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Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

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Published on: September 5, 2019

Bilingual Adolescents' Complex Syntax Production in Both Languages Across Conversational and Expository Contexts.

Eve Julie Rioux¹, Elin Thordardottir¹

¹School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR

|July 26, 2023

Summary

Adolescent bilinguals showed similar complex syntax skills in conversation and expository discourse, with language exposure influencing both. Expository contexts revealed more complex syntax than conversational ones.

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Area of Science:

Linguistics
Developmental Psychology
Psycholinguistics

Background:

Bilingual development is influenced by language-specific exposure.
Adolescent syntactic development in bilinguals requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

To examine complex syntactic production in adolescent bilinguals.
To compare syntactic skills in conversational and expository discourse.
To investigate the impact of language exposure on bilingual syntactic development.

Main Methods:

Studied English-French bilinguals (EFbil) and French L1 speakers (aged 12-17).
Collected conversational and expository speech samples in both French and English.
Analyzed syntactic complexity using mean length of T-units, clausal density, and subordinate clause diversity.

Main Results:

Both groups produced more complex syntax in expository discourse than in conversation.
Significant differences emerged in French subordinate clause diversity between groups.
Language exposure impacted both languages of EFbil, especially in conversation.

Conclusions:

This is the first study on spontaneous syntactic use in bilingual adolescents' two languages.
Contexts (expository vs. conversational) provide unique insights into syntactic development.
Previous language exposure significantly affects bilinguals' syntactic skills in both languages and contexts.