Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T12:42:30.015Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What is special about L3 processing?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2013

KEES DE BOT  and
CAROL JAENSCH
KEES DE BOT*
Affiliation:
University of Groningen & the University of the Free State
CAROL JAENSCH
Affiliation:
University of Essex
*
Address for correspondence: Kees de Bot, Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Groningen, Oude Kijk in ‘t Jatstraat 26, 9712 EK Groningen, The Netherlandsc.l.j.de.bot@rug.nl
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

While research on third language (L3) and multilingualism has recently shown remarkable growth, the fundamental question of what makes trilingualism special compared to bilingualism, and indeed monolingualism, continues to be evaded. In this contribution we consider whether there is such a thing as a true monolingual, and if there is a difference between dialects, styles, registers and languages. While linguistic and psycholinguistic studies suggest differences in the processing of a third, compared to the first or second language, neurolinguistic research has shown that generally the same areas of the brain are activated during language use in proficient multilinguals. It is concluded that while from traditional linguistic and psycholinguistic perspectives there are grounds to differentiate monolingual, bilingual and multilingual processing, a more dynamic perspective on language processing in which development over time is the core issue, leads to a questioning of the notion of languages as separate entities in the brain.

Keywords

third language (L3)language processingbilingualismmultilingualism
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 18 , Special Issue 2: L3 Acquisition: A Focus on Cognitive Approaches , April 2015 , pp. 130 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The authors are grateful to Peter Ecke, Michel Paradis and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this contribution. Sincere thanks also go to the delegates of the conference Third Language Acquisition: A Focus on Cognitive Approaches, held in Vitoria-Gasteiz in May 2012, for insightful observations on the first presentation of this paper.

References

Albert, M., & Obler, L. (1978). The bilingual brain. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. M. (2012). Multilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardel, C., & Falk, Y. (2007). The role of the second language in third language acquisition: The case of Germanic syntax. Second Language Research, 23, 459–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Stringer, D. (2010). Variables in second language attrition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32, 1–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bello, L., Acerbi, F., Giussani, C., Baratta, P., Taccone, P., Songa, V., Fava, M., Stocchetti, N., Papagno, C., & Gaini, S. (2006). Intraoperative language localization in multilingual patients with gliomas. Neurosurgery, 59, 115–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bloch, C., Kaiser, A., Kuenzli, E., Zappatore, D., Haller, S., Franceschini, R., Luedi, G., Radue, E.-W., & Nitsch, C. (2009). The age of second language acquisition determines the variability in activation elicited by narration in three languages in Broca's and Wernicke's area. Neuropsychologia, 4, 625–633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briellmann, R. S., Saling, M. M., Connell, A. B., Waites, A. B., Abbott, D. F., & Jackson, G. D. (2004). A high-field functional MRI study of quadri-lingual subjects. Brain and Language, 89, 531–542.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cabrelli Amaro, J., & Rothman, J. (2010). On L3 acquisition and phonological permeability: A new test case for debates on the mental representation of non-native phonological systems. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 48, 275–296.Google Scholar
Cenoz, J., Hufeisen, B., & Jessner, U. (eds.) (2001). Cross-linguistic influence in third language acquisition: Psycholinguistic perspectives. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J., & Valencia, J. F. (1994). Additive trilingualism: Evidence from the Basque country. Applied Psycholinguistics, 15, 195–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cervenka, M., Boatman-Reich, D., Ward, J., Franaszczu, P., & Crone, N. (2011). Language mapping in multilingual patients: Electrocorticography and cortical stimulation during naming. Human Neuroscience, 22, 13.Google Scholar
De Angelis, G., & Selinker, L. (2001). Interlanguage transfer and competing linguistic systems in the multilingual mind. In Cenoz et al. (eds.), pp. 42–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Bot, K. (2008). Introduction: Second language development as a dynamic process. The Modern Language Journal, 92, 166–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Bot, K. (2009). Multilingualism and aging. In Ritchie, W. & Bhatia, T. K. (eds.), The new handbook of second language acquisition (2nd edn.), pp. 425–440. Bingley: Emerald.Google Scholar
de Bot, K. (2012a). The end of psycholinguistics as we know it? It's about time! In Navracsics, J. & Szabo, D. (eds.), A mentális folyamatok a nyelvi feldolgozásban. Pszicholingviszkia tanulmáyok, III [Mental procedures in language processing. Studies in Psycholinguistics, III], pp. 13–22. Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó.Google Scholar
de Bot, K. (2012b). Rethinking multilingual processing: From a static to a dynamic approach. In Cabrelli, J. Amaro, Flynn, S. & Rothman, J. (eds.), Third language acquisition in adulthood, pp. 79–93. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Bot, K., Chan, H., Lowie, W., Plat, R., & Verspoor, M. (2012). A dynamic perspective on language processing and development. Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1, 188–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Bot, K., & Clyne, M. (1994). A 16-year longitudinal study of language attrition in Dutch immigrants in Australia. Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development, 15, 17–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dehaene, S., Dupoux, E., Mehler, J., Cohen, L., Paulesu, E., Perani, D., van de Moortele, P.-F., Lehéricy, S., & Le Bihan, D. (1997). Anatomical variability in the cortical representation of first and second language. Neuroreport, 8, 3809–3815.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dijkstra, T., & Snoeren, N. D. (2004). Chapitre 19. Appartenance linguistique dans la reconnaissance et la production des mots chez les bilingues. In Ferrand, L. & Grainger, J. (eds.), Psycholinguistique Cognitive Essais en l'honneur de Juan Seguí, pp. 377–399. Bruxelles: De Boeck.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ecke, P., & Hall, C. Tracking tip-of-the-tongue states in a multilingual speaker: Evidence of attrition or instability of lexical systems. International Journal of Bilingualism, doi: 10.1177/1367006912454623. Published online by Sage, August 9, 2012.Google Scholar
Elman, J. L. (1990). Finding structure in time. Cognitive Science, 14, 179–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabbro, F., & Paradis, M. (1995). Differential impairments in four multilingual patients with subcortical lesions. In Paradis, M. (ed.), Aspects of bilingual aphasia, pp. 139–176. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Faroqi-Shah, Y., Frymark, T., Mullen, R., & Wang, B. (2010). Effect of treatment for bilingual individuals with aphasia: A systematic review of evidence. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 23, 319–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filiputti, D., Tavano, A., Vorano, L., De Luca, G., & Fabbro, F. (2002). Nonparallel recovery of languages in a quadrilingual aphasic patient. International Journal of Bilingualism, 6, 395–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flynn, S., Foley, C., & Vinnitskaya, I. (2004). The cumulative-enhancement model for language acquisition: Comparing adults’ and children's patterns of development in first, second and third language acquisition of relative clauses. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallardo del Puerto, F. (2007). Is L3 phonological competence affected by the learner's level of bilingualism? International Journal of Multilingualism, 4, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, M., Hufeisen, B., & Libben, G. (2001). Learners of German as an L3 and their production of German prepositional verbs. In Cenoz et al. (eds.), pp. 138–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goral, M., Levy, E. S., & Kastl, R. (2010). Cross-language treatment generalization: A case of trilingual aphasia. Aphasiology, 24, 170–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grendel, M. (1993). Verlies en Herstel van Lexicale Kennis [Attrition and recovery of lexical knowledge]. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Nijmegen.Google Scholar
Grosjean, F. (2010). Bilingual: Life and reality. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammarberg, B., & Hammarberg, B. (1993). Articulatory re-setting in the acquisition of new languages. Phonum, 2, 61–67.Google Scholar
Haugen, E. I. (1956). Bilingualism in the Americas: A bibliography and research guide. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Herdina, P., & Jessner, U. (2002). A dynamic model of multilingualism: Perspective of change in psycholinguistics. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, C. (2001). Towards a description of trilingual competence. International Journal of Bilingualism, 5, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopper, P. J. (1998). Emergent grammar. In Tomasello, M. (ed.), The new psychology of language: Cognitive and functional approaches to language structure, pp. 155–176. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Huibregste, I., de Bot, K., & Fabbro, F. (2002). Measuring patterns of recovery, impairment or residual language proficiency in bilingual aphasia. Advances in the neurolinguistics of bilinguism: Essays in honor of Michel Paradis, pp. 219–237. Udine: Forum.Google Scholar
Indefrey, P. (2006). A meta-analysis of hemodynamic studies on first and second language processing: Which suggested differences can we trust and what do they mean? Language Learning, 56, 279–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Indefrey, P. (2007). Brain-imaging studies of language production. In Gaskell, M. G. (ed.), The Oxford handbook of psycholinguistics, pp. 547–564. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jessner, U. (2006). Linguistic awareness in multilingualism: English as a third language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Jessner, U. (2008). A DST model of multilingualism and the role of metalinguistic awareness. The Modern Language Journal, 92, 270–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordens, P., de Bot, K., & Trapman, H. (1989). Linguistic aspects of regression in German case marking. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 11, 179–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kavé, G., Eyal, N., Shorek, A., & Cohen-Mansfield, J. (2008). Multilingualism and cognitive state in the oldest old. Psychology and Aging, 23, 70–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellerman, E. (1978). Giving learners a break: Native language intuitions as a source of predictions about transferability. Working Papers on Bilingualism, 15, 59–92.Google Scholar
Kohnert, K. (2009). Cross-language generalization following treatment in bilingual speakers with aphasia: A review. Seminars in Speech and Language, 30, 174–186.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larsen-Freeman, D., & Cameron, L. (2008). Complex systems and applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lebrun, Y. (1988). Language and epilepsy: A review. British Journal of Disorders of Communication, 23, 97–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lemhöfer, K., Dijkstra, T., & Michel, M. C. (2004). Three languages, one ECHO: Cognate effects in trilingual word recognition. Language and Cognitive Processes, 19, 585–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leung, Y.-K. I. (2005). L2 vs L3 initial state: A comparative study of the acquisition of French DPs by Vietnamese monolinguals and Chinese–English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 8, 39–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindgren, S.-A., & Laine, M. (2010). Cognitive-linguistic performances of multilingual university students suspected of dyslexia. Dyslexia, 17, 184–200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindqvist, C. (2010). Inter-and intralingual lexical influences in advanced learners’ French L3 oral production. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 48, 131–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Llama, R., Cardoso, W., & Collins, L. (2010). The influence of language distance and language status on the acquisition of L3 phonology. International Journal of Multilingualism, 7, 39–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lubrano, V., Prod'homme, K., Démonet, J. F., & Köpke, B. (2011). Language monitoring in multilingual patients undergoing awake craniotomy: A case study of a German–English–French trilingual patient with a WHO grade II glioma. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 25, 567–578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucas, T. H., McKhann, G. M., & Ojemann, G. A. (2004). Functional separation of languages in the bilingual brain: A comparison of electrical stimulation language mapping in 25 bilingual patients and 117 monolingual control patients. Journal of Neurosurgery, 101, 449–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mägiste, E. (1979). The competing language systems of the multilingual: A developmental study of decoding and encoding processes. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 79–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mägiste, E. (1986). Selected issues in second and third language learning. In Vaid, J. (ed.), Language processing in bilinguals: Psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic perspectives, pp. 97–122. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Marian, V., Blumenfeld, H. K., Mizrahi, E., Kania, U., & Cordes, A.-K. Multilingual Stroop performance: Effects of trilingualism and proficiency on inhibitory control. International Journal of Multilingualism, doi: 10.1080/14790718.2012.708037. Published online by Taylor & Francis, August 1, 2012.Google Scholar
Marian, V., Spivey, M., & Hirsch, J. (2003). Shared and separate systems in bilingual language processing: Converging evidence from eyetracking and brain imaging. Brain and Language, 86, 70–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLaughlin, J., Osterhout, L., & Kim, A. (2004). Neural correlates of second-language word learning: Minimal instruction produces rapid change. Nature Neuroscience, 7, 703–704.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Na Ranong, S. (2009). Investigating lexical and syntactic transfer in L3 acquisition: The case of L1 Thai – L2 English – L3 Chinese. Ph.D. thesis, University of Essex.Google Scholar
Ojemann, G., & Whitaker, H. (1978). The bilingual brain. Archives of Neurology, 35, 409–412.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
OUP (2011). Oxford advanced learner's dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary (retrieved March 9, 2013)Google Scholar
Papagno, C., & Vallar, G. (1995). Verbal short-term memory and vocabulary learning in polyglots. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 48A, 98–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, M. (1977). Bilingualism and aphasia. In Whitaker, H. & Whitaker, H. A. (eds.), Studies in neurolinguistics, pp. 65–121. New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, M. (1983). Readings on aphasia in bilinguals and polyglots. Montreal: Marcel Didier.Google Scholar
Paradis, M. (2000). Generalizable outcomes of bilingual aphasia research. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 52, 54–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paradis, M. (2001). Bilingual and polyglot aphasia. In Berndt, R. S. (ed.), Handbook of neuropsychology, pp. 69–91. Oxford: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Paradis, M. (2004). A neurolinguistic theory of bilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pittman, I. (2008). Bilingual and trilingual codeswitching between Hungarian, Romanian and English in the speech of two Transylvanians living in North America. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5, 122–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratt, H., Abbasi, D. A.-A., Bleich, N., Mittelman, N., & Starr, A. Spatiotemporal distribution of cortical processing of first and second languages in bilinguals: Effects of proficiency and linguistic setting. Human Brain Mapping, doi: 10.1002/hbm.22109. Published online by Human Brain Mapping, June 13, 2012.Google ScholarPubMed
Ringbom, H. (2001). Lexical transfer in L3 production. In Cenoz et al. (eds.), pp. 59–68.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2010). On the typological economy of syntactic transfer: Word order and relative clause high/low attachment preference in L3 Brazilian Portuguese. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 48, 245–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothman, J. (2011). L3 syntactic transfer selectivity and typological determinacy: The typological primacy model. Second Language Research, 27, 107–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothman, J., & Cabrelli Amaro, J. (2010). What variables condition syntactic transfer? A look at the L3 initial state. Second Language Research, 26, 189–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roux, F., & Trémoulet, M. (2002). Organization of language areas in bilingual patients: A cortical stimulation study. Journal of Neurosurgery, 97, 857–864.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanz, C. (2000). Bilingual education enhances third language acquisition: Evidence from Catalonia. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, 23–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmid, M. S. (2002). First language attrition, use and maintenance: The case of German Jews in Anglophone countries. Amsterdam: John Benjamins CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmid, M. S. (2011). Language attrition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverberg, R., & Gordon, H. (1979). Different aphasia in two bilingual individuals. Neurology, 29, 51–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spivey, M. (2007). The continuity of mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stowe, L., Haverkort, M., & Zwarts, F. (2005). Rethinking the neurological basis of language. Lingua, 115, 997–1042.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szubko-Sitarek, W. (2011). Cognate facilitation effects in trilingual word recognition. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 1, 189–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, J. (1988). The role played by metalinguistic awareness in second and third language learning. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 9, 235–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorburn, W.M. (1915). Occam's Razor. Mind, 24, 287–288 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2001). First steps toward a usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cognitive Linguistics, 11, 61–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Hell, J., & Mahn, A. (1997). Keyword mnemonics versus rote rehearsal: Learning concrete and abstract foriegn words by experienced and inexperienced learners. Language Learning, 47, 507–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verspoor, M., Lowie, W., & de Bot, K. (2012). A dynamic approach to second language development: Methods and techniques. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Videsott, G., Herrnberger, B., Hoenig, K., Schilly, E., Grothe, J., Wiater, W., Spitzer, M., & Kiefer, M. (2010). Speaking in multiple languages: Neural correlates of language proficiency in multilingual word production. Brain and Language, 113, 103–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vingerhoets, G., Borsel, J. V., Tesink, C., van den Noort, M., Deblaere, K., Seurinck, R., Vandemaele, P., & Achten, E. (2003). Multilingualism: An fMRI study. Neuroimage, 20, 2181–2196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wattendorf, E., Festman, J., Westermann, B., Keil, U., Zappatore, D., Franceschini, R., Luedi, G., Radue, E.-W., Münte, T. F., Rager, G., & Nitsch, C. Early bilingualism influences early and subsequently later acquired languages in cortical regions representing control functions. International Journal of Bilingualism, doi: 10.1177/1367006912456590. Published online by Sage, August 28, 2012.Google Scholar
Weltens, B. (1989). The attrition of French as a foreign language. Dordrecht: Foris Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, S., & Hammarberg, B. (1998). Language switches in L3 production: Implications for a polyglot speaking model. Applied Linguistics, 19, 295–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wrembel, M. (2010). L2-accented speech in L3 production. International Journal of Multilingualism, 7, 75–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yetkin, O., Yetkin, F., Haughton, V., & Cox, R. (1996). Use of functional MR to map language in multilingual volunteers. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 17, 473–477.Google ScholarPubMed