Third Language Acquisition in Adulthood

321 Pages·2012·1.238 MB·

by  Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro, Suzanne Flynn, Jason Rothman

Third Language Acquisition in Adulthood
Studies in Bilingualism (SiBil)
The focus of this series is on psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic aspects
of bilingualism. This entails topics such as childhood bilingualism,
psychological models of bilingual language users, language contact and
bilingualism, maintenance and shift of minority languages, and socio-
political aspects of bilingualism.
For an overview of all books published in this series, please see
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Editors
Dalila Ayoun Robert DeKeyser
University of Arizona University of Maryland
Editorial Board
Kees de Bot Aneta Pavlenko
University of Groningen Temple University
Thom Huebner Suzanne Romaine
San José State University Merton College, Oxford
Kenneth Hyltenstam Núria Sebastián-Gallés
Stockholm University University of Barcelona
Judith F. Kroll Merrill Swain
Pennsylvania State University Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Johanne Paradis G. Richard Tucker
University of Alberta Carnegie Mellon University
Christina Bratt Paulston Li Wei
University of Pittsburgh University of London
Volume 46
Third Language Acquisition in Adulthood
Edited by Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro, Suzanne Flynn and Jason Rothman
Third Language Acquisition
in Adulthood
Edited by
Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro
University of Florida
Suzanne Flynn
MIT
Jason Rothman
University of Florida and University of Ottawa

John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Third language acquisition in adulthood / edited by Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro, Suzanne
Flynn, Jason Rothman.
p. cm. (Studies in Bilingualism, issn 0928-1533 ; v. 46)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Multilingualism. 2. Adult education. 3. Language acquisition. 4. Language and
languages--Study and teaching. 5. Language transfer (Language learning)
I. Cabrelli Amaro, Jennifer. II. Flynn, Suzanne. III. Rothman, Jason.
P115.T57 2012
404’.2--dc23 2012033116
isbn 978 90 272 4187 0 (Hb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 7303 1 (Eb)
© 2012 – John Benjamins B.V.
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Table of contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction
Third language (L3) acquisition in adulthood 1
Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro, Suzanne Flynn and Jason Rothman
part 1. Theory
L3 morphosyntax in the generative tradition: The initial stages and beyond 9
María del Pilar García Mayo and Jason Rothman
L3 phonology: An understudied domain 3 3
Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro
The L2 status factor and the declarative/procedural distinction 61
Camilla Bardel and Ylva Falk
Rethinking multilingual processing: From a static to a dynamic approach 79
Kees de Bot
Multilingual lexical operations: Keeping it all together ... and apart 9 5
David Singleton
L3/Ln acquisition: A view from the outside 115
Roumyana Slabakova
part 2. Empirical studies
Further evidence in support of the Cumulative-Enhancement Model:
CP structure development 143
Éva Berkes and Suzanne Flynn
Acquisition of L3 German: Do some learners have it easier? 165
Carol Jaensch
 Third Language Acqusisition in Adulthood
Examining the role of L2 syntactic development in L3 acquisition:
A look at relative clauses 195
Valeria Kulundary and Alison Gabriele
Variation in self-perceived proficiency in two ‘local’ and two foreign
languages among Galician students 223
Jean-Marc Dewaele
Advanced learners’ word choices in French L3 255
Christina Lindqvist
Foreign accentedness in third language acquisition: The case of L3 English 281
Magdalena Wrembel
Index 311
Acknowledgments
The papers included in this volume were presented at the Obermann Center
Summer Seminar Third Language Acquisition: Developing a Research Base held
at the University of Iowa in conjunction with MIT in the summer of 2010. The
workshop was mainly funded by an extremely generous grant awarded by the
Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, and supplemental monies for the
workshop were also provided by MIT. We are extremely grateful for all the sup-
port from the Obermann Center, but especially to the then director Jay Semel
and the current director of operations Neda Hatami. Without their generous
support (financial, logistical and more) this workshop would have been impos-
sible. We are also very grateful for the help of the many graduate students, col-
leagues and friends who helped to make the workshop run so smoothly. We are
indebted to Felipe Amaro, who organized the vast majority of the event logistics
and so much more.
Finally, we would like to acknowledge and thank all of the participants for
sharing their insightful research and the many colleagues who served as peer re-
viewers for the papers included in this volume. In alphabetical order, these col-
leagues were: Irma Alarcón, Larissa Aronin, Mariana Bono, José Luis Blas Arroyo,
Walcir Cardoso, Peter Ecke, Claire Foley, Rebecca Foote, Britta Hufeisen,
Michael Iverson, Carol Jaensch, Scott Jarvis, Jaehuyn Jo, Usha Lakshmanan, Diane
Larsen-Freeman, Gillian Lord, Cristóbal Lozano, Gita Martohardjono, Nicole
Marx, Grit Mehlhorn, Terrence Odlin, Roumyana Slabakova, Rex Sprouse,
Whitney Tabor, Marie-Claude Tremblay, Ineke van de Craats and Mary Zampini.

introduction
Third language (L3) acquisition in adulthood*1
Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro1, Suzanne Flynn2 and Jason Rothman1
University of Florida1 and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)2
As in all other domains of language acquisition, the study of third language (L3) or
subsequent (Ln) acquisition demands converging evidence derived from a wide
range of theoretical frameworks. And, such investigation from multiple theoreti-
cal perspectives will inevitably lead to debates within the L3/Ln community of
researchers. Clearly, as in all fields of science, we may not always agree on, for
example, what constitutes evidence or the theoretical implications of such data.
Each paradigm begins with a certain set of assumptions that then leads to the
development of specific hypotheses to be experimentally investigated. In this
context, one hopes that eventually convergence emerges with respect to the hy-
potheses generated across paradigms.
Extant studies attempt to lessen paradigmatic divides by, for example,
challenging the macro-field to agree on inclusion and exclusion criteria for what
constitutes an L3/Ln. In addition, attempts are made to establish a common set of
factors that need to be consistently controlled for in empirically based studies
(see, e.g. Cabrelli Amaro in press; Falk & Bardel 2010; Hammarberg 2010; Leung
2007; Rothman, Iverson & Judy 2011; Rothman, Cabrelli Amaro & de Bot in press).
In this way, ‘clandestine’ commonalities might be revealed across paradigms and
fields, providing suggestions for future research where empirical gaps are uncov-
ered. Historically, most research in L3 acquisition has focused on the structure of
the mental lexicon, education and sociolinguistics. More recently, the field has
witnessed a sharp increase in the domain of L3/Ln acquisition of morphosyntax.
However, in spite of these recent trends during the last two decades, we believe
that it is fair to say that the linguistic study of L3/Ln acquisition is still in its in-
fancy. For example, as noted by Cabrelli Amaro (this volume), L3/Ln phonology is
notably understudied, making Cabrelli Amaro’s and Wrembel’s contributions to
this volume even more welcome.
* The authors’ names appear in alphabetical order; each contributed equally to the chapter.