Doctoral Dissertation Research: Language Processing in Heritage Language Speakers: Evidence from Vietnamese-English Bilinguals

本论文考察的是遗产语言的处理。传统语言(HL)是第一语言(L1)，由于其少数民族地位，已成为其使用者的非主导语言。在这个项目中提出的问题是，遗产语言(HL)的行为是否像第一语言(L1)一样，因为HL是作为母语学习的，还是遗产语言(HL)的行为像第二语言(L2)，因为它像L2一样不发达。为了验证这一点，本研究调查了越英双语者的语法和词汇加工。越南语是美国的一种传统语言和少数民族语言，是除英语之外第四大使用语言(美国人口普查局，2015)。这表明说HL的人在这个国家是多么普遍，然而，关于HL处理的研究却是有限的。许多双语语言加工模式，如双语交互激活模型(Dijkstra&amp；van Heuven，2002；van Heuven，Dijkstra，&amp；Grainger，1998)和情景二语假设(酱&amp；Forster，2001；Witzel&Amp；Forster，2012)都是基于母语占优势而二语不占优势的双语者的证据而提出的。我们对非支配L1的加工过程知之甚少。这项研究的第一部分考察了说HL的人的语法加工。一项初步研究比较了HL越南语使用者和L1越南语使用者的语法加工。这项研究的发现表明，HL说话者和母语占主导地位的说话者对第一语言越南语复合词的分解方式非常相似。为了进一步研究HL是否像L1或L2一样被处理，作者提出了一项测试L2英语中的形态分解的后续研究。这项研究的第二部分考察了这些说话者的词汇加工。掌握第一语言的双语者可靠地表明，第一语言单词会自动激活他们各自的第二语言翻译。然而，目前还不清楚双语者的主要语言已经从第一语言转换为第二语言。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This dissertation examines heritage language processing. A Heritage Language (HL) is a first language (L1) that has become a non-dominant language for its speakers because of its minority status. The question asked in this project is whether a heritage language (HL) behaves like a first language (L1) because an HL is learned as a native language, or if a heritage language (HL) behaves like a second language (L2) because it is underdeveloped like an L2. In order to test this, this study investigates the grammatical and lexical processing in Vietnamese-English bilinguals. Vietnamese, a heritage and minority language in the United States, is the fourth most spoken language outside of English (U. S. Census Bureau, 2015). This shows how prevalent HL speakers are in this country, and yet, there is a limited amount of research conducted on HL processing. Many bilingual language processing models, such as the Bilingual Interactive Activation model (Dijkstra & van Heuven, 2002; van Heuven, Dijkstra, & Grainger, 1998) and the episodic L2 hypothesis (Jiang & Forster, 2001; Witzel & Forster, 2012), were proposed based on evidence from bilinguals with a dominant L1 and less-dominant L2. Little is known about the processing of a non-dominant L1. The first portion of this study examines grammatical processing in HL speakers. A preliminary study compared grammatical processing in HL Vietnamese speakers to L1 Vietnamese-dominant speakers. Findings from this study suggest that HL speakers and L1-dominant speakers decompose L1 Vietnamese compound words in a very similar manner. To further investigate whether an HL is processed like an L1 or an L2, a follow-up study testing morphological decomposition in L2 English is proposed. The second portion of this study examines lexical processing in these speakers. L1 dominant bilinguals have reliably shown that L1 words automatically activate their respective L2 translations. However, it is unclear what happens to bilinguals whose dominant language has switched from their L1 to their L2.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.