Transfer in third language phonology: Does L3 typological proximity play a role?

Recent research on transfer and L3 acquisition has investigated what favors cross-linguistic interference when there is more than one source of transfer. Participants in this case study were Spanish/English simultaneous speakers learning a third language, Catalan, a language typologically closer to...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dámaris Mayans
Format: Article
Language:Catalan
Published: Universidad de Alicante 2015-12-01
Series:Ítaca
Subjects:
Online Access:https://itaca.ua.es/article/view/9552
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Summary:Recent research on transfer and L3 acquisition has investigated what favors cross-linguistic interference when there is more than one source of transfer. Participants in this case study were Spanish/English simultaneous speakers learning a third language, Catalan, a language typologically closer to Spanish. Via a picture elicitation task, this study investigated bilinguals’ production of Catalan dark /ɫ/, a segment not present in Spanish since all laterals are produced as clear /l/, however, it is realized in English in coda position post-vocalically. Contrary to the Typological Primacy Model that poses that typological proximity of previously acquired languages as one of the deterministic factor for transfer our results showed that typological proximity to one of the L1s is not deterministic for L3 phonological transfer since participants produced target-like Catalan laterals /ɫ/. The Cumulative Enhanced Model accounts for the results in this case study since English facilitate the integration of this phonological segment into Catalan.
ISSN:2172-5500
2386-4753