Second language acquisition
Our research on developmental processes in second language acquisition assumes that the initial composition of the new language is a copy of the native language. The objective of our work is to observe the processes in which the learner’s initial copy of the first language comes to resemble the target language system (and the variables that modulate these processes), and to determine learners’ ultimate attainment in the target language. Via laboratory-based experimental paradigms and implementation of sound statistical methods, we use behavioral data from speech production, speech perception, and acceptability judgment paradigms to inform phonological acquisition theory, primarily within a generative framework. Alongside our primary focus is on L2 phonology and the phonology/morphology interface, we have secondary interests in L2 morphosyntax, semantics, and pragmatics, and their interfaces.
Research & Publications Heading link
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Heritage phonology
Project: Individual differences and declarative/procedural memory in L2 phonological processing
Investigators: Elizabeth Kissling (University of Richmond), Jennifer Cabrelli, Phillip Hamrick (Kent State University), Kara Morgan-Short
Status: Ongoing
This longitudinal project examines phonological processing and speech production in L1 English/novice L2 Spanish learners to observe the roles of declarative and procedural memory in L2 phonological development and how these developmental processes are moderated by cognitive individual differences, specifically inhibitory control and phonological short-term memory (PSTM). To determine learners’ reliance on declarative versus procedural memory, we test perception (accuracy and reaction time) and production of hiatus resolution and stop lenition in prosodic domains that require productive application of constraints which result in forms that are not reflected in lexical representations.
Project: Bilingual phonological interaction in late-acquired grammars: The case of Spanish /ɲ/ and English /nj/
Project: Bilingual phonological interaction in late-acquired grammars: The case of Spanish /ɲ/ and English /nj/
Investigators: Sara Stefanich (Klett World Languages), Jennifer Cabrelli
Status: Completed
This project examines phonetic interactions in L1 English/late L2 Spanish learners to see if they have established a representation for the Spanish palatal nasal /ɲ/ (e.g., /kaɲon/ cañón ‘canyon’) that is separate from the similar, yet acoustically distinct English /n+j/ sequence (e.g., /kænjn̩/ ‘canyon’). Analysis of production data from a cross-section of beginner and advanced learners showed that, while L2 Spanish learners produced an acoustically distinct /n/ ~ /ɲ/ contrast even at a low level of proficiency, the beginners produced an intermediate /ɲ/ that fell acoustically between their English /nj/ and the L1 Spanish /ɲ/ while the advanced learners’ Spanish /ɲ/ and English /nj/ appeared to be in the process of equivalence classification.
Publications:
- Stefanich, S., & Cabrelli, J. (2021). The effects of L1 English constraints on the acquisition of the L2 Spanish alveopalatal nasal. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 288.
Topic: L2 prosodic constraints
Topic: L2 prosodic constraints
Publications:
- Cabrelli, J. (2019). Plotting individual trajectories in the acquisition of L2 prosodic constraints. Invited commentary for special Epistemological Topic/Keynote Issue: Prosodic effects on L2 grammars (Authors: Lydia White & Heather Goad). Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 9, 822-826.
- Cabrelli Amaro, J., Campos-Dintrans, G., & Rothman, J. (2017). The role of L1 phonology in L2 morphological production: L2 English past tense production by L1 Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40, 503-527.
- Cabrelli Amaro, J. (2017d). The role of prosodic structure in L2 Spanish stop lenition. Second Language Research, 33, 233-269.
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CLLD in Heritage Spanish production and judgment data
Project: CLLD in heritage Spanish production and judgment data
Investigators: José Sequeros Valle (University of Nebraska – Omaha), Bradley Hoot (DePaul University), Jennifer Cabrelli
Status: Completed
This project examines whether Spanish heritage speakers distinguish when it is discursively appropriate to use Spanish Clitic-doubled Left Dislocation (CLLD) in a speeded production task. It compares these production results with judgment data to adjudicate between processing limitations and representational deficits as potential sources of Spanish target divergence. The sample of heritage speakers patterned with the baseline in production, which indicates that the sample knew the discursive distribution of CLLD. The judgment data differed from the baseline and showed evidence of overextension of CLLD into non-anaphoric contexts, which we posited to be due to a task effect related to the metalinguistic quality associated with judgment tasks.
Publications:
- Sequeros-Valle, J., Hoot, B., & Cabrelli, J. (2020). Clitic-doubled left dislocation in heritage Spanish: Judgment versus production data. Languages, 5, 47.
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Code-switching
Publications:
- Slabakova, R., Cabrelli Amaro, J., & Kang, S. K. (2016). Regular and novel metonymy: Can you curl up with a good Agatha Christie in your second language? Applied Linguistics, 37(2), 175-197.