Marie-Michelle Monéreau-MerryMS, MPhil, CCC-SLP

Loraine K. Obler, Ph.DMaria Polinsky, Ph.D

Martin Gitterman, Ph.D

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Incomplete Acquisition in a LanguageLate language learnersEarly learnersHeritage Speakers a) Broad definition b) Narrow definition

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Developmental Path of the Heritage Language Among U.S. Born Heritage Speakers

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Continuum Among Heritage Speakers(Polinsky & Kagan, 2007)

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Baseline

Sudden Language Interruption (Pallier et al.,2008)

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Problematic Areas in the Heritage Language

Semi-literate or illiterate in the heritage language (Montrul, 2008)

Limited vocabulary skillsReduced speech rate when compared to

native speakers (Polinsky, 2008)Difficulty with gender inflection

(Anderson, 2001; Silva-Corvalán, 2003; Polinsky, 2008)

Poor control of morphology (Sekerina, 2005; Montrul, 2008)

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Section II:Heritage language of study Haitian-

CreoleGenesis of Haitian-Creole

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Haitian-CreoleBona fide language in par with French

(DeGraff, 2000)Developed on the island of Haiti (Saint-

Domingue)Haitian-Creole is a combination of a 17th and

18th century French variety and West African languages.

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Genesis of Haitian-CreoleLanguage bioprogram hypothesis (Bickerton,

1984) Basilectilization process (Chaudenson, 1992)Relexification hypothesis (Lefebvre, 1999)

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Post-Nominal DeterminersA hallmark of French Creoles around the

world is post-nominal determiners.Post-nominal determiners in Haitian-Creole

may be evidence of first language interference by adult Africans who were attempting to acquire the French variety (LeFebvre,1996).

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Comparative SyntaxHaitian-Creole

Fongbe

M manje krab la. I eat crab (Det)

Translation“I ate the crab.” (in

question/that we know of).

N du ason o. I eat crab (Det)

Translation“I ate the crab.” (in

question/that we know of)

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Comparative SyntaxHaitian-Creole Standard French pwason anfish the (det) Translation “the fish”

le poissonthe (det) fish

Translation “the fish”

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Section IIIDefinite articles in Haitian-Creole

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Definite Article RulesIf a word ends in a nasal consonant the

definite article is nan or *lan.If a word ends with a nasal vowel or if the

final vowel is preceded by a nasal consonant, the definite article is an.

If the word ends in a non-nasal vowel, than the definite article is *a or in some regions it is *an

Otherwise la/lan is utilized.

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If the final position of the word is a nasal consonant, the correct phonological form of the definite article becomes nan:

Kann nan *Kann lan

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An•If the final position of the word is an oral vowel and is preceded by a nasal consonant, the correct phonological form of the definite article becomes an:

Fami an

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An•If the final position of the word is a nasal vowel, the phonological form of the definite article becomes an:

Chyen an

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AIf the last sound of

the word is an oral vowel and is preceded by an oral consonant, the correct phonological form of the definite article becomes a: Krapo a

*Krapo an

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If the last sound of the word is a consonant and is preceded by an oral vowel, it becomes la:

*Chat laChat lan

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Section III:Purpose of the studyResearch questionsPredictions

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Research Question I Are there differences in the production of

the morphophonological form of the definite articles during a translation task comparing two groups of early learners of Haitian-Creole?

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Prediction I The responses of the heritage speakers

during the definite article translation task, will differ from the responses of the native speakers.

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Prediction I cont….Heritage speakers will reanalyze the

definite articles as characterized by omission and substitution differences, and native speakers will perform at ceiling or near ceiling level.

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Research Question IIAre there differences in the definite article

recognition task, between the two groups of early learners of HC, whereby the participants will be required to select the definite articles that correspond with the same forty-four nouns as in the translation task?

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Prediction II In the definite article recognition task, the

heritage speakers, as a group, will perform significantly better than they did on the translation task, however not at ceiling.

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Prediction II cont….Their correct responses will not be

characterized with automaticity. By contrast, the native speakers’ responses will be accurate and immediate.

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Research Question III Are there differences in the frequency of

definite articles produced, between the two groups of early learners of HC, during a narrative discourse task?

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Prediction III There will be significant differences

between heritage speakers and native speakers in the production of definite articles during the narrative discourse task. Heritage speakers will produce fewer definite articles than native speakers, and demonstrate deletion and substitution errors.

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Summary The heritage speakers will deviate from

the native controls in the following categories:Translation of sentences with definite

articlesSelecting the definite articles that

correspond with the nounsProducing and employing definite articles

correctly during narrative discourse

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Section IVParticipantsResearch Design

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Participants5 Heritage Speakers of HCBilinguals

2 Native Speakers of HCTrilingual

Age (29-35) M = 30.0 (SD =1.0) M = 32.0 (SD =4.2)

Sex M: 2 / F: 3 F: 2

Education High: 4 / Medium: 1College education and graduate school for those with high education. Three years of college for the participant with medium education.

2 : High educationFrench Medium Elementary and High SchoolCollege and Professional School in the U.S.

Length of residency in the U.S.

U.S. born (dominant in English)

12 years AOA to U.S.: 18

(i) Socio-economic status during childhood and adulthood

(ii) Attending church services during childhood and adulthood conducted in ethnic languages

(iii) Age of arrival of parents

to the U.S

(iv) Residing with a non-English speaking grandparent during childhood

(v)Experiences with translation

(vi) Attitude towards the heritage language

(vii) Residing in a community with a significant population of Haitian-Americans during childhood and adulthood

(viii) Proficiency in Haitian-Creole and French

(ix) Educational attainment of the participants

(x) Personal ethnic identity

(xi) Literacy in the heritage languages 40

Social Language DataPilot data collected from the social language

questionnaire form indicated that 80% of the heritage speakers reported that they were literate in the heritage language, and during their childhood they attended religious services conducted in the ethnic language.

In addition, they also indicated that they resided with non-English speaking grandparents during their childhood.

All participants indicated they had experience with translation.

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Translated responses were analyzed as: (i) correct/incorrect (ii) types of reanalysis (e.g., omissions and

substitutions) (iii) form distribution of reanalysis

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Task 2Participants were instructed to select the

definite articles that corresponded with the same forty-four nouns as in the first task.

Five trial items of the definite articles were presented with each noun (e.g., a, an, nan, la, lan).

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Task 2: cont…“The Cat”Chat aChat anChat nanChat laChat lan

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Task 2: ScoringResponses were measured in the following

categories: (i) immediately correct (ii) correct after a short pause (5 sec) (iii) correct after a longer pause (more than 5 sec) (iv) incorrect

(v) uncertain

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Narrative Discourse

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Narrative Discourse

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Section V:Results

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TargetDefiniteArticles

la/lan a an nan

la/lan 1 1

a 3

an 1

nan 13 (la)

Substitution choices

Summary of Translation TaskHeritage speakers produce reanalysis on

definite articles Deletions Substitutions Nan was more vulnerable to reanalysis La/lan were less susceptible to reanalysis

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(Z= -1.95, p= 0.051)

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Heritage Speakers Native Speakers

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Native vs. Heritage: Average Definite Article Judgement Score

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Patterns of Substitution

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Target Definite Articles

La/lan a an nan

La/lan

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an 5 (la) 1 2

nan 11 (la) 3

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Translation vs. Recognition Task(Z= -1.84, p= 0.066)

SummaryHeritage speakers reanalyzed the definite

articles that corresponded to the nouns.The definite articles a and nan were more

vulnerable to reanalysis than la/lan.Heritage speakers performed more

comparable to the natives on the recognition task than on the translation task.

However they required multiple repetitions and demonstrated greater processing time in selecting the definite articles.

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Task III: Narrative Discourse

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Reanalysis of Definite Articles

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(z = -2.02, p = 0.04)

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Participants Words Produced During Narrative Discourse

Words Produced During the First Minute

HS1 629 91

HS2 576 65

HS3 827 86

HS4 197 87

HS5 278 72

NS 1 940 102

NS2 943 101

Section VI

DiscussionClinical Implications

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DiscussionConsistent with the review of the

literature on heritage speakers, the results of this study suggest that heritage speakers have poor control of morphology.

Despite exposure to Haitian-Creole during their childhood, heritage speakers from this cohort, differed in the production of the definite articles.

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DiscussionSome definite articles were more

vulnerable to reanalysis than others (eg., a, nan).

Substitution choice among the heritage speakers were the definite articles la/lan.

Incomplete acquisition or language attrition?

Emergence of a new variety among New York second Haitian-Americans?

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ConclusionImportant to study the pediatric population of

this ethnolinguistic group to gain clarity on the developmental path of the heritage language.

These findings will permit educators to provide appropriate services to:

i) school age immigrant children ii) U.S. born school age heritage speakers

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AcknowledgementsDr. Loraine K.Obler Dr. Maria PolinskyDr. Robert MathesisDr. Irina SekerinaDr. Martin GittermanDr. Gail SmithE. Vincent Merry Esq.Isaiah and Pierre MerryMarie-Lourdes Neree MonéreauCarolyne Monereau-St. LouisYoungmi ParkParticipants

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Mesi anpil!Merci beaucoup!

Thank you very much!

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Native vs. Heritage: Lexical Borrowing from the English Language

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HSP1 HSP2 HSP3 HSP4 HSP5 NSP6 NSP7

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Lexical Borrowing Using English Language