Influence des langues premières sur l’acquisition du français L3 : une étude exploratoire de l’association entre la dominance langagière et le positionnement adjectival chez les enfants

The phenomenon of language transfer involves the replication of linguistic structures from a pre-acquired language onto a target language. In the context of L2 acquisition, the only source of transfer is the L1. However, in L3 acquisition, both L1 and L2 can influence L3. An understudied mechanism possibly involved in determining L3 transfer source is language dominance. This article presents a preliminary study testing language dominance in two L1s (English and Egyptian Arabic) to see if it could explain the source of transfer to beginner-level L3 (French). An influence of dominance on the source of transfer to an L3 was predicted. Unlike other studies, in this study, language dominance was tested by more than one measure and using simultaneous bilinguals. Language dominance was tested by measures of morphosyntax and vocabulary obtained from oral production tasks and by a background questionnaire providing information on the input (language exposure) and output (language use) of each pre-acquired language. The source of transfer was measured by a preference task testing concrete and evaluative adjective placement in 21 children aged 7 to 10 years old. The preliminary results of this study suggest that language dominance of pre-acquired languages does not play a role regarding the source of transfer to L3, which is in agreement with some previous studies (e.g. Lloyd-Smith et al., 2021; Ramos Feijoo & García Mayo, 2023).