- Bilinguals have been shown to adapt to syntactic innovations (i.e., structures that deviate
from the standard grammar) either by producing such structures more or by processing them faster
after repeated exposure. However, research on whether they adapt by increasing their acceptability
ratings for innovations is limited. We consider this to be a crucial gap in the literature, since it could
provide insights into how speakers adapt their perception for innovations that they might otherwise
not adapt to in their production and/or processing. On this basis, the present study investigates
overall acceptability and trial-by-trial acceptability (adaptation) for different types of innovations in
Canadian French with grammatical structural equivalents in English. Structure type and individual
differences in language experience (dominance, proficiency, exposure, etc.) are considered as factors
that influence these processes, as previous research has shown that they play a role in the acceptability
of innovations in bilinguals. For this purpose, we employed a timed acceptability judgment task
(TAJT), where adult bilingual speakers of French and English in Canada were asked to rate innovative
sentences in French and their standard (grammatical) counterparts as fast and spontaneously as
possible. Both acceptability ratings (offline measure) and response times (RTs) (online measure) across
trials were measured to test whether speakers show adaptation on both levels. Results revealed that
innovations were rated lower and for most structure types slower than their standard counterparts,
with the different types of innovations showing differences. Crucially, adaptation on a group level
was reflected only in response times and not in acceptability ratings. On an individual level, though,
some participants adapted their ratings, but not consistently across all innovation types. Moreover,
ratings and RTs were influenced by individual language experience, with participants with a higher
contact with French (higher French Score) being faster and less accepting of innovative sentences
compared to participants with a lower contact with French.