Recent research suggests that syntactic information is shared between the two languages of a bilingual (Loebell & Bock 2003). However, proposals differ on whether representation-sharing is based on abstract syntactic structure or surface word order similarity (Hartsuiker & Pickering 2008). In a series of ongoing studies in collaboration with Gunnar Jacob (Potsdam Center for Research in Multilingualism), we examine this question using priming methodology with German-English bilinguals. Our current focus is comparing priming of identical vs. non-identical word order and syntactic structure across German and English, using Prepositional Object (PO) and Double Object (DO) structures. Importantly, for these two structures, English and German share the same word order in main clauses (e.g. Der Vermieter übergab die Schlüssel an den Mieter, ‘The landlord gave the key to the renter’), but not in subordinate clauses, because German requires that subordinate verbs be clause-final (e.g. Martin sah, dass der Vermieter die Schlüssel an den Mieter übergab, ‘Martin saw that the landlord gave the key to the renter’).

In our first study, we found cross-linguistic priming from German main clause to English main clause (where word order is shared across the two languages), but not from German subordinate clause to English subordinate clause (where word order is different across the two languages). In a second study, we found no cross-linguistic priming either from German main clause to English subordinate clause (shared word order), or from English main clause to German subordinate clause (different word order). When these two studies are taken together, it is not clear whether the lack of cross-linguistic priming in subordinate clauses is because of differences in word order across the two languages, or because of the processing complexity that subordinate (as opposed to main) clauses pose for bilingual speakers.

In a third study, we tested all four conditions within German only. We found priming in all four conditions, but stronger priming in same-clause conditions than in different-clause conditions. This mirrors findings in within-English priming by Branigan, Pickering, McLean & Stewart 2006. These results make it seem more likely that it is the subordinate clause structure rather than cross-linguistic word order differences that is responsible for results in our cross-linguistic priming studies. We are further exploring this question in additional ongoing studies.

Representative Presentations

Jacob, G., Katsika, K., Calley, M., Martinek, L., Family, N., & Allen, S.E.M.  (2013, September). “Cross-linguistic syntactic priming in German-English bilinguals: The role of global and surface syntactic structure.” 2013 Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms in Language Processing, Marseille, France.

Jacob, G., Katsika, K., Calley, M., Martinek, L., Family, N., & Allen, S.E.M.  (2013, September). “The role of surface and global syntactic structure in cross-linguistic priming.” Cross-linguistic Priming in Bilinguals: Perspectives and Constraints, Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Jacob, G., Calley, M., Katsika, K., Family, N., & Allen, S.E.M.  (2013, March). “Syntactic representations in bilinguals: The role of word order in cross-linguistic priming.” 11th International Symposium of Psycholinguistics, Tenerife, Spain.