
Contact Information
Biography
Prof. Herschensohn’s publications span the areas of generative syntax, second language acquisition theory, and applied linguistics, especially in the Romance languages (synchronic and diachronic). The main areas of specialization are theoretical syntax and nonnative language learning, linked in her current research dealing with language processing and age effects. She is interested in how monolinguals and bilinguals (child and adult learners) understand and produce the grammatical aspects of speech such as agreement, displacement and coreference.
Her recent articles explore the role of Universal Grammar and the nature of morphology learning in second language acquisition, through an examination of adult and child L2 French and Spanish learners. These articles expand the idea that second language acquisition may draw on aspects of UG, and that L2A is accomplished through the progressive mastery of morpho-lexical constructions and with the use of a coalition of resources (e.g. UG constraints, cognitive learning strategies). She has collaborated with Cheryl Frenck-Mestre and Nuria Sagarra in studies of French and Spanish gender acquisition and processing by Anglophone learners without gender in their native language. She has also contributed to work by colleague Lee Osterhout using ERPs to study L2 acquisition of French. Ongoing research with colleague Deborah Arteaga examines longitudinal data of three advanced French L2 learners to ascertain development of L2 competence, particularly acquisition of verbal and nominal inflection, verb raising, and object clitics. They have also collaborated on several articles dealing with the diachronic development and synchronic analysis of Old French.
Her 2022 book, Bilingualism, Language Development and Processing across the Lifespan, was published by John Benjamins. She and colleague Ana Fernández-Dobao continue their data collection from 9-11 year old heritage language and second language learners in Seattle Public Schools' Spanish-English Dual Language Immersion program.
Research
Selected Research
- Publication brochure from J. Benjamins for Bilingualism, Language Development and Processing across the Lifespan Download PDF
- Herschensohn, J. & Arteaga, D. (2015): Parameters, Processing and Feature Reassembly in the L2 French Determiner Phrase. In Guijarro-Fuentes, P., & Schmitz, K. (Eds.). The Acquisition of French in Multilingual Contexts (Vol. 94). Multilingual Matters. Download PDF
- Sneed, E., Herschensohn, J., & Frenck-Mestre, C. (2015). Pronoun processing in anglophone late L2 learners of French: Behavioral and ERP evidence. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 34, 15-40. Download PDF
- Arteaga, D., & Herschensohn, J. (2013). A Diachronic View of Old French Genitive Constructions. In Research on Old French: The State of the Art (pp. 19-44). Springer Netherlands. Download PDF
- Tanner, D., McLaughlin, J., Herschensohn, J., & Osterhout, L. (2013). Individual differences reveal stages of L2 grammatical acquisition: ERP evidence. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16(02), 367-382. Download PDF
- Herschensohn, J. (2013). Can pattern recognition explain grammatical learning?. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 3(3), 316-320. Download PDF
- Julia Herschensohn and Nuria Sagarra. "Processing of Gender and Number Agreement in Late Spanish Bilinguals." International Journal of Bilingualism. (2012). Download PDF
- Julia Herschensohn and Nuria Sagarra. "Proficiency and Animacy Effects on L2 Gender Agreement Processes during Comprehension." Language Learning 61 (2011): 80-116. Download PDF
- Julia Herschensohn, editor. Romance Linguistics 2010: Selected proceedings of the 40th Symposium on Romance Languages. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2011.
- Julia Herschensohn and Darren Tanner, editors. Proceedings of the 11th GASLA Conference Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 2011.
- Julia Herschensohn and Nuria Sagarra. "The Role of Proficiency and Working Memory in Gender and Number Agreement in L1 and L2 Spanish." Lingua 120 (2010): 2022-2039. Download PDF
- Julia Herschensohn. "Fundamental and Gradient Differences in Language Development." Studies in Second Language Acquisition 31 (2009): 259-289. Download PDF
- Julia Herschensohn and Deborah Arteaga. "Tense and Verb Raising in Advanced L2 French." Journal of French Language Studies 19 (2009): 291-318.
- Julia Herschensohn, Lee Osterhout, A. Poliakov,, Kayo Inoue, Judith McLaughlin, G. Valentine, Ilona Pitkanen, Cheryl Frenck-Mestre. "Second-language learning and changes in the brain." Journal of Neurolinguistics 21 (2008): 509-521.
- Julia Herschensohn and Deborah Arteaga. "Marquage grammatical des syntagmes verbaux et nominaux chez un apprenant avancé." AILE 25 (2007): 159-178.
- Julia Herschensohn. Language Development and Age. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007.
- Julia Herschensohn. "Français langue seconde: From functional categories to functionalist variation." Second Language Research22 (2006): 95-113.
- Julia Herschensohn, Jeff Stevenson, and Jeremy Waltmunson. "Children's acquisition of L2 Spanish morphosyntax in an immersion setting." International Review of Applied Linguistics 43 (2005): 193-217.
- Julia Herschensohn. The Second Time Around: Minimalism and L2 Acquistion. Philadelphia/Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2000. 287pp.
- Julia Herschensohn. Case Suspension and Binary Complement Structure in French. Philadelphia/Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1996. 200 pp.
- Julia Herschensohn and Martha Young-Scholten, editors. Cambridge Handbook on Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Forthcoming.
Research Advised
- Ahmad Elshenawy. "Strategies in Determining Antecedence for the Japanese Reflexive 'jibun.'" Honors Thesis, U of Washington, 2010/2011.
- Stephanie Henning. "Investigating Knowlege of Formualic Language in a Balanced Bilingual." Honors Thesis, U of Washington, 2010/2011.
- Darren Tanner. "Agreement mechanisms in native and nonnative language processing: Electrophysiological correlates of interference and complexity." Diss. U of Washington, 2011.
- Lisa Wilcox. "The Acquisition of Grammatical Gender in Nonnative Norwegian: Failed Functional Features v. Full Transfer/Full Access." Honors Thesis, U of Washington, 2008/2009.
- Carina Bauman. "Factors in the Variable Production of Past Tense by Chinese Learners of English." Honors Thesis, U of Washington, 2006/2007.
- Donna Andrews. "The Acquisition of Spanish Gender by English-speaking Children in a Partial Immersion Setting." Diss. U of Washington, 2004.
- Bridget Yaden-Luthi. "Mental Representations of Spanish Morphology: Rules or Analogy?" Diss. U of Washington, 2003.