Linguistic Circle

Speaker: Tanja Rinker (University of Konstanz)

Title: The role of input in early multilingualism

Abstract: Many studies have observed a relationship between the lexicon and input in early multilingualism (De Houwer, 2014; Hoff et al., 2012), but the relationship between input and morpho-syntax or phonology is less clear (Carroll, 2017; Paradis & Grüter, 2014; Unsworth, 2013). In this talk, I will present evidence from the phonological, lexical and morpho-syntactic domain using event-related potentials (ERPs), grammaticality judgments, as well as lexical assessments (such as the Cross-Linguistic Lexical Task (CLT, Rinker & Gagarina, 2014)) in different multilingual groups of different ages. In all these studies, detailed input information was collected via parental questionnaires, thus providing insight into intra- and extrafamilial input variables. Statistical analyses in fact suggest a differential role of input across linguistic domains. Further implications will be discussed.

Contact details

Dr Rhona Alcorn