Current Research Projects
Miami Cuban Spanish: Morphosyntactic and Lexical Development
Alejandro Cuza
This project investigates heritage language development through a cross-sectional, cross-generational study of Miami Cuban Spanish, examining how input type, developmental age, structure complexity, and dominance influence grammatical outcomes. It addresses key theoretical issues in heritage bilingualism, including L1 attrition, protracted development, and grammatical restructuring, and explores the role of formal and informal input in bilingual development.
Subjunctive use and interpretation among heritage speakers of Cuban Spanish in Miami
Alejandro Cuza
This study examines the productive and receptive knowledge of the subjunctive in temporal and impersonal clauses among child and adult heritage speakers of Cuban Spanish in Miami, a context characterized by robust yet divided Spanish input. While strong exposure to Spanish may buffer against heritage grammar shifts, less frequent and later-acquired subjunctive forms might remain vulnerable, particularly in terms of bilingual alignments (Cuza, 2025)
The acquisition of wh-questions in child heritage speakers of English residing in Mexico
Alejandro Cuza
This project investigates the acquisition of English as heritage language among child heritage speakers born and raised in Mexico. Specifically, we examine the role of language transfer and proficiency in the target use of matrix and embedded wh-phrases. Results showed high proportion of target response in relation to word order for both matrix and embedded questions. However, we found morphological errors including infelicitous use of the present tense (#I don’t know who Dora gives her water bottle to), double past tense marking (*Who did Dora gave her guitar to), overregularization (*I don’t know who Diego lended his toys to) and dative preposition omission (*Who did Diego lend his bike). The results are discussed in relation to the role of literacy development, language dominance and experience in the extent of morphosyntactic shifts (Shin, Cuza & Sánchez, 2022; Sánchez, 2019).
The acquisition of gerund and infinitive forms in Spanish/English bilingual children
Alejandro Cuza, Laura Solano Escobar, Santiago Castillo, Francisco Clavijo, Edier Gómez-Alzate
This project examines the production of Spanish infinitives among Spanish/English bilingual children and adolescents in the US in subject position, with the phrasal verb parar de (‘to stop doing something’), and with the prepositional verb parar a (‘to stop to do something’). Results show overextension of gerund forms in lieu of the infinitive in subject position and with para de. Language dominance and Spanish experience significantly predicted more target-like infinitive use, while chronological age and English dominance were associated with increased gerund overextension (Cuza, Solano Escobar, Castillo, Clavijo & Edier Gómez-Alzate, 2025, under review; Solano-Escobar & Cuza, 2023)
The acquisition of 2nd person forms of address in Medellin Spanish
Alejandro Cuza, Yolanda Pasuy, Luis Pardo
The present study examines the acquisition of the socio-pragmatic constraints that regulate the use and interpretation of second-person singular forms of address (2PS) (tú, usted, vos) among English-speaking second language (L2) learners of Spanish residing in Medellin, Colombia. Specifically, we examine the extent to which English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish develop expected use and interpretation of 2PS in context appropriate ways via a Discourse Completion Task and a Contextualized Preference Task (Cuza, Pasuy & Pardo, 2025, under review)
The acquisition of pragmatic competence during a short-study abroad program in Colombia
Julian Rodriguez, Alejandro Cuza, Edier Gómez Alzate
This project examines the development of greeting and request strategies among L2 learners of Spanish during a short-term study abroad program in Manizales, Colombia. Using discourse completion tasks, it explores how learners shift from L1-based strategies toward more Spanish-dominant patterns, taking into account contextual and interactional factors. The findings reveal differences in lexical repertoire, address forms, and the placement of mitigators such as por favor, offering a detailed look at how immersion shapes L2 pragmatic competence.
Subjunctive Mood Selection in Spanish/English bilingual children
Laura Solano & Alejandro Cuza
This project examines the effects of selection type and modality in the acquisition of the subjunctive mood by child and adult heritage speakers of Spanish (Solano-Escobar 2025; Solano-Escobar & Cuza, submitted; Solano-Escobar & Cuza, in progress).
The production and interpretation of clitic doubling in psych verbs and inalienable possession constructions in heritage speakers and L2 learners of Spanish.
Francisco Clavijo, Alejandro Cuza and Santiago Castillo.
This study examines the extent to which heritage speakers of Spanish and L2 learners demonstrate knowledge of dative clitic doubling with ditransitive verbs across four conditions: psych verbs, wh-questions, double object constructions, and inalienable possession (Clavijo, Cuza & Castillo, submitted).
The role of event typicality and structure complexity in the acquisition copula SER/ESTAR in L2 and Heritage Spanish.
Francisco Clavijo, Alejandro Cuza and Shaohua Fang
This project examines the acquisition of copula verbs in Spanish by L2 learners and heritage speakers of Spanish born and raised in the United States. Specifically, it investigates the effect of event typicality and syntactic complexity, particularly nested possessives, on the acquisition, production, and processing times involved in copula verb selection.
The acquisition of present perfect aspectual values in heritage and L2 Spanish.
Santiago Castillo, Alejandro Cuza, and Francisco Clavijo
This study examines how two bilingual groups—heritage speakers (HSs) and second language (L2) learners of Spanish—acquire and interpret the present perfect aspectual value. We compare their performance in contexts favoring the present perfect, shedding light on bilingual language development, grammatical restructuring, and cross-linguistic influence.
The acquisition of adverb placement in heritage and L2 Spanish
Edier Gomez Alzate & Alejandro Cuza
This project investigates the acquisition of adverb placement in Spanish among child and adult heritage speakers of Spanish born and raised in the US by Mexican parents. We examine frequency and manner adverbs with negative and positive polarity and the potential role of cross-linguistic influence, dominance, and experience in the path and rate of development (Gómez-Alzate, Cuza, Camacho & Zanelli, 2023; Gomez Alzate & Cuza, forthcoming)
The acquisition of the future perfect in Spanish/English bilingual children.
Alejandro Cuza, Solano Escobar Laura, Santiago Castillo, Francisco Clavijo, Edier Gómez-Alzate
This project investigates the use and interpretation of the future tense in L2 learners and heritage speakers of Spanish.
The role of transfer and language exposure in the development of definite plural subjects and oject clitics in child heritage speakers of Spanish.
Alejandro Cuza, Liliana Sanchez, and Naomi Shin (Co-PI).
Project funded by Vice-President for Research and Partnerships. Purdue University Exploratory Research in the Social Science Grant, explores the acquisition of definite plurals and object clitics in child heritage speakers of Spanish (Cuza, Shin & Sánchez, 2025, Shin, Cuza, & Sánchez, 2023).
The impact of phonetic variability on bilingual morphosyntax: The case of Spanish-English bilinguals.
Laura Colantoni, Ana Teresa Perez Leroux, Alejandro Cuza-Blanco, Elizabeth Johnson, Jessamyn Schertz, Natalia Mazzaro, Susana Bejar. Project funded by Insight Grants, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Government of Canada. ($179,979).
Bare Nominals and Object Drop in the Grammars of Spanish-Portuguese and Chinese-Spanish learners
Alejandro Cuza, Julio César López-Otero and Jian Jiao
This project looks at the development of bare nominals and object expression and omission in Portuguese and Chinese speakers of Spanish as heritage and second language, respectively.