Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Exploring the degree of nativelikeness in bilingual acquisition

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The dissertation project will explore the degree of native-likeness in bilingual acquisition of a gradient multi-factor linguistic phenomenon that requires implicit knowledge of complex stochastic patterns and poses many learnability problems for the learners. It will investigate how monolingual and bilingual learners acquire implicit knowledge of when to omit and when not to omit case in Korean ('case ellipsis') and whether bilinguals can successfully acquire sensitivity to multiple cues in a phenomenon that involves the interaction of syntactic, semantic, and discourse principles. It will also compare second language (L2) learners to heritage language (HL) learners to investigate how age of acquisition and the type and amount of input contribute to developing native-like competence. By using a set of oral and written elicited production experiments, the present project will test L2 adults, HL adults, and Korean-speaking adults and children on their knowledge and usage of case marking and case ellipsis. An oral picture description task and a written forced choice task that cross the factors of focus, animacy, and definiteness will be conducted to observe the speakers' patterns of case-marking in oral and written conversations. The experiments will help compare the types of cues that are more readily accessible than others and identify potential developmental stages. The present study will not only help increase our understanding of the nature of bilingual acquisition and characteristics of different types of bilinguals but will also contribute to the knowledge of the differences between monolingual and bilingual acquisition in interfaces of syntax and other linguistic domains. The results of this research will thus address theoretically significant questions in acquisition theory and also help identify L2 and HL learners' instructional needs. The results are expected to shed light on qualitative differences in the underlying linguistic knowledge of HL and L2 learners and help provide support for HL tracks in language classrooms.