The Representation and Resolution of Null Grammatical Elements in the Bilingual Mind
My current research investigates how bilinguals resolve null grammatical elements, with a particular focus on the linguistic and cognitive factors involved. Specifically, I examine the interplay between different levels of representation in the processing of null pronouns and null arguments in bilinguals, including heritage speakers and L2 learners.
The Role of Overt vs. Null Agreement Markers in Spanish Heritage Speakers’ Processing of Gender
As part of the PoMMLab, I am leading a project on the role of overt and null gender agreement markers in Spanish Heritage Speakers' processing of gender in their weaker heritage language. In this study, we aim to investigate baseline and heritage Spanish speakers’ facilitative processing of grammatical gender in null vs. overt morphological gender agreement markers in Spanish. We focus on Spanish singular indefinites algún and alguna and their plural variants algunos and algunas, respectively.
Fuchs, Z., Kealey, E., Eldem-Tunç, E., Mermelstein, L., Pham, L., Runova, A., Chen, Y., Oğuz, M., Hong, S., Pan, C., & Subramony, J. (2025). Measuring Adult Heritage Language Lexical Proficiency for Studies on Facilitative Processing of Gender. Languages, 10(8), 189. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10080189
Tabatabaei, S., Gencer, G., Eldem, E. & Bakhtiarvand, M. (2018). A comparative analysis of apology strategy between Turkish EFL learners and native speakers of English. Applied Linguistics Research Journal, 2(3), 48–57.
Eldem-Tunç, E., Fuchs. Z., & Kaiser, E. (2025). Interpretation of Verbal Ellipsis in Monolinguals and Heritage Speakers. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America. 10(1). [link]
Eldem-Tunç, E. & Fuchs. Z. (2024). Morphological Decomposition in Heritage Turkish in the US. In Y.-H. Kim & B. Öney (Eds.), Proceedings of Workshop on Turkic and Languages in Contact with Turkic 9. 89-105. [link]
Eldem-Tunç, E., Fuchs, Z. & Kaiser, E. (2025). “Addressing the Silent Problem: Heritage Speakers’ Interpretation of Anaphora under Verbal Ellipsis” 16th Heritage Language Research Institute, University of Wisconsin, Madison. (poster presentation).
Fuchs, Z., Kealey, E., Eldem-Tunç, E., Mermelstein, L., Pham, L., Runova, A., Hong, S., Oguz, M., Chen, Y., Pan, C., Subramony, JK. (2025). “Predicting facilitative processing of gender in Heritage Spanish using measures of lexical proficiency” 16th Heritage Language Research Institute, University of Wisconsin, Madison. (poster presentation).
Eldem-Tunç, E., Fuchs, Z. & Kaiser, E. (2025). “Interpretation of Anaphors under Verbal Ellipsis in Heritage Turkish” 15th International Symposium on Bilingualism. San Sebastián, Spain. (accepted for an oral presentation but couldn't attend due to visa issues).
Eldem-Tunç, E., Fuchs, Z. & Kaiser, E. (2025). “Interpretation of Anaphors in Verbal Ellipsis: Evidence from Heritage Turkish” HSP 2025: 38th Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing. University of Maryland, College Park. (poster presentation)
Eldem-Tunç, E., Fuchs, Z. & Kaiser, E. (2025). “Turkish and English Verbal Ellipsis: Experiments with Monolinguals and Heritage Speakers” Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA. (oral presentation)
Eldem-Tunç, E., Fuchs, Z. & Kaiser, E. (2024). “Interpretation of Anaphors under Verbal Ellipsis in Heritage Turkish” California Meeting on Psycholinguistics (CAMP). University of California, San Diego, CA. (oral presentation)
Eldem, E. (2024). “Morphological Decomposition in Heritage Turkish Speakers in the U.S.” HSP 2024: 37th Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. (poster presentation)
Eldem, E. (2024). “Morphological Decomposition in Heritage Turkish Speakers in the U.S.” 9th Workshop on Turkic and Languages in Contact with Turkic, Cornell University, NY. (poster presentation)
Eldem, E. (2023). “Morphological Decomposition in Heritage Turkish Speakers in the U.S.” California Meeting on Psycholinguistics (CAMP), University of California, Los Angeles, CA. (flash talk presentation)
Eldem, E. (2019). “Selected Turkish discourse markers in computer-mediated discourse.” Graduate Research Conference, California State University, Long Beach, CA. (oral presentation)
Eldem, E. (2019). “Subject realization in Turkish-English bilingual children.” 44th Annual CSU, SSRIC Social Science Student Symposium, California State University, San Bernardino, CA. (oral presentation)