dc.description.abstract | The linguistic behaviour of bilingual speakers who have had prolonged exposure
to a second language (L2) is different from that of monolinguals. This thesis
investigates the extent and source of attrition effects by comparing language representation
and processing in adult late bilinguals undergoing native language
(L1) attrition and their monolingual counterparts. Based on the previous observation
that structures that are sensitive to discourse-pragmatic conditions are
vulnerable to attrition (Sorace 2011, Sorace & Filiaci 2006), the thesis examines:
i) whether the difference between attrited and non-attrited speakers in L1 use
is restricted to structures whose distribution is grammatically underspecified; ii)
whether the difference is due more to underspecification of mental representation
or to on-line processing difficulties; and iii) to what extent the difference is a
consequence of transfer from L2.
The case investigated in this study is L1 attrition by Korean immigrants who
have lived in an L2 (English or Japanese) environment for a period of 6 to 25
years. Two L2 groups and one monolingual control group were tested on two
different types of phenomena in Korean: core binding of the reflexive caki whose
felicity is determined by grammar (Experiment 1), and the attachment of the plural
suffix tul whose felicity is underspecified by grammar (Experiment 2). Experimental
data were collected using an on-line methodology (a self-paced reading
task) as well as an off-line one (acceptability judgement task) in order to identify
the locus of any non-convergence between attrited and non-attrited speakers
with respect to the investigated phenomena.
Results from the experiments showed that attrition had an impact on both grammatically
specified and underspecified structures, but to a different degree. With
respect to core binding of caki, attrited Korean speakers diverged from the monolingual
norm in the on-line reading task but not in the off-line judgement task,
indicating that their representation of caki-binding was intact. With respect to
tul-attachment, on the other hand, the attriters displayed divergence in both the
off-line and on-line tasks, indicating that their representation of appropriate conditions
for tul, as well as their real-time processing of the conditions was affected
due to long-term exposure to L2. In both caki-binding and tul-attachment, the
attriters’ non-native performance was largely attributable to influence from their
L2. However, the attriters’ divergence also seemed to be attributable, at least in
part, to inefficient executive control of two languages.
Regarding tul-attachment, the results demonstrated that the distribution of tul
in unattrited Korean is regulated by several factors, including animacy, number-specificity
and distributivity, and thus the acceptability of tul is largely gradient,
rather than categorical. The results also provided evidence for an ongoing
change in the distribution of tul and suggested that the change is accelerated by
attrited speakers living in an L2 English environment. | en_US |