L1 versus Dominant Language Transfer Effects in L2 and Heritage Speakers of Italian: A Structural Priming Study

Abstract Conversely to plenty of studies describing how L1 transfer affects L2 systems, where the two grammars, L1/L2, often only come interact later in life, less is known dominant language heritage grammars. Unlike speakers, speaker potentially its weaker already from childhood. Evidence transfer, however, exists production focusing on syntax. Therefore, an oral structural priming task was employed compare effects advanced Swedish speakers Italian and early Swedish. Intrinsic this comparison Basic Continuity hypothesis (Romano 2018), which proposes that highly proficient integrate semantic syntactic information relevant property lacking native-like ways. Results showed grammars are similarly impervious coordinate lexico-semantic ways, consistent with Continuity. Divergence native controls shown be remarkably compatible monolingual at earlier developmental stages.