Cross-linguistic influence in acceptability: possessive structures in Norwegian-Italian

bilingual children

This study investigates cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in possessive structures in

Norwegian-Italian bilingual children (n=31, mean age= 6;5) residing in Norway.

Both languages feature prenominal and postnominal possessives, but with

opposite distributions (e.g. context and frequency-Table 1). This presents potential for

CLI since there is structural overlap at interface between two modules of grammar (Hulk

& Müller, 2001). Previous studies have found that CLI may affect processing (Sorace et

al., 2009).

We designed an online forced-choice acceptability judgment task testing the

neutral and the contrastive condition. Preliminary results (Table 2) show that in Italian

marginally more marked variants (postnominal) are used in the contrast condition when

compared to the neutral condition (p<0.1) (pragmatically appropriate); marginally more

marked variants (prenominal) used in neutral condition in Norwegian than in Italian,

which may indicate CLI from Italian to Norwegian. No statistical evidence of CLI from

Norwegian to Italian was found, although data trends suggest an increase in postnominal

use in neutral contexts over contrastive ones in Italian.

Reaction times (RT) revealed no significant differences (Table 3), but highlighted

that the children responded faster in Norwegian, the majority language. Here the RTs

reflected the contextual use: the fastest responses were prenominals in contrast and

postnominals in neutral condition. In Italian the fastest mean RTs were for the

prenominal in neutral condition, but the children were slowest in choosing the

postnominals in contrast condition, indicating that they still struggle with this choice.

The results from the responses and RTs incompatible: CLI from Italian to Norwegian

is more pronounced, but the responses for Italian are slower and indicate that the choice

of variant in the contrastive condition may still be problematic.

The study reveals a complex interplay between linguistic response and processing

in bilingual children.