Crosslinguistic influence in predictive processing and production of morphosyntactic features in heritage language children

• Applicant: Dr. Anamaria Bentea, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 566509991

Understanding who did what to whom is a fundamental property of human communication. Languages differ, however, in the linguistic devices that they use to convey this information. English, for instance, relies on word order to denote thematic roles whereas case marking or differential marking of the object are the morphosyntactic cues found in languages such as Greek/German (for case marking) or Romanian/Spanish (for Differential Object marking). How does exposure to different societal languages (SL) and acquisition under reduced input conditions shape the real-time integration and production of such morphosyntactic cues in early bilinguals? This is the main question that the CLIPP project proposes to investigate by focusing on one specific group of learners, child heritage speakers (cHSs). Although the field of heritage language (HL) development is currently enjoying burgeoning investigation, little is known about the linguistic mechanisms that support or constrain real-time processing of morphosyntax in cHSs, when operating in a less-dominant language. There is also little empirical evidence on how HL real-time processing of morphosyntactic cues is affected by SL linguistic properties and how production of these cues under the influence of different SLs may, in turn, modulate real-time processing. CLIPP is a timely project that addresses these important gaps by investigating production and predictive processing of morphosyntactic properties in the HL of cHSs exposed to different SLs using a series of eye-tracking and behavioural experiments. To capture the large variability that characterises HL development (due to differences in age of SL acquisition, HL use, HL input quantity/quality and schooling, among others) and HL community profiles (e.g., migration generation), and to account for languages with diverse typological properties, the project includes Greek-speaking and Romanian-speaking cHSs exposed to three SLs (English, German, Spanish), as well as monolingual Greek and Romanian children. The project pursues three main objectives: (a) to determine whether cHSs integrate linguistic information in their HL to predict upcoming input before encountering it and how their production impacts on this; (b) to assess if the overlap/absence of morphosyntactic properties between the HL and the SL impact production and predictive processing, and (c) to gauge how the variability in HL experience accounts for links between prediction, production, and cross-linguistic influence. CLIPP is highly relevant for theoretical linguistics, developmental linguistics, bilingualism and cognitive psychology, language educators, language policy stakeholders, and parents. CLIPP will advance our understanding of how cHSs, belonging to HL communities with diverse profiles, process linguistic information in their HL and how this is shaped by the SL. This will contribute to strengthening HL skills, and highlighting the diverse needs of HL communities for HL maintenance.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Spain, United Kingdom
• Partner Organisation: Arts and Humanities Research Council
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Vasiliki Chondrogianni, Ph.D.; Professorin Alicia Luque, Ph.D.