The present study aims to explore the extent to which linguistic experience in the transferred language modulates the rate of grammatical development in third language (L3) acquisition. To do so, we test a group of Japanese–English bilinguals (n = 22) who were acquiring Spanish as their third language. Participants were tested at two different time points on their knowledge of negative concord items in L3 Spanish and first language (L1) Japanese, and negative quantifiers in second language (L2) English, using a grammaticality judgement task. Participants were first tested (TIME 1) after 2.5 months of intensive classroom instruction exposure in Spanish (96 hours) and tested again (TIME 2) after 10 months in Spanish only with around 800 hours of accumulated classroom exposure. TIME 1 results showed that participants treated Spanish negative concord items similarly to English negative quantifiers, suggesting evidence of English transfer at the initial stages of acquisition. TIME 2 results showed traces of development that were modulated by linguistic experience in the transferred language, as predicted by the cumulative input threshold hypothesis (CITH). TIME 2 results also show instances of both target-like and non-target-like development in L3 Spanish, which we attribute to subsequent influence from Japanese into Spanish throughout development.
Anwyl-IrvineALMassonniéJFlittonAKirkhamNEvershedJK (2020) Gorilla in our midst: An online behavioral experiment builder. Behavior Research Methods52: 388–407.
2.
AoyagiHIshiiT (1994) On agreement-inducing vs. non-agreement inducing NPIs. In: GonzálezM (ed.) North East Linguistics Society. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts, pp. 1–24.
3.
BaayenRH (2008) Analyzing linguistic data: A practical introduction to statistics using R. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4.
BaayenRHDavidsonDJBatesDM (2008) Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language59: 390–412.
5.
BardelCFalkY (2007) The role of the second language in third language acquisition: The case of Germanic syntax. Second Language Research23: 459–84.
6.
BardelCFalkY (2012) The L2 status factor and the declarative/procedural distinction. In: CabrelliAmaro JFlynnSRothmanJ (eds) Third language acquisition in adulthood. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 61–78.
7.
BardelCFalkY (2021) L1, L2 and L3: Same or different?Second Language Research37(3): 459–464.
8.
BardelCSánchezL (2017) The L2 status factor hypothesis revisited: The role of metalinguistic knowledge, working memory, attention and noticing in third language learning. In: AngelovskaTHahnA (eds) L3 syntactic transfer: Models, new developments and implications. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 85–102.
9.
BatesDMaechlerMBoklerBWalkerS (2015) Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software67: 1–48.
10.
BirdsongDGertkenLAmengualM (2012) Bilingual language profile: An easy-to-use instrument to assess bilingualism. COERLL, University of Texas at Austin.
11.
CabrelliJIversonM (2024) Why do learners overcome non-facilitative transfer faster from an L2 than an L1? The cumulative input threshold hypothesis. International Journal of Multilingualism21: 1594–1620.
12.
CabrelliJIversonMGiancasproDGonzálezB (2020) The roles of L1 Spanish versus L2 Spanish in L3 Portuguese morphosyntactic development. In: MolsingKVBecker LopesPerna CTramunt IbañosAM (eds) Linguistic approaches to Portuguese as an additional language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 11–33.
13.
Den BestenH (1986) Double negation and the genesis of Afrikaans. In: MuyskenPSmithN (eds) Substrata versus universals in Creole languages. Dordrecht: Foris, pp. 185–230.
14.
DéprezVEspinalMT (2020) The Oxford handbook of negation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
15.
FalkYBardelC (2011) Object pronouns in German L3 syntax: Evidence for the L2 status factor. Second Language Research27: 59–82.
16.
FalkYLindqvistCBardelC (2015) The role of L1 explicit metalinguistic knowledge in L3 oral production at the initial state. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition18: 227–35.
17.
FallahNJabbariAA (2018) L3 acquisition of English attributive adjectives. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism8: 193–216.
18.
Fernández-BerkesÉFlynnS (2021) Vindicating the need for a principled theory of language acquisition. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism11: 30–36.
19.
FlynnSFoleyCVinnitskayaI (2004) The cumulative-enhancement model for language acquisition: Comparing adults’ and children’s patterns of development in first, second and third language acquisition. International Journal of Multilingualism1: 3–16.
20.
GiannakidouA (2000) Negative . . . concord?Natural Language and Linguistic Theory18: 457–523.
21.
GiannakidouA (2020) Negative concord and the nature of negative concord items. In: DéprezVEspinalMT (eds) The Oxford handbook of negation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 458–78.
22.
GiannakidouAZeijlstraH (2017) The landscape of negative dependencies: Negative concord and N-words. In: EveraertMvan RiemsdijkH (eds) The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, pp. 2099–2136.
23.
GilK-HHeatherM (2013) Existential quantifiers in second language acquisition. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism3: 117–49.
24.
GilK-HMarsdenHWhongM (2019) The meaning of negation in the second language classroom: Evidence from ‘any’. Language Teaching Research23: 218–36.
25.
GonzálezAlonso J (2023) Generative approaches to third language acquisition. In: CabrelliJChaouch-OrozcoAGonzález AlonsoJ, et al. (eds) The Cambridge handbook of third language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 23–42.
26.
GonzálezAlonso JRothmanJ (2017) Coming of age in L3 initial stages transfer models: Deriving developmental predictions and looking towards the future. International Journal of Bilingualism21: 683–97.
27.
HermasA (2010) Language acquisition as computational resetting: Verb movement in L3 initial state. International Journal of Multilingualism7: 202–224.
28.
HermasA (2014) Multilingual transfer: L1 morphosyntax in L3 English. International Journal of Language Studies8: 1–24.
29.
HermasA (2015) The categorization of the relative complementizer phrase in third-language English: A feature re-assembly account. International Journal of Bilingualism19: 587–607.
30.
IzuraCCuetosFBrysbaertM (2014) Lextale-Eso: A test to rapidly and efficiently assess the Spanish vocabulary size. Psicológica35: 49–66.
31.
JabbariAAAchard-BayleGAblaliD (2018) Acquisition of L3 French wh-question structure by Persian–English bilinguals. Cogent Education5: 1–18.
KatoY (2000) Interpretive asymmetries in negation. In: HornLKatoY (eds) Negation and polarity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 62–87.
34.
KunoM (2008) Negation, focus, and negative concord in Japanese. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics28: 195–211.
35.
LenthRV (2009) Response-surface methods in R, using rsm. Journal of Statistical Software32: 1–17.
36.
LozanoC (2003) Universal Grammar and focus constraints: The acquisition of pronouns and word order in non-native Spanish. (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of Essex.
37.
MarsdenH (2023) Ambient input, instructed input, and absent input: A reflection on L2 acquisition in different input conditions. Second Language22: 5–21.
38.
MykhaylykRMitrofanovaNRodinaYWestergaardM (2015) The linguistic proximity model: The case of verb-second revisited. In: GrilloEJepsonK (eds) 39th Boston University Conference on Language Development. Sommerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, pp. 1–13.
39.
Na RanongSLeungYI (2009) Null objects in L1 Thai–L2 English–L3 Chinese: An empiricist take on a theoretical problem. In: LeungY-KI (ed.) Third language acquisition and Universal Grammar. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 162–91.
40.
Puig-MayencoE (2023) Full transfer in L3/Ln acquisition. In: CabrelliJChaouch-OrozcoAGonzález AlonsoJ, et al (eds) The Cambridge handbook of third language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 195–218.
41.
Puig-MayencoEGonzález AlonsoJRothmanJ (2020) A systematic review of transfer studies in third language acquisition. Second Language Research36: 31–64.
42.
Puig-MayencoEMarsdenH (2018) Polarity-item anything in L3 English: Where does transfer come from when the L1 is Catalan and the L2 is Spanish?Second Language Research34: 487–515.
43.
Puig-MayencoERothmanJ (2020) Low proficiency does not mean ab initio: A methodological footnote for linguistic transfer studies. Language Acquisition27: 217–26.
44.
Puig-MayencoERothmanJTubauS (2022) Language dominance in the previously acquired languages modulates rate of third language (L3) development over time: A longitudinal study. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism25: 1641–64.
45.
R Core Team (2019) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available at: http://www.R-project.org (accessed February 2025).
46.
RothmanJ (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 – IRAL48: 245–73.
47.
RothmanJ (2011) L3 syntactic transfer selectivity and typological determinacy: The typological primacy model. Second Language Research27: 107–127.
48.
RothmanJ (2013) Cognitive economy, non-redundancy and typological primacy in L3 acquisition: Evidence from initial stages of L3 Romance. In: BaauwSDirjkoningenFPintoM (eds) Romance languages and linguistic theory 2011. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 217–47.
49.
RothmanJ (2015) Linguistic and cognitive motivations for the Typological Primacy Model (TPM) of third language (L3) transfer: Timing of acquisition and proficiency considered. Bilingualism18: 179–90.
50.
RothmanJGonzález AlonsoJPuig-MayencoE (2019) Third language acquisition and linguistic transfer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
51.
SánchezLAustinJ (2020) Negation in L2 acquisition and beyond. In: DeprezVEspinalMT (eds) The Oxford handbook of negation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 615–32.
52.
SchwartzBDSprouseRA (2021) The full transfer/full access model and L3 cognitive states. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism11: 1–29.
53.
SeamanCRincón HerceLYamadaA (2024) Processing polarity sensitivity in L2 Spanish. Second Language Research40: 989–1007.
54.
SlabakovaR (2017) The scalpel model of third language acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism21: 651–66.
55.
StadtR (2019) Picture of the influence of Dutch (L1) and English (L2) on third language learning: The effects of education, development and language combinations. Amsterdam: LOT.
56.
TubauS (2008) Negative concord in English and Romance: Syntax–morphology interface conditions on the expression of negation. Utrecht: LOT.
57.
VallduvíE (1994) Polarity items, n-words and minimizers in Catalan and Spanish. Probus6: 263–94.
58.
WatanabeA (2004) The genesis of negative concord: Syntax and morphology of negative doubling. Linguistic Inquiry35: 559–612.
59.
WestergaardM (2017) Micro-variation in multilingual situations. Unpublished keynote speech at The 14th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition conference, University of Southampton, UK.
60.
WestergaardM (2021a) L3 acquisition and crosslinguistic influence as co-activation: Response to commentaries on the keynote ‘Microvariation in multilingual situations: The importance of property-by-property acquisition’. Second Language Research37: 501–18.
61.
WestergaardM (2021b) The plausibility of wholesale vs. property-by-property transfer in L3 acquisition. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism11: 103–08.
62.
WestergaardMMitrofanovaNMykhaylykRRodinaY (2017) Crosslinguistic influence in the acquisition of a third language: The Linguistic Proximity Model. International Journal of Bilingualism21: 666–82.
63.
WestergaardMMitrofanovaNRodinaYSlabakovaR (2023) Full transfer potential in L3/Ln acquisition. In: CabrelliJChaouch-OrozcoAGonzález AlonsoJ, et al. (eds) The Cambridge handbook of third language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 219–42.
64.
YamadaA (2022) Nada, nadie: A study of negative concord in L2 Spanish. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics15: 483–517.
65.
ZeijlstraH (2004) Sentential negation and negative concord. Utrecht: LOT.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
