Paper presented at the Cognitive Linguistics in the Year 2025 Conference, Kraków, Poland. [PDF]

This study examines how Spanish–English bilinguals judge the acceptability of code-switching, with a focus on whether the order of language acquisition influences sensitivity to structural constraints. Using an acceptability judgment task, the study compares heritage speakers, L1-English L2-Spanish bilinguals, and L1-Spanish L2-English bilinguals on their evaluations of pronoun-switch constructions. Results show that while all groups distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical switches, late bilinguals differ: those who learned English after Spanish were less likely to reject ungrammatical pronoun switches than those who learned Spanish later. Additional mixed-effects modeling demonstrates that both participant group and bilingual proficiency interact to shape acceptability patterns. Overall, the findings suggest that acquisition order may play a meaningful role in how late bilinguals internalize code-switching constraints.

Paper presented at the Congreso Internacional Nebrija en Lingüística Aplicada a la Enseñanza de Lenguas, Madrid, Spain. [PDF]

This study examined how different groups of Spanish-English bilinguals—heritage speakers, L1-English L2-Spanish learners, and L1-Spanish L2-English bilinguals—judge inalienable possession constructions in Spanish. The results show that all three bilingual groups most consistently rated the canonical (clitic + definite determiner) form as acceptable, while hybrid and English-like forms were judged more variably—especially by heritage and L2 Spanish speakers, who were more flexible than the L1-Spanish group. Across all participants, variables like Spanish proficiency, dominance, and language exposure correlated with acceptability, but subgroup analyses showed these effects were not uniform: many correlations disappeared or shifted when groups were analyzed separately, revealing distinct within-group patterns, particularly among heritage speakers. These results suggest that bilingual type crucially shapes how language background factors influence judgments of inalienable possession, underscoring the importance of analyzing bilingual groups separately rather than assuming a single bilingual profile.

Co-authored paper presented at the Conference on European Second Language Acquisition (EuroSLA), Tromsø, Norway.

This study investigated how task complexity, manipulated through the presence or absence of content support, influenced L2 writers’ pausing and revision behaviors as well as their perceptions of task difficulty and engagement in writing processes. While keystroke logging data revealed no significant differences in pausing or revision behavior between simple and complex tasks, participants in the complex condition reported spending more time planning and structuring their writing and revising language features afterward. The study offers new empirical insights into task complexity effects on writing and highlights methodological considerations for aligning process data with writers’ self-reported experiences.

Co-authored paper presented at the International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB), Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.

This study used an acceptability judgment task (AJT) to examine how Spanish-English bilinguals with different acquisitional backgrounds judge inalienable possession constructions. All groups were most consistent in accepting the canonical (clitic + definite determiner) form, while also showing some acceptance and within-group variability for innovative forms; importantly, rating consistency did not differ by bilingual type, suggesting AJT data is equally reliable across groups. Although some bilingual background factors moderately correlated with acceptance of certain forms, no clear pattern explained the broader variability, highlighting both the complexity of bilingual grammar and the value of AJTs in capturing it.

Co-authored paper presented at the Conference of Spanish in the United States / Conference on Spanish in Contact with Other Languages, San Antonio, Texas.

While late L2 bilinguals’ acquisition of these code-switching patterns are often linked to factors like exposure and proficiency, this study examined whether language dominance also influences judgments of code-switching acceptability, using an acceptability judgment task with 113 L1-English L2-Spanish speakers. The results revealed that while L2 proficiency predicted sensitivity to CS grammaticality, language dominance did not, suggesting that once late bilinguals reach sufficient proficiency, dominance plays little role in shaping their grammatical knowledge of code-switching.

Co-authored paper presented at the Going Romance Conference, Braga, Portugal. [PDF]

This study investigates how language dominance impacts acceptability ratings of Spanish-English intra-sentential code-switching (CS) among 22 highly proficient adult early bilinguals. While overall language dominance did not significantly predict differentiation between grammatical and ungrammatical switches, self-reported proficiency and language use were significant predictors, with balanced use and higher proficiency leading to greater consistency in structural acceptability ratings. These findings suggest that navigating structural constraints in CS is less tied to being “balanced” in dominance and more connected to proficiency, language use, and exposure, aligning with prior research that emphasizes the role of community norms and frequent CS experience.

Paper presented at the UIC Bilingualism Forum, Chicago, Illinois. [PDF]

This study examines the acceptability of Spanish-English code-switching (CS) involving adverbs, focusing on pre- and post-verbal positions and differences in bilingual types. Both heritage and late second language bilinguals, despite different acquisition contexts, demonstrated similar structural constraints in adverb placement, with English adverbs favoring pre-verbal positions and Spanish adverbs being acceptable in both pre- and post-verbal positions. These findings suggest that bilingual competence in CS is consistent across diverse acquisition backgrounds, highlighting the importance of refining models of second language acquisition to account for language mixing. 

Paper presented at the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Omaha, Nebraska. [PDF]

This study investigates whether late second language (L2) bilinguals can acquire code-switching (CS) structural constraints similar to those of early bilinguals, comparing L2 Spanish and L2 English speakers with heritage Spanish speakers. Participants rated the acceptability of subject-pronoun switches in code-switched sentences, with the preliminary results indicating significant influence of acquisition order on CS acceptability.