Crosslinguistic influence in L3 acquisition

Evidence from artificial language learning

Bibliographic Data

ID21201952
AuthorsNatalia Mitrofanova (0000-0001-8669-0951, Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate), Evelina Leivada (0000-0003-3181-1917, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats), Marit Westergaard (0000-0003-2702-9615, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Year2023
Volume13
Issue5
Pages717-742
Publication date2023-11-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistic Approaches to Bilingualism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1879-9264 • E-ISSN: 1879-9272
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/lab.22063.mit
OpenAlexW4387502698
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited35

This study investigates the role of lexical vs structural similarity in L3 acquisition. We designed a mini-artificial language learning task where the novel L3 was lexically based on Norwegian but included a property that was present in Russian and Greek yet absent in Norwegian (grammatical case). The participants were Norwegian-Russian and Norwegian-Greek bilinguals as well as a group of Norwegian L1 speakers. All participants also knew some English. The morphological expression of the L3 target property was more like Russian than Greek in that case was marked on the noun itself, not on articles. The results of our study indicate that previous experience with a language that is structurally like the L3 (Russian) is facilitative, even when the L3 lexically resembles a language that lacks this grammatical property (Norwegian). Our results suggest overt that the morphological expression of the target property also plays a role: previous experience with Greek that marks the target contrast on determiners did not seem to be facilitative at early stages of acquisition. Overall, our results are in line with models of L3/Ln acquisition which assume that both previously acquired languages influence the development of the L3 and that structural, morphological and lexical similarity play a role

Linguistics · Norwegian · Noun · Computer Science · Engineering · Language Development and Disorders · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism · Philosophy · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development · Artificial Intelligence

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