Our Mission

The mission of YVY Research Institute is to document the acquisition, structure and use of the many languages spoken by the multilingual, multicultural and multidialectal children enrolled at YVY with the goal to inform the organization policies and instructional practices and to disseminate the findings that emerge from the projects for the benefits of the broader academic and early childhood education communities. YVY Research Institute is responsible for the development and implementation of YVY Dual Language Policy and prepares future educators and clinicians to better serve the fast increasing number of multilingual and multicultural children in US schools.

Federal Funding

Since it was founded in 2006, YVY Research Institute has continuously benefitted from funding from the National Science Foundations (NSF) including from the Linguistics and Developmental and Learning Sciences Panels (BCS# 1251828/1548147) and the Research Experience for Undergraduate Site Panel (1st cycle 2017-2021: SMA #1659607). Current funding is provided by both NSF-REU and the US Department of Defense Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) ASSURE program (2nd Cycle SMA: #: 2050922). A complementary grant awarded by both NSF and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (SMA/SBE# 2041294) will fund the ILLC Journal- the first international journal of undergraduate research in linguistics and speech-language-hearing-communication sciences. More information about the journal can be found at: https://undergrad-language-research.org/illc-journal/.

People

YVY Research Institute is directed by Isabelle Barrière, PhD, Associate Professor in Communication Sciences & Disorders at Molloy College, Long Island; Adjunct Member of the Doctoral Faculty at CUNY Graduate Center Speech-Language-Hearing-Communication Sciences Department and Member of the Research Institute of the Study of Language in Urban Society, Doctoral Program in Linguistics, CUNY Graduate Center. Dr. Barrière’s work focuses on language development in pre-school children exposed to different languages and language use by multilingual individuals. In 2017, she initiated the first NSF-Research Experience for Undergraduate Site focused on the linguistic diversity of New York City that encourages and supports research by and on members of groups under-represented in Higher Education. In 2018 her contribution to our understanding of the language development of young children in New York and internationally was recognized by thirteen NYC, NYS and US elected officials and in January 2019 she was made Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French Government for her contribution to scholarship and education. In 2021, she was nominated to become a full member of the Sigma XI Scientific Research Honor Society and is currently serving on the Global Outreach Committee.

Researchers and research assistants at YVY Research Institute include Doctoral, Masters Undergraduate and High School students affiliated with different schools, colleges and universities in NY-tri state area and who major or minor in Cognitive Science, Education, Linguistics, Psychology and Speech-Language-Hearing Communication Sciences. Undergraduate students interested to join YVY Research Institute and apply for the generous NSF-REU fellowship should visit: https://undergrad-language-research.org

All students are encouraged to contact Dr. Barrière at ibarriere@yeled.org.

The work of YVY Research Institute is also made possible by all the families, education professionals and staff at YVY who have continuously and enthusiastically participated in the projects.

Recent Presentations and Publications

*Projects funded by NSF; **Doctoral dissertations

**Lieberman, R. ; Creaghead, N., Raisor-Beckert, L., Barrière, I., Silbert, N., Dick, G. (in press) Using Headphones for Naïve Listener Simulation During Story Retells. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Group. Upcoming

*Gonzalez-Gomez, N., Hsin, L., Barrière, I., Nazzi, T. Legendre, G. (in press) Converging
Evidence of Underlying Competence: Comprehension and Production in the Acquisition of Spanish Subject-Verb Agreement. Journal of Child Language. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000921000301

*Delgado, J. & Barrière, I. (June 2021) The Status of Compounds in English-speaking Children’s Language. 3rd NSF REU ILLC Conference, Molloy College, Long Island (online).

*Sum, O. & Barrière, I. (May 2021) Grammatical Gender in Ukrainian-English Code-Switching. CUNY Language, Society & Culture Conference. Kingsborough Community College (online) [2nd Prize Student Award]

*Aharodnik, K., Barrière, I., Shimoonov, D., Karp, C., Yunusova, N., Feldman, E., Binch, M., Ng, S., Koulaguina, E., Kresh, S., Legendre, G. & Nazzi, T. (September 2019) Cross Linguistic Comprehension of Subject-Verb Agreement Markers by Bilingual Preschoolers. Typical and Atypical Language Development Symposium, Moscow, Russia.

*Liff, S. & Barrière, I. (June 2019) Null Subjects in Borough Park and Williamsburg Hasidic Yiddish. 2nd Conference on Yiddish Language Structures, University of Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany.

*Liff, S.& Barrière, I. (May 2019) Revisiting Null Subjects in Yiddish. 25th Germanic Linguistic Annual Conference (GLAC 25), University of Iowa, Iowa City, US.

*Liff, S. & Barrière, I.(June 2019) Resolving the Null Subject Debate in Yiddish. 2nd NSF REU ILLC Conference, Long Island University-Downtown Brooklyn.

*Karp, C. & Barrière, I. (June 2019) Use of Definite and Indefinite Articles by Monolingual and Bilingual Preschoolers. 2nd NSF REU ILLC Conference, Long Island University-Downtown Brooklyn.

**Chard, J., Martohardjono, G., Barrière, I. & Jia, G. (March 2019). Making bilingual assessment accessible: Development of a Mandarin-English language assessment for preschoolers. Meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Atlanta, GA.

**Chard, J., Martohardjono, G., Barrière, I., & Jia, G. (January 2019) Language Assessment in a Multilingual Society: A Prototype for Mandarin-Speaking Preschoolers. 93rd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Sheraton Hotel Times Square, Manhattan, New York.

*Barrière, I., Kresh, S., Aharodnik, K., Legendre., G. & Nazzi, T. (2019) The comprehension of 3rd Person Singular –s by NYC English-speaking Preschoolers. In M. Rispoli & T. Ionin (eds) Three Streams of Generative Language Acquisition Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, Language Acquisition and Language Disorders Series. P7-33. https://benjamins.com/catalog/lald.63.02bar

*Blume, M., Barrière, I., Dye, C.& Kang, C. (2019) Challenges for the Development of Linked Open Data for Research in Multilingualism. A. Pareja, M. Blume, B.C. Lust & M.R. Melanson (Eds.) Development of Linguistic Linked Open Data Resources for Collaborative Data-Intensive Research in the Language Sciences. (185-200) Boston: MIT press. https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/development-linguistic-linked-open-data-resources-collaborative-data-intensive-research-language

*Koulaguina, E., Legendre, G., Barrière, I. & Nazzi, T. (2019) Abstract syntax at 24 months: Evidence from subject-verb agreement with conjoined subjects. Language Learning and Development, 15 (2), 157-176. https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2019.1571417

*Shimoonov, D., Barrière, I., Aharodnik, K., Yunusova, N., Zinger, M. & Koulaguina, E. (November 2018) Receptive & Expressive Skills in Hebrew-Russian-English Trilingual Preschoolers: Implications for the Assessment of Multilingual Children. American Speech & Hearing Association Convention. Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC), Boston, Massachusetts. [poster- selected for PROGENY emergent scholar program]

*Chard, J., Martohardjono, G., Barrière, I. & Jia, G. (June 2018). Home language assessment in Chinese-English bilingual preschoolers. National Research Conference on Early Childhood (NRCEC), Arlington, VA. [poster]

*Moskowitz, E. & Barrière, I. (June 2018) Variations in Hasidic Yiddish Preschoolers: Production and Preference. 1st NSF REU ILLC Conference, Long Island University-Downtown Brooklyn.

*Scott, S. & Barrière, I. (June 2018) Impact of Dialectal Variation on Preschoolers’Acquisition of Questions. 1st NSF REU ILLC Conference, Long Island University-Downtown Brooklyn.

*Shimoonov, D.& Barrière, I. (June 2018) Bilingualism vs Trilingualism in Preschoolers Acquiring Russian, Hebrew and English. 1st NSF REU ILLC Conference, Long Island University-Brooklyn.

*Gonzalez-Gomez, N., Hsin, L., Barrière, I., Nazzi, T. Legendre, G. (2017) Agarra, Agarran:
Evidence of Early Comprehension of Subject-Verb Agreement in Spanish. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 160, 33-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.02.010

*Barrière, I., Aharodnik, K., Kresh, S., Koulaguina, E., Fleurio, P. (G.), Hassaneen, F., Joseph, B., Ng, S., Rauber,
S., Chaimov. T., Shvydchenko, T., Stein, D., Legendre, G. & Nazzi, T. (September 2016) The Roles of Families and
Preschools in the Development of Young Bilinguals’Receptive Language skills. Multilingualism and Language
Empowerment: A Response to Inequality, CUNY Graduate Center, New York.

*Barrière, I., Goyet, L., Kresh, S. Nazzi, T., & Legendre, G. (2016) Uncovering Productive Morphosyntax in French-learning Toddlers: A Multidimensional Methodology Perspective. Journal of Child Language, 43 (5), 1131-1157. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000915000495

*Barrière, I., Legendre, G., Joseph, B., Kresh, S., Fleurio, G.P. & Nazzi, T. (2016) Le statut linguistique des
pronoms du créole haïtien et du français : une étude de corpus. Actes du 5ème Congrès Mondial de Linguistique
Française. http://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/pdf/2016/05/shsconf_cmlf2016_14006.pdf

*Barrière, I., Kresh, S., Polanco, C., Rauber, S., Fay, V., Lanham,V, Robertson, J., Legendre, G. & Nazzi, T. (2015, May) Language-Specific Characteristics in low SES Mexican Spanish-English Bilingual Preschoolers’ Comprehension of Subject-Verb Agreement. Tenth International Symposium on Bilingualism, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.

*Barrière, I. (2014) Assessment of Language Abilities. In P. Brooks & V. Kempe (Eds.),
Encyclopedia of Language Development. (pp21-25) Sage. SAGE Reference – Encyclopedia of Language Development (sagepub.com)

*Legendre, G., Zaroukian, E., Hsin, L., Culbertson, J., Barrière, I., & Nazzi, T. (2014). Is
children’s comprehension of subject-verb agreement universally late? Comparative evidence from French, English and Spanish. Lingua, 144, 21-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2013.05.004

Barrière, I. (2013, October). Creating Identity: Yiddish Across a Spectrum of Jewish Communities
Today Annual Naomi Prawer Kadar Memorial Lecture, YIVO Institute at the Center for Jewish
History, NYC.

Barrière, I. (2013). On the Acquisition of French Argument Structure and SE-Cliticization: Explaining the L1
Acquisition of Reflexive, Reciprocal, Anticausative and Middle-Passive Constructions across Languages.
Saarbrücken, Germany: Scholars Press. ISBN 978-3-63951677-7 [Doctoral Dissertation]
http://works.bepress.com/isabelle-barriere/28/

Barrière, I. & Monéreau-Merry, M.M. (2012). Trilingualism of the Haitian Diaspora in NYC: Current and Future
Challenges. In O. Garcia, B. Otcu & Z. Zakharia (Eds.), Bilingual Community Education and Multilingualism:
Beyond Heritage Languages in a Global City (pp. 247-258). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847698018-018

*Legendre, G. Barrière, I., Goyet, L. & Nazzi, T. (2012). On the acquisition of implicated
presuppositions: Evidence from French personal pronouns. M. Pirvulescu, M.C. Cuervo, Pèrez, A.T., Steele, J. & Strik, N. (Eds.) Proceedings of GALANA.(pp. 150-162). Somerville: Cascadilla Press. http://works.bepress.com/isabelle-barriere/34/

*Nazzi, T., Barrière, I., Goyet, L., Kresh, S., & Legendre, G. (2011). Tracking irregular morpho-phonological
dependencies in natural language: Evidence from the acquisition of subject-verb agreement in French. Cognition,
120, 119-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2011.03.004

Barrière, I. (2010, November). The acquisition of Yiddish by Hasidic toddlers and preschoolers:
insights into bilingualism from a natural psycholinguistic experiment. Paper presented at Judaic Studies Program, Drexel University, Philadelphia

Barrière, I. (2010). The vitality of Yiddish among Hasidic infants and toddlers in a low SES
preschool in Brooklyn. In W. Moskovich (Ed.), Yiddish – A Jewish National Language at 100 (pp. 170 – 196). Jerusalem-Kyiv: Hebrew University of Jerusalem. http://works.bepress.com/isabelle-barriere/24/

*Legendre, G., Culbertson, J., Barrière, I., Nazzi, T., & Goyet, L. (2010). Experimental and empirical evidence for
the status and acquisition of subject clitics and agreement marking in adult and child spoken French. In V. Torrens,
L. Escobar, A. Gavarro, & J.G. Mangado (Eds.) Movement and Clitics (pp. 336-360). Newcastle: Cambridge
Scholars Publishing.

*Legendre, G., Barrière, I., Goyet, L., & Nazzi, T. (2010). Comprehension of infrequent subject agreement forms:
Evidence from French-learning children. Child Development, 81(6), 1859-1875. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467
8624.2010.01515.x

Barrière, I. (2009, January). The distinction between low percentage of exposure and language impairment: insights
from the acquisition of Yiddish and English. Paper presented at Bilingualism and Specific Language Impairment,
Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.

DeBey, M., & Barrière, I. (2009). Globalization, technology and the education of young children: understanding the world in two languages. In S. A. O’Connor-Petruso & F. Girelli-Carasi (Eds.), Globalization, Technology and Curriculum (pp. 72-90). Boston: Pearsons. Globalization: Technology, Literacy & Curriculum | 1st edition | Pearson

Morgan, G., Herman, R. C., Barrière, I., & Woll, B. (2008). The onset and mastery of spatial
language in children acquiring British Sign Language. Cognitive Development, 23, 1-19 (with a commentary by Dan I. Slobin). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2007.09.003

Barrière, I., & Lorch, M. P (2006). On the acquisition of ambiguous valency-marking morphemes: insights from the
acquisition of French SE. V. Torrens (Ed.), The Romance Turn (pp.23-49). Amsterdam: Johns Benjamins. On the
acquisition of ambiguous Valency-Marking Morphemes | John Benjamins (jbe-platform.com)

Morgan, G., Barrière, I. & Woll, B. (2006). The roles of modality and typology in the acquisition of verb
morphology in British Sign Language. First Language, 26(1), 19-43.https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0142723706060739