Alejandro Cuza, Ph.D.

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Research Interests

My primary area of research centers on the linguistic and psycholinguistic processes involved in the second language acquisition of Spanish morphosyntax and semantics, child and adult first language attrition, incomplete acquisition among heritage language learners and child bilingual development. Previous and current research has examined the role of cross-linguistic influence, age effects and input conditions in the bilingual acquisition and attrition of a variety of linguistic structures, including tense and aspect morphology (past and present tense), subject-verb inversion in interrogative questions, bare nominals, double-que questions, null objects and gender agreement and assignment within the Spanish determiner phrase. Although I have focused primarily on Spanish-English bilingual speakers, my research has also examined other language pairs including Spanish-Chinese and English-Brazilian Portuguese.

More recently, I have become interested on the effects of literacy development in Spanish as a minority language in the learning of English among Hispanic background children living in the USA. A current collaborative project (The Effects of Minority Language Instruction in Children’s Academic Growth) combines the development of word reading, phonemic/phonological awareness and vocabulary based instruction in an 18-week program to investigate within and cross-language relationships in the learning of reading skills in Spanish and English among approximately 60 bilingual children from K to 4^th grade.

Publications

Cuza, A. & Pérez-Tattam, R. (submitted). Grammatical gender selection and phrasal word order in the grammar of Spanish/English bilingual children.

Cuza, A., Pérez-Tattam, R., Barajas , E., Miller, L. & Sadowski, C. (forthcoming, 2013). The bilingual acquisition of tense and aspect morphology in child and adult heritage Spanish. In John Schwieter (Ed.) Innovative research and practices in second language acquisition and bilingualism (p.182-207). John Benjamins.pdf

Cuza, A., Pérez-Leroux, A. T., & Sánchez, L. (2012). The role of semantic transfer in clitic-drop among simultaneous and sequential Chinese-Spanish bilinguals. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35, 1-33. pdf

Cuza, A. (2012). Crosslinguistic influence at the syntax proper: Interrogative subject-verb inversion in Spanish heritage speakers. The International Journal of Bilingualism, 1-26. (Published online first on March, 9 2012). pdf

Cuza, A., Guijarro-Fuentes, P., Pires, A., & Rothman, J. (2012). The syntax-semantics of bare and definite plural subjects in the L2 Spanish of English natives. The International Journal of Bilingualism, 1-20. (published online first on March 5, 2012). pdf

Pérez-Leroux, A.T., Cuza, A. & Thomas, D. (2011). Clitic placement in Spanish/English bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14(2), 221-232.pdf

Cuza, A. & Frank, J. (2011). Transfer effects at the syntax-semantics interface: The case of double-que questions in heritage Spanish. The Heritage Language Journal, 8(2), 66-89.pdf

Pérez-Leroux, A.T., Cuza, A. & Thomas, D. (2011). From parental attitudes to input conditions: Spanish-English bilingual development in Toronto. In Kim Potowski and Jason Rothman (Eds.), Bilingual youth: Spanish in English-speaking societies (pp.149-176). John Benjamins Press. Studies in Bilingualism Series.pdf

Cuza, A. (2010). The L1 attrition of the Spanish present tense. Hispania, 93(2), 256-272.pdf

Cuza, A. (2010). The L2 acquisition of aspectual properties in Spanish. Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 55(2): 1001-1028.pdf

Cuza, A. & Frank, J. (2010). The acquisition of double que questions in heritage and L2 Spanish. In Melinda Heijl (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2010 Canadian Linguistics Association Annual Conference. Montreal, Quebec. Canada. May-June 2010. http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cla-acl/actes2010/CLA2010_Cuza_Frank.PDF

Pérez-Leroux, A. Cuza, A. Majlanova, M. & Sánchez-Naranjo, J. (2008). Non-native Recognition of the Iterative and Habitual Meanings of Spanish Preterite and Imperfect Tenses. In Juana Liceras, Helmut Zobl and Helen Goodluck (Eds.), The Role of Formal Features in Second Language Acquisition (pp.432-451). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. pdf

Cuza, A. & Pérez-Leroux, A. (2006). I came long time ago: Language attrition in long-time bilinguals. In Bicultural family Magazine. Available online at: http://www.biculturalfamily.org/apr06/icamelongtimeago.html pdf

Cuza, A. (2006). Review of First Language Acquisition by Eve Clark. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 27, 2, 162-163.pdf

Liceras, J., Mongeon, C., Cuza, A., Senn, C. & Spradlin, T. (2004). La adquisición en el aula sin input formal: los compuestos ‘exocéntricos’ de las interlenguas del español. Revista Electrónica de didáctica del español como lengua extranjera (RedELE). Número 0, March 2004. Madrid: Espasa Calpe.pdf

Cuza, A. (2001). Review of “The Interaction of Instruction and Learner-Internal Factors in the Acquisition of L2 Morphosyntax” by Paul Toth. Boletín de la asociación para la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera, 24, 96-97.

Cuza, A. (2000). Review of “Reading and Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition” by Paribakht, T. Sima & M. Wesche In Boletín de la asociación para la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera. 91-92.

Grants and Awards

2012 Clifford Kinley Trust Award ($20,000). Office of the Vice President for Research. Purdue University.

2012 PRF Summer Faculty Grant ($8,000). Purdue Research Foundation. Purdue University.

2012 Community Engagement Research Grant ($5,000). CLA Office of Engagement. Purdue University.

2011 Provost’s Service Learning Faculty Development Grant ($2,000). Office of the Provost. Purdue University.

2011 Instructional Equipment Allocation Grant ($5,888). College of Liberal Arts. Purdue University.

2008 International Travel Grant ($1400). Purdue Research Foundation. Purdue University.

2005 SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship ($20,000). Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

2005 Milton A. Buchanan Travel Fellowship ($2,500). Department of Spanish and Portuguese. University of Toronto.

2003 Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) ($15,000). Government of Ontario, Canada.

2002 Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) ($15,000). Government of Ontario, Canada.

Ongoing Projects

The role of experience and cross-linguistic influence effects in the near-native L2 grammar: Evidence from the Spanish CP (with Joshua Frank)

Phonetic L1 attrition of heritage Spanish (with Laura Colantoni and Natalia Mazzaro)

Interrogative inversion in Spanish/English bilingual children (with Nelleke Strik)

Grammatical gender selection and phrasal word order in the grammar of Spanish/English bilingual children (with Rocío Pérez-Tattam)

The effects of minority language instruction in children’s academic growth (with Becky Chen, Lauren Miller, Adrian Pasquarella and Joél Muñoz)

The morphosyntactic L1 attrition of Spanish. Evidence from young and adults bilinguals.

Collaborators

Becky Chen, University of Toronto

Laura Colantoni, University of Toronto

Joshua Frank, University of Texas, Austin

Natalia Mazzaro, University of Texas, El Paso

Lauren Miller, Purdue University

Adrian Pasquarella, University of Toronto

Rocío Pérez-Tattam, Swansea University, UK

Nelleke Strik, Dalhousie University, Canada

Conference Presentations

Cuza, A. & Rocío Pérez-Tattam (2012). “Gender features selection and phrasal word order in simultaneous Spanish/English bilingual children”. Paper accepted for poster presentation at the Hispanic Linguistic Symposium. University of Florida. October 25-28, 2012.

Cuza, A., Pérez-Tattam, R. Barajas, E., Miller, L., & Sadowski, C (2012). “The Development of Aspectual Morphology in Child and Adult Heritage Spanish”. Paper accepted for oral presentation at the Hispanic Linguistic Symposium. University of Florida. October 25-28, 2012.

Cuza, A. & Pérez-Tattam, R. (2012). “Grammatical gender selection and phrasal word order in the grammar of Spanish/English bilingual children.” Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL42). Southern Utah University, April 20-22, 2012.

Cuza, A. & Strik, N. (2012). “Patterns of morphosyntactic convergence and child L1 attrition: Evidence from subject-verb inversion in Spanish-English bilingual children”. Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL42). Southern Utah University, April 20-22, 2012.

Cuza, A & Strik, N. (2012). Interrogative Inversion in Spanish-English Bilingual Children: Cross-linguistic Influence and L1 Attrition in Spanish. Conference on Formal Approaches to Heritage Language. Amherst MA, April 21-22.

Cuza, A. & Barbosa, M. (2011). “Does structural overlap matter? Evidence from object drop in English-Brazilian Portuguese bilinguals.” 36^th Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 36). November 4-6, 2011.

Cuza, A & Frank, J. (2011). “Syntactic optionality in the near-native grammar of Spanish L2 learners and heritage speakers: Structural ambiguity and input factors.” Hispanic Linguistics Symposium. University of Georgia, Athens. October 2011.

Cuza, A. & Strik, N. (2011). “On interrogative inversion in early Spanish-English bilingual children: Beyond incomplete development.” Language Acquisition Workshop.

University of Toronto. July 14, 2011. Department of French Studies/Department of Linguistics.

Cuza, A. (2011). “Syntactic transfer in Spanish-English bilingual children: the case of interrogative inversion.” 12^th International Congress for the Study of Child Language. Université de Québec a Montreal. Montreal. Canada, July 2011.

Cuza, A., Pérez-Leroux, A.T., & Sánchez, L. (2011). “The role of semantic transfer in clitic-drop among Chinese L1-Spanish L2 bilinguals.” Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL41). University of Ottawa. May, 2011.

Cuza, A., Pérez-Leroux, A.T., & Sánchez, L. (2011). “The role of semantic transfer in clitic-drop among Chinese L1-Spanish L2 bilinguals.” 11^th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 11). University of Washington, Seattle. March, 2011.

Cuza, A. & Frank, J. (2010). “Que cuándo fue que fue: The development of double que questions in Spanish heritage speakers and L2 learners.” Hispanic Linguistic Symposium. Indiana University. October, 2010.

Cuza, A., Fukada A., Ginther A., (2010). “Online vs. offline oral testing: Theoretical and practical implications for Spanish language programs.” Language Teaching in increasingly Multilingual Environments: From Research to Practice. University of Warsaw, Warsaw. Poland. September, 2010.

Cuza, A. & *Frank, J (2010). “On the incomplete acquisition of the Spanish CP: Evidence fromdoubly-filled comp structures.” Canadian Linguistic Association Conference. Concordia University. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. May 2010.

Cuza, A. (2009). “Atrición morfosintáctica en el español nativo: opcionalidad fuera de las interfaces.” Hispanic Linguistic Symposium. University of Rio Piedras. San Juan, Puerto Rico. October, 2009.

Cuza, A., Pérez-Leroux, A.T & Thomas D. (2009). “Attitudinal factors and syntactic transfer in the grammar of Spanish-English bilingual children.” 7^th International Symposium on Bilingualism. The Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS (UiL OTS) of Utrecht University. The Netherlands.

Pérez-Leroux, A.T., Thomas, D. & Cuza, A. (2009). “How transfer happens in narrow syntax: A study of clitic placement in two groups of Spanish-speaking children in Toronto.” Workshop on Heritage Languages. University of Toronto. Canada.

Cuza, A. (2009). “On the L2 representation of the Spanish present tense.” 10^th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 10). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. March 2009.

Cuza, A., (2009). “Incomplete acquisition and L1 attrition of subject verb inversion in Spanish: optionality outside the interfaces.” Linguistic Symposium on Romance Linguistics (LSRL). University of Arizona. March 2009.

Cuza, A., Pérez-Leroux, A.T & Thomas, D. (2008). “Input conditions and parental attitudes in the developing grammar of Spanish/English bilingual children.” Hispanic Linguistic Symposium. Université de Laval. Quebec. Canada. October 2008.

Cuza, A., Guijarro-Fuentes, P., Judy, T. and Rothman, J. (2008). “Examining the DP in Non-Native Spanish: Implications for Adult Feature Acquisition and Interface Vulnerability.” Linguistic Symposium of Romance Languages (LSRL32). University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. April, 2008.

Guijarro-Fuentes, Cuza, A., Judy, T. and Rothman, J. (2008). “The acquisition of adjectives in instructed Spanish: The role of individual characteristics.” Annual Conference, British Association of Applied Linguistics. Language Learning and Teaching SIG. University of Greenwich. UK. July 2008.

Cuza, A. & Thomas, D. (2008). “From parental attitudes to input conditions: A look at Spanish-English bilingual development in Toronto.” Annual Conference, American Association of Applied Linguists (AAAL). Washington, DC.

Cuza, A. Guijarro-Fuentes, A., Judy, T. and Rothman, J.(2008). “Adult Feature Acquisition, Interface Vulnerability and the DP in L2 Spanish.” 31^st GLOW Colloquium: Generative Linguistics in the Old World. Newcastle University. UK. 2008.

Cuza, A. (2007). “The L1 attrition of the semantic properties of the Spanish present tense.” 6^th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB6). University of Hamburg. Hamburg, Germany.

Cuza, A. (2006). “L2 indeterminacy and loss in the aspectual domain: a transfer account.” The Hispanic Linguistic Symposium. The University of Western Ontario. Canada.

Cuza, A. (2006). “Lexical transfer and the acquisition of aspect among Spanish-English bilinguals.” Language and Linguistics at UofT event. University of Toronto. Canada.

Cuza, A. (2006). “The L2 acquisition of aspectual properties in Spanish.” Ontario Dialogues on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese.” University of Toronto. Canada.

Cuza, A. (2005). “The temporal properties of the Spanish present: L2 Influence and Non-native Recognition.” Annual Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities. The University of Western Ontario. London. Ontario. Canada.

Cuza, A. (2005). “Non-Native recognition of the selectional values of the Spanish present tense.” Ontario Dialogues on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese. The University of Western Ontario. London, Ontario. Canada.

Cuza, A. (2004) “The L2 acquisition and L1 attrition of tense and aspect among adult Spanish-English bilinguals.” 8^th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium and the 7^th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Cuza, A. (2002). “The verb movement parameter: L2 Acquisition and L1 loss.” Second Language research Forum 2002 (SLRF). University Toronto, Toronto. Canada.

Cuza, A. (2002). “Attrition and the compounding parameter: L1 Spanish in contact situation with English L2.” First International Conference on Language Attrition: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Methodological Issues. Vrije Universitad. Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Cuza, A., Liceras, L., Spradlin, T & Tremblay, A. (2002). “La alternancia de código (Ana me dijo that she would be here at three) en el lenguaje infantil y el lenguaje adulto: ¿qué nos dice sobre “ser o no ser” bilingüe?” Seminar. Dept. of Modern Languages. University of Ottawa. Ottawa, Canada.

Cuza, A. (2002). “Morphosyntactic attrition of NN compounds in Spanish.” 47^th Annual Conference of the International Linguistic Association. York University. Toronto, Canada.

Liceras, L., Cuza, A. , Senn, C. & Spradlin, T. (2001). “Morphology and directionality of ‘deverbals’ compounds in non-native Spanish: Problems of directionality or grammatical competence?” Annual Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities. Université de Laval. Quebec, Canada.