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>The Linguistics Colloquium Series on Language Processing in the Bilingual
>presents:
>
>                            Montse Sanz
>              Kobe City University of Foreign Studies
>                      University of Arizona
>                                &
>                             Tom Bever
>                        University of Arizona
>
>
>          "A theory of syntactic interference in the bilingual"
>
>                          DATE:  March 13, 2:00 pm
>                      LOCATION:  Douglass 101
>                          Reception to Follow
>
>Abstract
>
>We present a minimalist analysis of the mapping of conceptual onto
>syntactic structures in Spanish and English.  In this analysis scheme,
>concepts map onto grammatical features that cause syntactic operations.  We
>argue that telicity (having a specific end in time) is a syntactically
>encoded feature in Spanish, but not in English.
>
>We review existing experimental data with monolinguals on word-priming in
>sentences that is consistent with this analysis.  We then follow ideas from
>the previous lectures in this series that (1) L1 must be unlearned or
>avoided when learning L2 (Kroll); (2) functional categories of L1 interfere
>most strongly with those of L2 (Meyers-Scotton).  We also introduce the
>idea that a late learner of L2 could appear to have mastered its linguistic
>patterns, but not have the correct internal syntactic analysis for them.
>
>The issue in our framework is then whether late learners can learn
>different syntactic features that differ from L1 to L2.  We outline a
>research program that will differentiate whether it is impossible to learn
>a feature that is syntactically active in L2 but inactive in L1; or is the
>reverse the case; or is neither the case.
>
>Finally, we briefly consider the implications of this framework for the
>Whorf-Lee hypothesis: we raise the possibility that the syntactically
>active conceptual features in one's native language facilitate access of
>the corresponding non-linguistic concepts.  This offers a way to consider
>the hypothesis with structures that transcend lexical categories.
>
>
Lise Menn
Professor and Chair
Linguistics Department - Box 295
University of Colorado
Boulder CO 80309-0295
303-492-1609; fax 303-492-4416

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