Bridging Linguistic Gaps: The Effects of Linguistic Distance on the Adult Learnability of Dutch as an Additional Language Published by LOT phone: +31 30 253 6111 Trans 10 3512 JK Utrecht e-mail: [email protected] The Netherlands http://www.lotschool.nl Cover illustration: Extract of the Voynich manuscript. Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. ISBN: 978-94-6093-165-9 NUR 616 Copyright © 2015: Job J. Schepens. All rights reserved. Bridging Linguistic Gaps: The Effects of Linguistic Distance on the Adult Learnability of Dutch as an Additional Language Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. dr. Th.L.M. Engelen, volgens besluit van het college van decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 26 maart 2015 om 12.30 uur precies door Job Johannes Schepens geboren op 16 februari 1986 te Nijmegen Promotor Prof. dr. R.W.M.N. van Hout Copromotor Dr. F.W.P. van der Slik Manuscriptcommissie Prof. dr. P.C. Muysken Prof. dr. M. Dunn (Uppsala Universitet, Zweden) Prof. dr. B. Szmrecsanyi (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, België) V | Contents Contents Chapter 1 – Introduction Chapter 2 – Lexical Distance Chapter 3 – Morphological Complexity Chapter 4 – Phonological Distance Chapter 5 – L1 and L2 Variation Chapter 6 – The L1 and L2 Distance Effects Chapter 7 – Discussion and Conclusions VII | Outline Outline Contents V Outline VII Acknowledgements XIII 1 Introduction 1 Adult L2 Learning Difficulty 6 Linguistic Distance 10 Lexical Distance (Chapter 2) 11 Morphological Complexity (Chapter 3) 14 Phonological Distance (Chapter 4) 16 Variation in Adult L3 Learnability across L1s and L2s 18 L3 Learning (Chapter 5) 18 The L1 and L2 Distance Effects (Chapter 6) 20 Summary of Objectives 21 A Description of STEX 22 Test Design 23 Variables 24 Selection Steps 25 2 The Effect of Linguistic Distance across Indo-European Mother Tongues on Learning Dutch as a Second Language 27 Introduction 29 Background 30 Approaches to Measuring Linguistic Distance 30 Second Language Learning Effects of Linguistic Distances 33 Present Study 35 Methods 37 Sample 37 Dependent Variable 38 Contextual Characteristics 38 Individual Characteristics 41 Description of the Sample 42 Analyses 42 Results 45 Estimated Models 46 Fixed Predicted Scores 52 Model Parameter Comparison 56 Discussion and Conclusion 57 3 Learning Complex Features: A Morphological Account of L2 Learnability 61 Introduction 63 Background 65 Methods and Data 70 Proficiency Scores of L2 Dutch 70 Morphological Feature Values 75 Data Analysis 76 Results 78 Feature Patterns 78 Combining Feature Patterns 83 Family Bias 86 Lexical Distance 88 Discussion and Conclusion 90 4 Learning New Sounds: A Phonological Account of L2 Learnability 95 Introduction 97 Present Study 99 Methods 101 Data 101 Sound Inventories 102 Distinctive Features 104 Analysis 105 Study 1 105 Phonological Distance Based on Sound Inventories 106 Measuring Distance between Sound Inventories 106 Example 107 Results 108 IX | Outline Study 2 110 Phonological Distance as based on Distinctive Features 110 Measuring Distance between New Sounds and L1 Sounds 111 Example 113 Results 116 Study 3 118 Comparing Linguistic Distances 118 Discussion 120 Learning Distant Sounds 120 Distance-based Models of L2 Learnability 121 Phonological, Lexical, and Morphological Distance123 Conclusions 124 5 The L2 impact on Acquiring Dutch as an L3: the L2 Distance Effect 125 Introduction 127 Background 129 CCREMs with Interrelated Random Effects 129 Interrelated L1 and L2 Effects 130 Methods 131 Results 136 Model Comparison 136 Control Variables 140 The L2 Distance Effect 141 Discussion and Conclusion 149 6 L1 and L2 Distance Effects in Learning L3 Dutch 151 Introduction 153 Background 157 L3 Learnability 157 Linguistic Distance 159 Large Scale Studies of Speaking Proficiency 162 Methods 163 STEX 163 Sample 164 Task 165 Measures 165 Analysis 170 Results 173 L1 Distance Effects in Monolingual and Multilingual Learners 173 Adding L2 Effects for Multilingual Speakers 177 A Non-Additive L2 Effect: Typological Primacy. 179 The L1 x L2 Interaction Effect 180 Effects of L2 Distance or Multilingualism? 182 Discussion 185 Consistency with Existing Theories of L3 Learnability 186 Evaluation of L3 Performance Measures 187 L1 x L2 Mixing 189 Linguistic Distance 189 Conclusion 190 7 Discussion and Conclusions 193 Summary of Results 194 The Effect of Linguistic Distance 194 The Effects of L1 and L2 Distance 196 General Summary of Results 197 Approach 197 Language Testing 197 Statistical Modeling 201 Typological Data 204 Importance 205 L2 Learnability 205 L3 Learnability 207 Learnability Constraints 208 Third Factors in L2 Learnability 212 Future Research 215 Conclusions 218 XI | Outline 8 Appendix A 221 9 Appendix B 225 10 References 231 11 Samenvatting in het Nederlands 265 12 CV 273 XIII | Acknowledgements Acknowledgements Many people contributed substantially to this dissertation. First, I would like to give my supervisors Frans van der Slik and Roeland van Hout deep credit because I received excellent supervision. Most importantly, we had a great time doing research together. Frans, your daily advice helped me many times to stay focused and to not get stuck on dead ends. I felt comfortable to carry out risky experiments under your supervision. Roeland, you managed to always be one step ahead of me in my own web of ideas and you challenged, helped, and advised me throughout my project. I am also grateful to the members of my doctoral thesis committee. In the final phase of my project, I started collaborating with Florian Jaeger and the people in his lab. This experience also had a positive impact on me and my PhD project and I learned a lot from it. Thanks also to Lou Boves who critically commented on my grant proposal. I decided to start this project based on advice by Ton Dijkstra. Ton, many thanks for your support. This project benefited from contributions by many people from many PI groups. In Nijmegen: Odette Scharenborg, Antal van den Bosch, Louis ten Bosch. In Rochester: Bozena Pajak, Chigusa Kuramada, Anne-Pier Salverda, Steve Piantadosi, Scott Grimm. In Leipzig: Søren Wichmann, Taraka Rama, Martin Haspelmath, Bernhard Comrie. And in other places: Steven Moran, Michael Cysouw, Shravan Vasisth, Harald Clahsen, Volker Gast, and many others, not to mention organizers of conferences and workshops. A big thanks in particular to the young researchers who inspired this work. In Nijmegen & Saalbach: Steve & Sophie, Fransisco, Jeremy & Kat (& Justin), Ellen & Pascal (& Nora), Saskia & Binyam, Dan & Katie; In Nijmegen: Vanja & Eric, Remy, Claire, Polina, Christel, Maaske, Loes, Richard, Inge, Florian, Ali, Rahim, Sarah, Mira, Harald, Linda, Joshua, Pablo, Louise, Maarten & Anna, Christina & Chris, April Wang, and the students in the statistics courses; In the Nijmegen soccer and basketball teams: Bart, Yang, Robin, Joost, Michele; In Rochester: Amanda Pogue, Esteban Buz, Dave Kleinschmidt, Masha Fedzechkina; and in Leipzig: Linda Gerlach. The IMPRS, GSH, and LOT research and summer schools have also helped me, much due to research support from Dirkje van der Aa, Tanja Doeller, Els den Os, and Laura Pander. I also made thankful use of a great research infrastructure consisting of the Centre for Language Studies, the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, the Donders Institute for Cognition (Nijmegen), the Department for Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester, the Department of Linguistics at the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. This project made grateful use of data from the state examination of Dutch as an L2. Thanks to Simon Verhallen of the Bureau van het College voor het Toetsen van Examens (CvTE). For use of typological data, I thank Steven Moran, author of PHOIBLE, Matthew Dryer and Martin Haspelmath, authors of WALS, Søren Wichmann, author of ASJP, and Quentin Atkinson, coauthor of Gray & Atkinson (2003). The Centre of Language Studies of the Radboud University primarily supported me, but I received additional funding from the Fulbright program and the Erasmus program. For language help, I thank Theo Bongaerts, Kate Bellamy, Sanne van Vuren, and Martin, Malte, and Thordis. For statistical help, I thank the online course of the University of Bristol, Centre for Multilevel Modelling, and courses by Dan Dediu, Roger Mundry, and Roger Levy. For data collection, I thank a student assistant of the University of Rochester. They are not responsible for any errors in this work. On a personal note, I am grateful to Mariet, Jan, and Jonas for supporting me throughout. Lastly, I thank Bonnie for her loving support. Berlin, January 29, 2015 Job Schepens Chapter 1 Introduction When we start learning one of the many different languages of the world, we may quickly experience differences in elegance, saliency, complexity, etc. In accordance with this diversity, children seem to have a capacity to use and learn language that has not evolved as a monolithic competence but as a multicomponent enterprise (Darwin, 1871). Child language learners seem to acquire their first as well as additional languages in a generally successful way that is faithful to the language use of the people with whom they communicate. Adult learners of a second or additional language (L2 / L3 / Ln), however, often fail to acquire all of the novelties and peculiarities in the new set of idioms, the different melody, and the grammar. They struggle to produce language that fits the boundaries and constraints of the standards and norms of the L2 native speakers. This research project studied what factors determine the learning difficulties that adult L2 learners have. We investigated the role of the L1 in learning an additional language by adult learners from the perspective of the typological diversity across the L1s of the learners. Specifically, we investigated what similarities and dissimilarities correlate with differences in adult learnability of an additional language across a wide range of L1s and, at a second stage, across other previously acquired languages.