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Linguistic and cognitive motivations for the Typological Primacy Model (TPM) of third language (L3) transfer: Timing of acquisition and proficiency considered*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2013

JASON ROTHMAN
JASON ROTHMAN*
Affiliation:
University of Reading, UK
*
Address for correspondence: Jason Rothman, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Harry Pitt Building, Early Gate, Reading, Berkshire RG6 7BE, UKj.rothman@reading.ac.uk
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Abstract

This article elucidates the Typological Primacy Model (TPM; Rothman, 2010, 2011, 2013) for the initial stages of adult third language (L3) morphosyntactic transfer, addressing questions that stem from the model and its application. The TPM maintains that structural proximity between the L3 and the L1 and/or the L2 determines L3 transfer. In addition to demonstrating empirical support for the TPM, this article articulates a proposal for how the mind unconsciously determines typological (structural) proximity based on linguistic cues from the L3 input stream used by the parser early on to determine holistic transfer of one previous (the L1 or the L2) system. This articulated version of the TPM is motivated by argumentation appealing to cognitive and linguistic factors. Finally, in line with the general tenets of the TPM, I ponder if and why L3 transfer might obtain differently depending on the type of bilingual (e.g. early vs. late) and proficiency level of bilingualism involved in the L3 process.

Keywords

third language (L3) acquisitionTypological Primacy Model (TPM)multilingual transferinitial stagesstructural proximity
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 18 , Special Issue 2: L3 Acquisition: A Focus on Cognitive Approaches , April 2015 , pp. 179 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank María del Pilar García Mayo for organizing the workshop from which this paper derives as well as her editorial expertise and invaluable content comments on several versions of this paper. I am grateful to the wonderful comments from the audiences of Going Romance 2011 and the workshop in Victoria, where parts of the ideas enumerated within this article were first presented as well as the three anonymous reviewers whose comments definitively sharpened the ideas presented and resulted in a much clearer finished product. I am also extremely thankful to Roumyana Slabakova for her very acute suggestions on various topics related to the argumentation herein, especially for discussions on the non-trivial difference between the meaning of “typological” and “structural”, to Sergey Avrutin for comments on a related manuscript which formed the basis of some of the argumentation discussed in this paper and to Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro for comments on and other help with this manuscript. Any and all errors are, nonetheless, completely my own.

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