WHODUNNIT? Language interaction in identification of sentential subjects in Wales and Patagonia

ABSTRACT

This study examined Spanish-Welsh (in Patagonia) and Welsh-English (in North Wales) bilingual children’s and adults’ processing of sentences in which two noun phrases acted as arguments of a verb. The goal was to determine the relative importance of distinct cues to the identification of the subject in the bilinguals’ processing of their two languages, and to explore possible crosslinguistic influence between their two languages. We provided speakers with a receptive task in which the participant heard a sentence in the given language and had to identify which of three cartoon depictions on a screen corresponded with the sentence heard. The sentences were constructed to systematically manipulate cues such as word order, prosodic stress, animacy, gender, and case marking. The results suggest some differences in performance between groups, but primarily in Welsh, not in English or Spanish. The results are discussed for their relevance to theories concerning the importance of proficiency, language balance, and acquisitional processes in bilinguals’ performance in their two languages.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilinguals
• Welsh
• Spanish
• Argentina
• Patagonia
• interaction
• sentential subjects

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Cecilia Avendaño Griffiths and Ysgol Yr Hendre / Escuela Hendre in Patagonia, and Catrin Hughes, Emily Roberts, Kathryn Sharp and Ysgol Brynaerau, Ysgol Brynsiencyn, Ysgol Cae Top, Ysgol Corn Hir, Ysgol Dolbadarn, Ysgol Faenol, Ysgol Friars, Ysgol Hendre, Ysgol Llanrug, Ysgol Pen Y Bryn, Ysgol Tryfan, Ysgol Llanfairpwll, Ysgol Y Graig in Wales, for their invaluable assistance in administering the tasks. We also wish to warmly thank all the administrators, head teachers, teachers, children, and parents in the schools in both countries who helped facilitate this research, and all of the adult participants in Patagonia and in Wales who gave generously of their time and cooperation in the course of this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The optimal linguistic analysis of the trigger for such mutation may relate to simple syntactic sequencing, in that it is not only syntactic objects that undergo such mutation, but any form that follows a phrasal category (Borsley and Tallerman 1996; Harlow 1989).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported in part by ESRC Centre for Research on Bilingualism in Theory and Practice, Economic and Social Research Council, ESRC/HEFCW [grant number RES-535-30-0061], and formed part of the focus of the Experimental-Developmental Group in the Centre. We are grateful for the support.