TY - JOUR

T1 - Long-term outcomes for bilinguals in minority language contexts

T2 - Welsh-English teenagers’ performance on measures of Grammatical Gender and Plural Morphology in Welsh

AU - Binks, Hanna

AU - Thomas, Enlli

PY - 2019/7

Y1 - 2019/7

N2 - This study explored the long-term effects of limited input on bilingual teenagers’ acquisition of complex morphology in Welsh. Study 1 assessed 168 12-13 and 16-17-year-old teenagers, across three bilingual groups –L1-Welsh, L1 Welsh-English (or simultaneous), and L2-Welsh –on their receptive knowledge of grammatical gender. Study 2 assessed the same participants on their production of plural morphology. Whilst the results of Study 1 revealed continuous progression towards adult norms among L1 Welsh-speaking bilinguals, with the simultaneous bilinguals progressing at a slower rate, the results of Study 2 revealed performances on plural morphology that were comparable to adult norms among the 16-17 year old L1 Welsh-speaking bilinguals, and some progression among the simultaneous bilinguals. In contrast, delayed progression was seen among the L2 Welsh speaking bilinguals across-the-board, with 16-17 year old L2 participants lagging behind their L1 peers on both grammatical gender and plural morphology. The implications of these findings for our understanding of the long-term outcomes for bilinguals learning complex structures under minority language conditions are discussed.

AB - This study explored the long-term effects of limited input on bilingual teenagers’ acquisition of complex morphology in Welsh. Study 1 assessed 168 12-13 and 16-17-year-old teenagers, across three bilingual groups –L1-Welsh, L1 Welsh-English (or simultaneous), and L2-Welsh –on their receptive knowledge of grammatical gender. Study 2 assessed the same participants on their production of plural morphology. Whilst the results of Study 1 revealed continuous progression towards adult norms among L1 Welsh-speaking bilinguals, with the simultaneous bilinguals progressing at a slower rate, the results of Study 2 revealed performances on plural morphology that were comparable to adult norms among the 16-17 year old L1 Welsh-speaking bilinguals, and some progression among the simultaneous bilinguals. In contrast, delayed progression was seen among the L2 Welsh speaking bilinguals across-the-board, with 16-17 year old L2 participants lagging behind their L1 peers on both grammatical gender and plural morphology. The implications of these findings for our understanding of the long-term outcomes for bilinguals learning complex structures under minority language conditions are discussed.

KW - input

KW - Welsh

KW - minority language

KW - ultimate attainment

KW - teenagers

KW - morphology

U2 - 10.1017/S0142716419000110

DO - 10.1017/S0142716419000110

M3 - Article

VL - 40

SP - 1019

EP - 1049

JO - Applied Psycholinguistics

JF - Applied Psycholinguistics

SN - 0142-7164

IS - 4

ER -