Syntactic priming may not lead to language change
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2021/12/0031/000504Keywords:
syntactic priming, language change, subject pronoun expressionAbstract
This study examines the hypothesis that syntactic priming can lead to language change among bilingual speakers living in language contact areas. A group of second-generation immigrants (Spanish-English bilinguals) living in the United States completed one within-language and one cross-linguistic priming experiment designed to prime participants with overt subject pronouns in Spanish. Each experiment consisted of a pre-test, a treatment, and a post-test task. Participants showed a significant priming effect in both treatment tasks, but the effect did not extend to any of the post-tests. Results suggest that syntactic priming might not be driving language change at the individual level, contrary to what previous studies have proposed.
References
Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67, 1-48.
Chang, F. (2008). Implicit learning as a mechanism of language change. Theoretical Linguistics, 34, 115-122.
Jäger, G., & Rosenbach, A. (2008). Priming and unidirectional language change. Theoretical Linguistics, 34, 85-113.
Pickering, M., & Garrod, S. (2019). Priming and language change. In M. Hundt, S. Mollin, & S. Pfenninger (Eds.), The Changing English Language: Psycholinguistic Perspectives (pp. 173-190). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Torres-Cacoullos, R., & Travis, C. (2011). Testing convergence via code-switching: Priming and the structure of variable subject expression. International Journal of Bilingualism, 15, 241-267.
Torres-Cacoullos, R., & Travis, C. (2016). Two languages, one effect: Structural priming in spontaneous code-switching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19, 733-753.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
