Niclas Abrahamsson

The robustness of aptitude effects in near-native second language acquisition

Results from a number of recent studies suggest that nativelike adult second language (L2) learners possess a high degree of language learning aptitude, the positive effects of which may have compensated for the negative effects of a critical period in these learners. According to the same studies, child learners seem to attain a nativelike command of the L2 regardless of high or low aptitude, which has led researchers to conclude that this factor plays no role in early acquisition. The present study investigates the L2 proficiency and language aptitude of 42 near-native L2 speakers of Swedish (i.e., individuals whom actual mother-tongue speakers of Swedish believe are native speakers). The results confirm previous research suggesting that a high degree of language aptitude is required if adult learners are to reach a L2 proficiency that is indistinguishable from that of native speakers. However, in contrast to previous studies, the present results also identify small yet significant aptitude effects in child SLA. Our findings lead us to the conclusions that the rare nativelike adult learners sometimes observed would all turn out to be exceptionally talented language learners with an unusual ability to compensate for maturational effects and, consequently, that their nativelikeness per se does not constitute a reason to reject the critical period hypothesis.

Who can become native‐like in a second language? All, some, or none?

This paper discusses research that has been carried out on maturational constraints for SLA, specifically on the conceptualisation formulated in the critical period hypothesis (CPH). Our review shows that the positions taken by researchers are very diverse, something we believe has its basis in a lack of explicit hypothesis formulation and the use of insufficiently sensitive research instruments. Researchers disagree whether all, only some, or no learners can reach native-like ultimate attainment in a second language. We conclude that there is strong support for maturational constraints, although the CPH itself cannot be maintained in its original formulation. We also propose a unitary interpretation of existing empirical results based on the observation that learners who have been identified as indistinguishable from native speakers characteristically exhibit non-native features that are unperceivable except in detailed and systematic linguistic analyses.

Dominant-Language Replacement: The Case of International Adoptees.

This article challenges a recent proposal for the theoretical interpretation of L1 and L2 interaction that results from the abrupt change of language environment in internationally adopted children. According to this proposal (Pallier, Dehaene, Poline, LeBihan, Argenti, Depoux and Mehler, 2003; Ventureyra, Pallier and Yoo, 2004), such children experience a total loss of their L1, while, as adults, they exhibit a nativelike ultimate attainment of their L2. These authors suggest that what they see as a total loss of L1 allows a resetting of the neural network that normally subserves L1 retention and hence permits a complete acquisition of the L2. Data from two of our own research projects, one on L1 remnants in Korean adoptees in Sweden (see Park, forthcoming), and the other on age of acquisition and ultimate L2 attainment of Swedish (see Abrahamsson and Hyltenstam, in press), which included data from Latin American adoptees in Sweden among other participants, suggest (i) that L1 remnants are indeed maintained, (ii) that L2 attainment is not enhanced by severe L1 attrition, and (iii) that there is an age dimension to both the degree of L1 attrition and the level of L2 ultimate attainment in international adoptees. We therefore contend that a maturational interpretation of language replacement data is preferable.

Age of onset and nativelike l2 ultimate attainment of morphosyntactic and phonetic intuition

Research has consistently shown there is a negative correlation between age of onset (AO) of acquisition and ultimate attainment (UA) of either pronunciation or grammar in a second language (L2). A ...

Development and recoverability of L2 codas: A longitudinal study of Chinese/Swedish interphonology.

This study deals with the development and recoverability of word-final codas in Chinese-Swedish interlanguage. The relation between consonant deletion and vowel epenthesis is investigated from both ...

Does First Language Maintenance Hamper Nativelikeness in a Second Language?: A Study of Ultimate Attainment in Early Bilinguals.

Within the field of SLA, the incidence of nativelikeness in second language (L2) speakers has typically been explained as a function of age of acquisition. An alternative interpretation, however, i ...

Vowel Epenthesis of /sC(C)/ Onsets in Spanish/Swedish Interphonology: A Longitudinal Case Study.

Previous studies showed that vowel epenthesis of initial /sC(C)/ clusters in the L2 production of L1 Spanish speakers is conditioned by several variable constraints, such as preceding environment, ...

Comments on Stefka H. Marinova-Todd, D. Bradford Marshall, and Catherine E. Snow's “Three Misconceptions About Age and L2 Learning”

Age and L2 learning: The hazards of matching practical “implications” with theoretical “facts”. : (Comments on Stefka H. Marinova-Todd, D. Bradford Marshall, and Catherine E. Snow’s “Three misconceptions about age and L2 learning”).

Effects of age and speaking rate on voice onset time: The production of voiceless stops by near-native L2 speakers

As part of a research project on the investigation of second language (L2) ultimate attainment in 41 Spanish early and late near-native speakers of L2 Swedish, the present study reports on voice onset time (VOT) analyses of the production of Swedish word-initial voiceless stops, /p t k/. Voice onset time is analyzed in milliseconds as well as in percentages of word duration, thereby accounting for speaking rate effects. The results revealed an overall age effect on VOT production; however, this age effect became salient and statistically significant for all three stops only when speaking rate was taken into consideration. Similarly, when speaking rate was accounted for, only a small minority of the late learners exhibited actual nativelike L2 behavior, and most (but far from all) early learners performed within native-speaker range. The results are taken as an indication for relative VOT, as opposed to absolute VOT, constituting a reliable measure of nativelike L2 stop production, which has important implications for future research on age effects and maturational constraints in L2 acquisition.

Effects of Age of Learning on Voice Onset Time: Categorical Perception of Swedish Stops by Near-native L2 Speakers

This study examined the effects of age of onset (AO) of L2 acquisition on the categorical perception of the voicing contrast in Swedish word-initial stops varying in voice onset time (VOT). Three voicing continua created on the basis of natural Swedish word pairs with /p-b/, /t-d/, /k-/ in initial position were presented to 41 Spanish early (AO < 12) and late (AO > 12) near-native speakers of L2 Swedish. Fifteen native speakers of Swedish served as controls. Categorizations were influenced by AO and listener status as L1/L2 speaker, in that the late learners deviated the most from native-speaker perception. In addition, only a small minority of the late learners perceived the voicing contrast in a way comparable to native-speaker categorization, while most early L2 learners demonstrated nativelike categorization patterns. However, when the results were combined with the L2 learners’ production of Swedish voiceless stops (Stölten, 2005; Stölten, Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam, in press), nativelike production and perception was never found among the late learners, while a majority of the early learners still exhibited nativelike production and perception. It is concluded that, despite their being perceived as mother-tongue speakers of Swedish by native listeners, the late learners do not, after detailed phonetic scrutiny, exhibit a fully nativelike command of Swedish VOT. Consequently, being near-native rather than nativelike speakers of their second language, these individuals do not constitute the evidence necessary to reject the hypothesis of one or several critical (or sensitive) periods for language acquisition.