Generic reference in adult German bilinguals: how bilinguals deal with variation

Tanja Kupisch ^[2] ; Dagmar Barton ^[1]
1. [1] University of Hamburg
  
  University of Hamburg
  
  Hamburg, Freie und Hansestadt, Alemania
2. [2] Lunds Universite
Localización: Studia linguistica: A journal of general linguistics, ISSN 0039-3193, Vol. 67, Nº 1, 2013 (Ejemplar dedicado a: The acquisition of linguistic variation), págs. 1-27
Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
- This study investigates subject nominals in German in adult simultaneous bilinguals (2L1s) with French or Italian as the other language, focusing on plural and mass nouns with a definite article. These have a specific interpretation in written Standard German, while they are ambiguous between a specific and a generic interpretation in the Romance languages and in some varieties of German. The aims are to (i) characterize the end-state grammar regarding a phenomenon that does not only show partially overlapping syntactic properties in the two target languages but also intra-linguistic variation, (ii) compare 2L1 and L1 end-state grammars, (iii) investigate the role of frequency of exposure and (iv) study the role of overlap with the contact languages. Results from an acceptability judgment task and a truth value judgment task suggest that 2L1s with frequent exposure to German are more conservative than monolinguals, tending towards overcorrection rather than cross-linguistic influence.