Antonella Sorace

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Antonella Sorace,FBA, FRSE, FRSA , Professor of Developmental Linguistics, University of Edinburgh, since 2002; Founding Director, Bilingualism Matters, since 2008 [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. [2] [3] She a Fellow of British Academy, [4] a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh [5] and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. [6]

Contents

Education and career

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." [7]

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. [8] 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. [9] [10]

She has contributed to experimental linguistics methods by pioneering the use of Magnitude Estimation for the elicitation of acceptability judgments. [11] [12]

Sorace is also the founder and director of Bilingualism Matters, [13] 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.

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

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References

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  2. "Sorace, Prof. Antonella, (born 15 May 1956), Professor of Developmental Linguistics, University of Edinburgh, since 2002; Founding Director, Bilingualism Matters, since 2008". Who's Who 2023 . Oxford University Press. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  3. "Index: Linguistics and English Language" . Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  4. "Professor Antonella Sorace FBA". The British Academy. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  5. "Royal Society of Edinburgh: Antonella Sorace" . Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  6. "Connecting the Fellowship - Alex Dunedin" . Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  7. "Prof. Dr. Antonella Sorace - AcademiaNet". www.academia-net.org. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  8. "Antonella Sorace". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  9. Bard, Ellen Gurman; Robertson, Dan; Sorace, Antonella (1996). "Magnitude Estimation of linguistic acceptability". Language. 72 (1): 32–68. doi:10.2307/416793. JSTOR   416793.
  10. Sorace, Antonella (2011). "Gradience in split intransitivity: the end of the Unaccusative Hypothesis?". Archivio Glottologico Italiano.
  11. Experimental Methods in Language Acquisition Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 2010. pp. 57–72.
  12. "A. Sorace | Semantic Scholar". www.semanticscholar.org. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  13. "Bilingualism Matters". Bilingualism Matters. Retrieved 11 March 2022.