Polarity in L3 English: The initial stages and beyond

Polarity in L3 English: The initial stages and beyond (2018-2019)
Eloi Puig-Mayenco
Language Learning Dissertation Grant

This project, funded by the Language Leaning Dissertation Grant, builds upon current theoretical models of L3/Ln acquisition by looking at Negative Quantifiers and Negative Polarity Items in L3 English by Catalan/Spanish bilinguals. The originality of the project comes from various grounds. First, the field of morphosyntactic transfer in L3 acquisition is a relatively new area of study. As it is a recent field of study, there is a need for research in the initial stages, the development, and ultimate attainment of L3 acquisition. Then, the project examines the acquisition of a third language by early bilinguals in a context of micro-variation (Catalan-Spanish bilingualism), notice that most studies in the field have looked at multilinguals with late acquired L2s. The project also innovates in that it is one of the first studies that follows learners longitudinally testing after 2 months of exposure to English and 11 months after to explore developmental patterns. The culmination of this project has been Eloi Puig Mayenco’s doctoral dissertation entitled ‘Polarity in L3 English: The initial stages and Beyond’.

Related Publications
Puig-Mayenco, E. Rothman, J. and Tubau, S. (2022). Language dominance in the previously acquired languages modulates rate of third language (L3) development over time: a longitudinal study. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25, 1641-1664.

Puig-Mayenco, E., González-Alonso, J., Rothman, J. (2020). A systematic review of transfer studies in third language acquisition. Second Language Research, 36, 31-64.