Ana Teresa Pérez-leroux

Biography

It was in Kindergarden when I first heard that people in China spoke Chinese. "Even the children?” was what I wanted to know. That evening, I told my father I was worried: "Papa, these poor kids. They think in Spanish but need to learn to speak Chinese to talk to their families.” My work is primarily experimental, and aims precisely at that question: how grammar determines meanings, and how monolingual and bilingual children learn about that, particularly when complex structures and silent constituents are involved. It was in Kindergarden when I first heard that people in China spoke Chinese. "Even the children?” was what I wanted to know. That evening, I told my father I was worried: "Papa, these poor kids. They think in Spanish but need to learn to speak Chinese to talk to their families.” My work is primarily experimental, and aims precisely at that question: how grammar determines meanings, and how monolingual and bilingual children learn about that, particularly when complex structures and silent constituents are involved.

Research Interest

Spanish and Linguistics