How Flexible Are Grammars Past Puberty? The Case of Relative Clauses in Turkish‐American Returnees.
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| Title: | How Flexible Are Grammars Past Puberty? The Case of Relative Clauses in Turkish‐American Returnees. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Coşkun Kunduz, Aylin1,2 (AUTHOR) aylin.coskun-kunduz@uni-konstanz.de, Montrul, Silvina1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Language Learning. Jun2026, Vol. 76 Issue 2, p391-424. 34p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Bilingualism, *Language acquisition, Relative clauses, Puberty, Heritage language speakers, Turkish language, Morphosyntax |
| Geographic Terms: | Türkiye |
| Abstract: | How flexible are grammars after puberty? To answer this, we test returnees: heritage speakers (HS) born in an immigration context who returned to their homeland in later years. If returnees are targetlike, then language is still malleable after puberty; in contrast, if maturational effects are in play, postpuberty returnees will show variability. Thirty‐two Turkish‐American returnees, 30 Turkish HS in the United States, and 30 monolinguals completed an acceptability judgment task and a sentence repetition task on a vulnerable structure in Turkish HS, namely relative clauses. Results showed that (a) returnees patterned with monolinguals, who significantly outperformed HS in both tasks; and (b) age of return to Turkey, length of residence, and contact with English upon return were not significant predictors of returnees' performance. This suggests that complex morphosyntax is malleable after puberty. These findings provide a unique angle on the roles of age and input variables in bilingual language acquisition and maintenance. A one‐page Accessible Summary of this article in nontechnical language is freely available in the Supporting Information online and at https://oasis‐database.org [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Language Learning is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 193323249 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: How Flexible Are Grammars Past Puberty? The Case of Relative Clauses in Turkish‐American Returnees. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Coşkun+Kunduz%2C+Aylin%22">Coşkun Kunduz, Aylin</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> aylin.coskun-kunduz@uni-konstanz.de</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Montrul%2C+Silvina%22">Montrul, Silvina</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Language+Learning%22">Language Learning</searchLink>. Jun2026, Vol. 76 Issue 2, p391-424. 34p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Bilingualism%22">Bilingualism</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+acquisition%22">Language acquisition</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Relative+clauses%22">Relative clauses</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Puberty%22">Puberty</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Heritage+language+speakers%22">Heritage language speakers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Turkish+language%22">Turkish language</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Morphosyntax%22">Morphosyntax</searchLink> – Name: SubjectGeographic Label: Geographic Terms Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Türkiye%22">Türkiye</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: How flexible are grammars after puberty? To answer this, we test returnees: heritage speakers (HS) born in an immigration context who returned to their homeland in later years. If returnees are targetlike, then language is still malleable after puberty; in contrast, if maturational effects are in play, postpuberty returnees will show variability. Thirty‐two Turkish‐American returnees, 30 Turkish HS in the United States, and 30 monolinguals completed an acceptability judgment task and a sentence repetition task on a vulnerable structure in Turkish HS, namely relative clauses. Results showed that (a) returnees patterned with monolinguals, who significantly outperformed HS in both tasks; and (b) age of return to Turkey, length of residence, and contact with English upon return were not significant predictors of returnees' performance. This suggests that complex morphosyntax is malleable after puberty. These findings provide a unique angle on the roles of age and input variables in bilingual language acquisition and maintenance. A one‐page Accessible Summary of this article in nontechnical language is freely available in the Supporting Information online and at https://oasis‐database.org [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Language Learning is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1111/lang.70003 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 34 StartPage: 391 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Bilingualism Type: general – SubjectFull: Language acquisition Type: general – SubjectFull: Relative clauses Type: general – SubjectFull: Puberty Type: general – SubjectFull: Heritage language speakers Type: general – SubjectFull: Turkish language Type: general – SubjectFull: Morphosyntax Type: general – SubjectFull: Türkiye Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: How Flexible Are Grammars Past Puberty? The Case of Relative Clauses in Turkish‐American Returnees. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Coşkun Kunduz, Aylin – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Montrul, Silvina IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 06 Text: Jun2026 Type: published Y: 2026 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 00238333 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 76 – Type: issue Value: 2 Titles: – TitleFull: Language Learning Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
