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Title: You Say dientito , I Say dentito : Navigating Complex Word Formation in Second Language Spanish: Complex Word Formation in L2 Spanish
NSF-PAR ID:
10035707
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley-Blackwell
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Language Learning
Volume:
67
Issue:
3
ISSN:
0023-8333
Page Range / eLocation ID:
599 to 630
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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  1. Abstract While research in heritage language phonology has found that transfer from the majority language can lead to divergent attainment in adult heritage language grammars, the extent to which language transfer develops during a heritage speaker's lifespan is understudied. To explore such cross-linguistic transfer, I examine the rate of glottalization between consonant-to-vowel sequences at word junctures produced by child and adult Spanish heritage speakers (i.e., HSs) in both languages. My results show that, in Spanish, child HSs produce greater rates of vowel-initial glottal phonation than their age-matched monolingually-raised Spanish counterparts, suggesting that the Spanish child HSs’ grammars are more permeable to transfer than those of the adult HSs. In English, child and adult HSs show similarly low rates of glottal phonation when compared to their age-matched monolingually-raised English speakers’ counterparts. The findings for English can be explained by either an account of transfer at the individual level or the community level. 
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