What happens when two languages are in regular contact? Which areas of a grammar are most susceptible to change, and which areas are impervious to external influence? Most of the research within the field of contact linguistics has been carried out in the context of languages from different families; the consequences of contact on grammars that share many structural properties have gone largely unexamined. The present project explores Spanish in contact with a closely related language, Catalan, in a context where both are extensively used: the island of Minorca, Spain. The researcher will examine how external factors (e.g., age of acquisition, length of residence, second language proficiency and use) as well as language-internal factors (e.g., different areas and properties of the grammar) contribute to the development of a grammar of contact Spanish, as differentiated from the grammar of a monolingual speaker.
The results of this research will contribute to understanding and modeling the grammatical outcomes of bilingualism in a context that favors interlingual influence. As such, it has the potential to contribute to diverse literatures, including syntactic theory, bilingualism, and sociolinguistics. Additionally, this project focuses on a participant population that is representative of many contemporary societies, where bilingualism is more frequent than monolingualism, and in which speakers demonstrate disparate proficiencies in their languages. The results of this study may inform the development of assessment instruments for bilingual individuals. More specifically, our knowledge of the outcomes of bilingualism can promote a view of indeterminate and converged forms as a normal course of grammatical development and change in communities of sustained bilingualism. As in other bilingual societies, many citizens of Minorca acquire a second language in adulthood, and yet their performance is native-like. An exploration of the conditions under which such speakers achieve a native-like proficiency can inform second language teaching. Finally, as a study of the language outcomes of bilinguals who have been educated in public institutions, the project will garner the attention of laypersons, government agencies, educators, and scholars alike.
