Nikolay Slavkov

Formal Consequences of Dative Clitic Doubling in Bulgarian Ditransitives: An Applicative Analysis

This paper demonstrates that the Double Object Construction exists in Bulgarian, a fact that has so far escaped notice due to the disguise in which the construction appears. Bulgarian is a language that allows an indirect object to be optionally doubled by a dative clitic. I claim, however, that this optionality has formal consequences: ditransitives with dative clitic doubling are equivalent to Double Object Constructions (DOC), where the DP Goal is projected higher than the DP Theme. Variants without dative clitic doubling, on the other hand, are Prepositional Ditransitive Constructions (PDC), where the DP Theme is projected higher than the PP Goal. Although not evident from the surface word order and morphology in Bulgarian, the availability of these two distinct structures is confirmed through classic diagnostics such as binding, weak crossover, and scope. After attesting the DOC in Bulgarian, I offer an analysis in which the dative clitic is the morphological realization of an applicative head. I also draw parallels with Romance, suggesting that UG may be implicated in this type of doubling.

Language attrition and reactivation in the context of bilingual first language acquisition

This paper reports on a case study of a child raised in the context of bilingual first-language acquisition in English and Bulgarian, where the latter represents a minority (heritage) language. Using diary data and spontaneous speech recordings, the study identifies a period of loss of production in Bulgarian (1;7–2;3) and a subsequent reactivation of the passive language facilitated by a brief change in input and social environment during a 10-day trip to Bulgaria. The data are analyzed in terms of proportion of utterances in each language, code-mixing, utterance length, lexical diversity, syntactic complexity, choice of language in narrating stories, and parental discourse strategies. The results are discussed with regards to family socialization factors, including the one-parent, one-language model, and with regards to language attrition and language recovery phenomena. Overall, the study offers a renewed perspective on some long-standing challenges and opportunities associated with the acquisition and maintenance of a minority language, highlights the dynamic nature of childhood bilingualism, and demonstrates that continued input in a language that has become passive can be beneficial.

Long-distance wh-movement and long-distance wh-movement avoidance in L2 English: Evidence from French and Bulgarian speakers

This article investigates spoken productions of complex questions with long-distance wh-movement in the L2 English of speakers whose first language is (Canadian) French or Bulgarian. Long-distance wh-movement is of interest as it can be argued that it poses difficulty in acquisition due to its syntactic complexity and related high processing load. Adopting the derivational complexity hypothesis, which has so far been applied to long-distance (LD) wh-movement in L1 acquisition and child second language acquisition, I argue that adult L2 learners also show evidence that questions with LD wh-movement are often replaced by alternative utterances with lower derivational complexity. I propose that such utterances, which are sometimes of equivalent length and with similar meaning to the targeted LD wh-structures, are avoidance strategies used by the learners as an intermediate acquisition resource. That is, such strategies are used as an escape-hatch from the derivational complexity of LD wh-movement. Overall, the results of this research indicate that the link between the number and complexity of derivational steps in a given structure is a fruitful area with strong potential in the second language acquisition field.

Family Language Policy and School Language Choice: Pathways to Bilingualism and Multilingualism in a Canadian Context.

ABSTRACT This article reports on a survey with 170 school-age children growing up with two or more languages in the Canadian province of Ontario where English is the majority language, French is a minority language, and numerous other minority languages may be spoken by immigrant or Indigenous residents. Within this context the study focuses on minority language transmission and maintenance, drawing on insights from family language policy and choice of language of schooling. I describe the general language-related characteristics of the households surveyed and discuss the strategies and resources that parents may use in order to place their children along several different bilingual or multilingual pathways. The results highlight the importance of the choice of language of communication between parents as a potential modelling and extra input opportunity in the household, in addition to the choice of language used by each parent to address a child directly. Furthermore, choice of language of schooling is associated with the likelihood of a child developing as a multilingual individual. Increasing access, inclusion and general enrolment in minority language education are seen as a way of increasing not only the level of bilingualism but also multilingualism in the province.

What is your ‘first’ language in bilingual Canada? A study of language background profiling at publicly funded elementary schools across three provinces

ABSTRACT Canada is a country with a complex linguistic and cultural landscape characterized by two official languages (English and French), a steady influx of immigrants, and a number of aboriginal communities. Within this rich local context, and in a broader global environment where bilingualism and multilingualism are increasingly recognized as a norm rather than an exception, I review language background profiling practices at publicly funded Canadian elementary schools. A sample of 96 school intake/registration forms was collected from school boards in Canadas three largest English-speaking provinces: Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. An analysis of the data indicates a high degree of variability in terms of the number, type and combination patterns of the language background questions asked. While school boards recognize various aspects of sequential bilingualism and multilingualism, most registration forms do not allow explicitly for the possibility of a child having more than one first/native language (simultaneous bilingualism). A discussion of what I call chronological-nativist (i.e. focused on the notion of a persons first/native/mother language) and synchronic-functional (i.e. focused on a persons current language abilities) approaches to language profiling provides further insights into some underlying assumptions held by provincial educational systems with regard to monolingual, bilingual and multilingual norms.