language is stronger for the dominant L1 when it is non-required as compared to the non-dominant L2, leading to a stronger rebound for L1 than L2 when the language is required. Both L1 and L2 revealed significant activation in syntax-specific areas in left hemisphere clusters and increased activation in EF-specific areas in right-hemisphere than left-hemisphere clusters, confirming syntax-specific functions of the left hemisphere, whereas the right hemisphere appears to subserve control functions required for switching languages. While previous reports indicate a leftward bias in planum temporale activation during auditory and linguistic processing, the present study shows the activation of the right planum temporale indicating its involvement in auditory attention. More pronounced grammaticality effect in left pars opercularis for L1 and in left pSTG for L2 indicate differences in the processing of morphosyntactic information in these brain regions. Nevertheless, the activation of pars opercularis and pSTG emphasize the centrality of these regions in the processing of person-number phi-features. Taken together, the present results confirm that morphosyntactic processing in bilinguals relates to composite, syntax-sensitive and EF-sensitive mechanisms in which some nodes of the language network are differentially involved.

Novel Word Learning Among Bilinguals Can Be Better Through the (Dominant) First Language Than Through the Second Language

AbstractWhen learning novel vocabulary in a third language (L3) through translations in the first language (L1), bilinguals may have more available cognitive resources and more accumulated experience in language regulation compared to when learning through translations in the second language (L2). In a study designed to test language of instruction (LOI) effects, 59 Hebrew–English bilinguals auditorily learned over two sessions 55 words in German, including three word types: cognates, overlapping in form and meaning between English and German; false cognates, overlapping in form but not meaning; and controls. Critically, half of the participants learned through their (dominant) L1 Hebrew, and half through their L2 English (which is also more similar to German). Results showed a significant LOI effect, with better learning through the (less similar) L1, especially for control items. Cognates were learned better in both LOIs, but false cognates were learned better relative to controls to a greater extent when the LOI was English. Together, results highlight the importance of LOI and item‐based language similarity during multilingual novel word‐learning.

Establishing rapport with Punjabi-English bilinguals: L1 vs. dominance

ABSTRACT This study tested whether Punjabi-English bilinguals feel a stronger rapport with another bilingual stranger when communicating in L1 Punjabi or their dominant L2 English. Some previous studies have shown greater emotional reactions to a dominant language. We predicted that participants would feel more comfortable speaking their dominant language. Participants completed an origami task via Zoom with a confederate while communicating in English and Punjabi trials. The task was done in both languages and the order of languages was randomly assigned. Surprisingly, participants rated the Punjabi interactions more comfortable than the English interactions. Rapport was not correlated with proficiency in either language. One possible interpretation of these results is that communicating in the L1 elicits feelings of belongingness to a community, resulting in greater feelings of comfort. Future studies can test whether these results generalise to real-life interactions.

Lexikalischer Zugriff bei Mehrsprachigen: Eine Studie zur visuellen Verarbeitung von Kognaten im Polnischen als Erstsprache

SummaryResearch into cross-linguistic influence in L3 acquisition and processing has recently shown remarkable growth. However, still little is known about reverse interactions, i. e. the effects of L2 and L3 on L1. This study investigates visual cognate processing in Polish to determine whether lexical access in the dominant L1 is susceptible to the influence of the non-dominant L2 and L3. A group of 13 Polish learners of German and English participated in a lexical decision task in which both double and triple cognates were examined in comparison to control non-cognates and non-words. In line with the pattern found in most similar studies, the results reveal no cognate facilitation effect, thus indicating that L1 lexical access in multilinguals may also be selective with respect to L2 and L3. The theoretical consequences for L1 lexical processing in the multilingual mind are discussed.

Cross linguistic influence in learning english as a third language: The case of L1 Arabic, L2 Turkish learners and their attitudes towards learning foreign languages

The study aims to reveal the attitudes of the participants (from L1 dominant setting and L2 dominant setting) towards learning foreign languages. After revealing the attitudes of the L3 learners, the study also aims at investigating the source of syntactic and lexical transfer: whether L1 or L2 in their writing assignments. The study also aims at investigating the source of syntactic and lexical transfer: whether L1 or L2 in their writing assignments. A mixed research approach was used in the current study to explore attitudes and origins of the syntactic and lexical transition of L1 Arabic L2 Turkish L3 to English language learners at the Uludag University School of Foreign Languages. An attitude questionnaire was implemented to get the quantitative data concerning the behavioural, cognitive, and emotional aspects of attitude of the learners towards foreign language learning. In addition to the attitude questionnaire, Think Aloud Protocols (TAPs) was administered in order to make the cognitive process observable. The participants of the current study consist of 23 L3 learners of English. The findings of the quantitative analyses showed statistically significant differences between the two groups attitudes. The students who are living in the dormitories of the university with their friends and using L2 dominantly in their daily lives showed significantly more positive attitudes than the other group. As for the source of transfer, the results showed that the participants displayed some syntactic transfers in their writing productions, but they could not be clearly defined as resulting from Turkish or Arabic because the transferred forms (for example absence of verb to be) were similar in both L1 and L2 of the participants.

Grammatical processing in two languages: How individual differences in language experience and cognitive abilities shape comprehension in heritage bilinguals.

Recent studies have demonstrated variation in language processing for monolingual and bilingual speakers alike, suggesting that only by considering individual differences will an accurate picture of the consequences of language experience be adequately understood. This approach can be illustrated in ERP research that has shown that sentence contexts that traditionally elicit a P600 component in response to a syntactic violation, elicit an N400 response for a subset of individuals. That result has been reported for monolingual speakers processing sentences in their L1 and also for bilinguals processing sentences in their L2. To date, no studies have compared variation in L1 and L2 ERP effects in the very same bilingual speakers. In the present paper, we do that by examining sentence processing in heritage bilinguals who acquired both languages from early childhood but for whom the L2 typically becomes the dominant language. Variation in ERPs produced by the non-dominant L1 and dominant L2 of heritage bilinguals was compared to variation found in monolingual L1 processing. The group-averaged results showed the smallest N400 and P600 responses in the native, but no longer dominant, L1 of heritage bilinguals, and largest in the monolinguals. Individual difference analyses linking ERP variation to working memory and language proficiency showed that working memory was the primary factor related to monolingual L1 processing, whereas bilinguals did not show this relationship. In contrast, proficiency was the primary factor related to ERP responses for no longer dominant L1 for bilinguals, but unrelated to monolingual L1 processing, whereas bilinguals' dominant L2 processing showed an intermediate relationship. Finally, the N400 was absent for bilinguals performing the task in the same language in which they initially learned to read, but significantly larger when bilinguals performed the task in the other language. The results support the idea that proficient bilinguals utilize the same underlying mechanisms to process both languages, although the factors that affect processing in each language may differ. More broadly, we find that bilingualism is an experience that opens the language system to perform fluidly under changing circumstances, such as increasing proficiency. In contrast, language processing in monolinguals was primarily related to relatively stable factors (working memory).

Profiles of bilingualism in early childhood: A person-centred Latent Profile Transition Approach

AbstractBilingualism as it occurs in current societies is a complex, multidimensional and dynamic phenomenon, calling for new approaches to capture this concept. This study shows the feasibility of a person-centred approach by combining measures of the use of and proficiency in the first and second language from 110 young Turkish–Dutch children at two measurement waves, using two existing datasets. Latent Profile Analysis revealed four profiles, equivalent at age four and six: 1) Dominant L1 use, relatively low L1 and L2 proficiency, 2) Dual L1 and L2 use, around average L1 and L2 proficiency, 3) Dominant L1 use, relatively high L1 and L2 proficiency and 4) Dominant L2 use, relatively high L2 proficiency. Latent Transition Analysis indicated that children changed in profiles over time. Regression analyses showed that profiles were differently related to the family's socioeconomic status and children's nonverbal intelligence at age four. No relations were found at age six.

Experimentally Induced Language Modes and Regular Code-Switching Habits Boost Bilinguals' Executive Performance: Evidence From a Within-Subject Paradigm.

Bilingualism may modulate executive functions (EFs), but the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated two potential sources of variability in bilinguals’ EF performance: (1) interactional contexts and code-switching, and (2) dominance profiles. Previous research on code-switching often relied on self-reports of regular code-switching habits. In this study, we investigated the effects of experimentally induced language modes (single language versus code-switching modes) on bilinguals’ EF performance. Crucially, in the bilingual conditions, we differentiated between different types of intra-sentential code-switching (Insertion, Alternation, and Dense code-switching). Moreover, we investigated the interaction of the effects of temporary language modes with bilinguals’ sociolinguistic code-switching habits. All our participants were L1-dominant German–English bilinguals (N = 29) immersed in an L2 context. We assessed the effects of dominance by correlating individual bilinguals’ L1-dominance with their EF performance. In addition, we investigated whether language modes activate different EF patterns in bilinguals, as opposed to monolinguals, i.e., individuals who have no additional language to suppress. Based on models of bilingual language processing, we predicted our bilinguals to display the best EF performance in L2 single language contexts, as these require them to activate inhibitory schemata to suppress their dominant L1. Indeed, bilinguals performed better in the single language than in the code-switching conditions. The results also suggested that bilinguals activated more inhibitory control compared to monolinguals, supporting the notion that bilingual processing involves inhibition. The task conditions inducing different code-switching modes differed only in terms of the predictors explaining EF performance in the regression. We observed negative correlations between the frequency of engaging in a given type of code-switching and performance in language modes inducing non-corresponding control modes. The results suggested that Dense code-switching draws upon proactive control modes that differ from the reactive control involved in Alternation. Importantly, bilinguals’ dominance profiles played a crucial role in explaining EF performance. The more balanced individuals in our overall L1-dominant sample displayed better EF performance in the bilingual conditions, suggesting that more balanced bilingualism trains the control modes involved in code-switching. This highlights the importance of assessing bilinguals’ sociolinguistic profiles in bilingualism research.

Early versus Extended Exposure in Speech Perception Learning: Evidence from Switched-Dominance Bilinguals.

Both the timing (i.e., when) and amount (i.e., how much) of language exposure affect language-learning outcomes. We compared speech recognition accuracy across three listener groups for whom the order (first versus second) and dominance (dominant versus non-dominant) of two languages, English and Spanish, varied: one group of Spanish heritage speakers (SHS; L2-English dominant; L1-Spanish non-dominant) and two groups of late onset L2 learners (L1-dominant English/Spanish learners and L1-dominant Spanish/English learners). Sentence-final word recognition accuracy in both English and Spanish was assessed across three “easy” versus “difficult” listening conditions: (1) signal-to-noise ratio (SNR; +5 dB SNR versus 0 dB SNR), (2) sentence predictability (high versus low sentence predictability), and (3) speech style (clear versus plain speech style). Overall, SHS English recognition accuracy was equivalent to that of the L1-dominant English Spanish learners, whereas SHS Spanish recognition accuracy was substantially lower than that of the L1-dominant Spanish English learners. Moreover, while SHS benefitted in both languages from the “easy” listening conditions, they were more adversely affected by (i.e., they recognized fewer words) the presence of higher noise and lower predictability in their non-dominant L1 Spanish compared to their dominant L2 English. These results identify both a benefit and limit on the influence of early exposure. Specifically, the L2-dominant heritage speakers displayed L1-like speech recognition in their dominant-L2, as well as generally better recognition in their non-dominant L1 than late onset L2 learners. Yet, subtle recognition accuracy differences between SHS and L1-dominant listeners emerged under relatively difficult communicative conditions.

Early shifts in the heritage language strength: A comparison of lexical access and accuracy in bilingual and monolingual children

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions:This study examines the characteristics of the child heritage language during the period of its relative dominance in early sequential bilinguals. Our objectives are twofold: to compare lexical accuracy and access in heritage and monolingual speakers across the primary school years, and to examine whether the results point to any early shifts in the heritage language strength.Design/methodology/approach:The participants are 38 Polish–English early sequential bilinguals and 24 Polish monolinguals aged 4;7–13;2, divided into four age groups. We use a new psycholinguistic tool, the Child HALA, to measure shifts in language strength by comparing lexical accuracy and access between the heritage and monolingual Polish. This picture-naming test is based on the HALA tool.Data and analysis:The data consists of accuracy and response time scores. The results are compared between the age groups and between the heritage and monolingual speakers to document any changes as a function of age and type of acquisition.Findings/conclusions:The heritage speakers achieve similar accuracy scores as the monolinguals; however, their rate of acquisition is slower. Their response time scores are lower across all age spans, which points to a slower language access. The results may suggest that the heritage language displays early shifts in its strength before a switch to a more dominant L2 between the mean age of 8–11;5.Originality:We document early changes in the heritage language strength that occur during a period of its relative dominance in bilingual children. The study employs a new psycholinguistic test applicable in the assessments of language maintenance in children.Significance/implications:The study provides insights into the heritage language maintenance during the early years of exposure to the majority language. The results may offer a greater understanding of the characteristics of the heritage language development in bilingual children.

Genetic interactions between Protein Kinase D and Lobe mutants during eye development of Drosophila melanogaster

BackgroundIn Drosophila, the development of the fly eye involves the activity of several, interconnected pathways that first define the presumptive eye field within the eye anlagen, followed by establishment of the dorso-ventral boundary, and the regulation of growth and apoptosis. In Lobe (L) mutant flies, parts of the eye or even the complete eye are absent because the eye field has not been properly defined. Manifold genetic interactions indicate that L influences the activity of several signalling pathways, resulting in a conversion of eye tissue into epidermis, and in the induction of apoptosis. As information on the molecular nature of the L mutation is lacking, the underlying molecular mechanisms are still an enigma.ResultsWe have identified Protein Kinase D (PKD) as a strong modifier of the L mutant phenotype. PKD belongs to the PKC/CAMK class of Ser/Thr kinases that have been involved in diverse cellular processes including stress resistance and growth. Despite the many roles of PKD, Drosophila PKD null mutants are without apparent phenotype apart from sensitivity to oxidative stress. Here we report an involvement of PKD in eye development in the sensitized genetic background of Lobe. Absence of PKD strongly enhanced the dominant eye defects of heterozygous L2 flies, and decreased their viability. Moreover, eye-specific overexpression of an activated isoform of PKD considerably ameliorated the dominant L2 phenotype. This genetic interaction was not allele specific but similarly seen with three additional, weaker L alleles (L1, L5, LG), demonstrating its specificity.ConclusionsWe propose that PKD-mediated phosphorylation is involved in underlying processes causing the L phenotype, i.e. in the regulation of growth, the epidermal transformation of eye tissue and apoptosis, respectively.