Antonella Sorace, FBA , FRSE , FRSA , [1] is an experimental linguist and academic, specializing in bilingualism across the lifespan. Since 2002, she has been Professor of Developmental Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, and since 2008, she has been Founding Director of Bilingualism Matters. [1] [2] She a Fellow of the British Academy, [3] a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh [4] and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. [5]
Sorace received a first degree ( Laurea ) from the Sapienza University of Rome, a Master of Arts degree from the University of Southern California, and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1993 with a dissertation entitled, "Late bilingualism: lexicon-syntax interface." [6]
Sorace's research has focused on multilingual acquisition across the lifespan, with a particular focus on highly advanced or near-native second language speakers, the changes in the native language of second language learners, and differences in acquisition in younger or older bilingual children. She is also the originator of the influential interface hypothesis. [7] The hypothesis posits that linguistic structures that are sensitive to conditions external to the language domain, such as pragmatic, discourse, or contextual information, may remain variable in bilingual speakers, even at very advanced proficiency levels. She has recently turned her attention to the interactions between language and general cognition, which may partly be responsible for this variability. Sorace is known for her research on the lexicon-syntax interface and especially for her work on gradience in split intransitivity across languages. [8] [9]
She has contributed to experimental linguistics methods by pioneering the use of Magnitude Estimation for the elicitation of acceptability judgments. [10] [11]
Sorace is also the founder and director of Bilingualism Matters, [12] an information and public engagement centre with branches in Europe and the United States, which aims to bridge the divide between researchers and the community at large about the facts and benefits of learning multiple languages, particularly among children.
A heritage language is a minority language learned by its speakers at home as children, and difficult to be fully developed because of insufficient input from the social environment. The speakers grow up with a different dominant language in which they become more competent. Polinsky and Kagan label it as a continuum that ranges from fluent speakers to barely speaking individuals of the home language. In some countries or cultures which determine a person's mother tongue by the ethnic group they belong to, a heritage language would be linked to the native language.
Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning—otherwise referred to as L2acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process. This involves learning an additional language after the first language is established, typically through formal instruction or immersion. A central theme in SLA research is that of interlanguage: the idea that the language that learners use is not simply the result of differences between the languages that they already know and the language that they are learning, but a complete language system in its own right, with its own systematic rules. This interlanguage gradually develops as learners are exposed to the targeted language. The order in which learners acquire features of their new language stays remarkably constant, even for learners with different native languages and regardless of whether they have had language instruction. However, languages that learners already know can have a significant influence on the process of learning a new one. This influence is known as language transfer.
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called Bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one language other than their mother tongue; but many read and write in one language. Being multilingual is advantageous for people wanting to participate in trade, globalization and cultural openness. Owing to the ease of access to information facilitated by the Internet, individuals' exposure to multiple languages has become increasingly possible. People who speak several languages are also called polyglots.
In linguistics, an unaccusative verb is an intransitive verb whose grammatical subject is not a semantic agent. In other words, the subject does not actively initiate, or is not actively responsible for, the action expressed by the verb. An unaccusative verb's subject is semantically similar to the direct object of a transitive verb or to the subject of a verb in the passive voice.
Language attrition is the process of decreasing proficiency in or losing a language. For first or native language attrition, this process is generally caused by both isolation from speakers of the first language ("L1") and the acquisition and use of a second language ("L2"), which interferes with the correct production and comprehension of the first. Such interference from a second language is likely experienced to some extent by all bilinguals, but is most evident among speakers for whom a language other than their first has started to play an important, if not dominant, role in everyday life; these speakers are more likely to experience language attrition. It is common among immigrants that travel to countries where languages foreign to them are used. Second language attrition can occur from poor learning, practice, and retention of the language after time has passed from learning. This often occurs with bilingual speakers who do not frequently engage with their L2.
The generative approach to second language (L2) acquisition (SLA) is a cognitive based theory of SLA that applies theoretical insights developed from within generative linguistics to investigate how second languages and dialects are acquired and lost by individuals learning naturalistically or with formal instruction in foreign, second language and lingua franca settings. Central to generative linguistics is the concept of Universal Grammar (UG), a part of an innate, biologically endowed language faculty which refers to knowledge alleged to be common to all human languages. UG includes both invariant principles as well as parameters that allow for variation which place limitations on the form and operations of grammar. Subsequently, research within the Generative Second-Language Acquisition (GenSLA) tradition describes and explains SLA by probing the interplay between Universal Grammar, knowledge of one's native language and input from the target language. Research is conducted in syntax, phonology, morphology, phonetics, semantics, and has some relevant applications to pragmatics.
Michael Sharwood Smith, Emeritus Professor of Languages at Heriot-Watt University & Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, is a researcher into multilingualism and the acquisition of non-native languages, a branch of developmental linguistics and cognitive science. He is a founding editor of Second Language Research, successor to the Interlanguage Studies Bulletin.
In linguistics, grammaticality is determined by the conformity to language usage as derived by the grammar of a particular speech variety. The notion of grammaticality rose alongside the theory of generative grammar, the goal of which is to formulate rules that define well-formed, grammatical sentences. These rules of grammaticality also provide explanations of ill-formed, ungrammatical sentences.
Martha Young-Scholten is a linguist specialising in the phonology and syntax of second language acquisition (SLA).
Crosslinguistic influence (CLI) refers to the different ways in which one language can affect another within an individual speaker. It typically involves two languages that can affect one another in a bilingual speaker. An example of CLI is the influence of Korean on a Korean native speaker who is learning Japanese or French. Less typically, it could also refer to an interaction between different dialects in the mind of a monolingual speaker. CLI can be observed across subsystems of languages including pragmatics, semantics, syntax, morphology, phonology, phonetics, and orthography. Discussed further in this article are particular subcategories of CLI—transfer, attrition, the complementarity principle, and additional theories.
Anne Vainikka was a Finnish-American linguist specialising in the syntax of Finnish and in the syntax of second language acquisition (SLA).
The interface hypothesis in adult second language acquisition is an attempt to explain non-target-like linguistic behavior that persists even among highly advanced speakers. The hypothesis was first put forward by Antonella Sorace.
Caroline Heycock is a Scottish syntactician and professor of linguistics at the University of Edinburgh.
Marit Kristine Richardsen Westergaard is a Norwegian linguist, known for her work on child language acquisition and multilingualism.
David Adger is a Professor of Linguistics at Queen Mary University of London. Adger is interested in the human capacity for syntax. Adger served as president of the Linguistics Association of Great Britain from 2015 to 2020.
Roumyana Slabakova is a linguist specializing in the theory of second language acquisition (SLA), particularly acquisition of semantics, and its practical implications for teaching and studying languages.
Charles B. Chang is an associate professor in the linguistics department at Boston University, where he is also affiliated with the Center for the Study of Asia, the Center for Innovation in Social Science, and the Hearing Research Center. Chang is an Associate Editor of the journal Second Language Research and a Life Member of the Linguistic Society of America.
In linguistics, the syntax–semantics interface is the interaction between syntax and semantics. Its study encompasses phenomena that pertain to both syntax and semantics, with the goal of explaining correlations between form and meaning. Specific topics include scope, binding, and lexical semantic properties such as verbal aspect and nominal individuation, semantic macroroles, and unaccusativity.
Mira Ariel is a professor of linguistics at Tel Aviv University, specializing in pragmatics. A pioneer of the study of information structure, she is best known for creating and developing Accessibility Theory.
Monika S. Schmid is a German linguist who specialises in language attrition. She is a professor and Head of the Department of Language and Linguistic Science at the University of York.