How do second language learners build syntactic structure?

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-64
Author(s):  
Eva M. Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
First Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis

Understanding the mechanisms learners use to process target language input is crucial to developing a complete model of both first language (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition. If adult L2 learners are found to process the target language with mechanisms that differ from those used by child L1 learners and adult native speakers, what implications might this have for the developing grammar? Clahsen and Felser review evidence that appears to point to such differences, generalizing their findings under a shallow structure hypothesis about how adult learners process input in L2.

The neural timecourse of American English vowel discrimination by Japanese, Russian and Spanish second-language learners of English

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Valerie L. Shafer ◽  
Sarah Kresh ◽  
Kikuyo Ito ◽  
Miwako Hisagi ◽  
Nancy Vidal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
American English ◽  
First Language ◽  
Perceptual Task ◽  
Temporal Contrast ◽  
Asymmetrical Pattern ◽  
Significant Difference

Abstract This study investigated the influence of first language (L1) phoneme features and phonetic salience on discrimination of second language (L2) American English (AE) vowels. On a perceptual task, L2 adult learners of English with Spanish, Japanese or Russian as an L1 showed poorer discrimination of the spectral-only difference between /æ:/ as the oddball (deviant) among frequent /ɑ:/ stimuli compared to AE controls. The Spanish listeners showed a significant difference from the controls for the spectral-temporal contrast between /ɑ:/ and /ʌ/ for both perception and the neural Mismatch Negativity (MMN), but only for deviant /ɑ:/ versus /ʌ/ (duration decrement). For deviant /ʌ/ versus /ɑ:/, and for deviant /æ:/ versus /ʌ/ or /ɑ:/, all participants showed equivalent MMN amplitude. The asymmetrical pattern for /ɑ:/ and /ʌ/ suggested that L2 phonetic detail was maintained only for the deviant. These findings indicated that discrimination was more strongly influenced by L1 phonology than phonetic salience.

scholarly journals Second language learners’ divergence from target language pragmatic norms

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Pia Gomez-Laich
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
L2 Pragmatics ◽  
Direct Explanation ◽  
The Individual

Pragmatic competence is an indispensable aspect of language ability in order for second and foreign language (L2/FL) learners to understand and be understood in their interactions with both native and nonnative speakers of the target language. Without a proper understanding of the pragmatic rules in the target language, learners may run the risk of coming across as insensitive and rude. Several researchers (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001; Kasper & Rose, 2002) suggest that L2 pragmatics not only can be taught in the L2/FL classroom, but, more importantly, that explicit approaches that involve direct explanation of target pragmatic features are beneficial for learning pragmatics. Just as native speakers of a language acquire a “set of dispositions to act in certain ways, which generates cognitive and bodily practices in the individual” (Watts, 2003, p. 149), instructors can help learners to become aware of the pragmatic features that characterize the target language. Although the importance of explicit teaching of pragmatics is well recognized in the literature, learning norms and rules of pragmatics largely depends on learners’ subjectivity. Learners’ convergence or divergence from the L2 pragmatic norms, both consciously and out of awareness, sometimes depends on whether these norms fit their image of self and their L1 cultural identity. Since identity-related conflict can have significant consequences for the acquisition of second language pragmatics, failing to consider the centrality of learners’ identities will produce an inadequate understanding of SLA. This paper synthesizes studies that document the reasons why learners opt to remain foreign by resisting certain L2 practic-es. The following synthesis question was proposed: Why do language learners resist the pragmatic norms of the target language?

scholarly journals Comprehension of grammatically modified and nonmodified sentences by second language learners

1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana C. Issidorides ◽  
Jan H. Hulstijn
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
State Of Affairs

ABSTRACTAt issue in the present research is whether native speakers' “simplified” or modified utterances, as in foreigner-talk (FT), actually facilitate comprehension for nonnative speakers hearing such utterances. It was hypothesized that (grammatical) Dutch inversion sentences (AdvVSO) that have proven to be problematic in studies on Dutch second language (L2) acquisition - as reflected both in the (ungrammatical) output of L2 learners and in the (ungrammatical) FT input to L2 learners - would not be problematic in terms of comprehension, when compared with modified, ungrammatical AdvSVO and AdvSOV sentences, as long as such sentences do not express an implausible state of affairs. Three subject groups participated in the experiment: 20 English and 22 Turkish L2 learners of Dutch and 30 Dutch native speakers (control group). Subjects heard and interpreted declarative Dutch sentences, in which word order (NVN, VNN, NNV) and animacy configurations (Al [i.e., animate/inanimate], AA, LA) were systematically manipulated. Subjects had to name the noun (first or second) that functions as actor/subject of the sentence. Positive evidence was found for the hypotheses. It is concluded from the present study, as well as from a previous study (Issidorides, 1988), that linguistically more complex input will not necessarily impede comprehension. The fact that normative speakers have difficulties in producing a certain grammatical structure (e.g., the AdvVSO structure) does not imply that such a structure is also more difficult to understand in the speech of others.

The acquisition of some Dutch morphological rules

1980 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 539-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Snow ◽  
Norval S. H. Smith ◽  
Marian Hoefnagel-Höhle
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Correct Performance ◽  
Rule Systems

ABSTRACTThe acquisition of the morphological rules for plural, agentive, and diminutive suffixes in Dutch was studied. Subjects included 7- and 12-year-old native speakers, and second-language learners in three age groups (5–10 years, 12–18 years, and adult). The first- and second-language learners showed very similar orders of acquisition for the rule systems governing plural and diminutive, but the second-language learners showed a subtle form of interference from their first language in acquiring the agentive. The findings suggest that morphological acquisition proceeds piecemeal, with the learning of specific word ending + allomorph sequences, and that generalizations at the level of morphological rules may not be made even after several years of correct performance with the allomorph in question.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF ACOUSTIC CUES AND LISTENER PROFICIENCY IN THE PERCEPTION OF ACCENT IN NONNATIVE SOUNDS

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikola Anna Eger ◽  
Eva Reinisch
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Production Quality ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Minimal Pairs

AbstractThe speech of second language learners is often influenced by phonetic patterns of their first language. This can make them difficult to understand, but sometimes for listeners of the same first language to a lesser extent than for native listeners. The present study investigates listeners’ awareness of the accent by asking whether accented speech is not only more intelligible but also more acceptable to nonnative than native listeners. English native speakers and German learners rated the goodness of words spoken by other German learners. Production quality was determined by measuring acoustic differences between minimal pairs with “easy” versus “difficult” sounds. Higher proficient learners were more sensitive to differences in production quality and between easy and difficult sounds, patterning with native listeners. Lower proficient learners did not perceive such differences. Perceiving accented productions as good instances of L2 words may hinder development because the need for improvement may not be obvious.

Tense-Aspect Distinctions within the Subjunctive Mood in the Spanish of Native Speakers and Second-Language Learners

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aarnes Gudmestad
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Subjunctive Mood ◽  
Frequency Of Use

AbstractThe current study constitutes the first empirical investigation of the complete repertoire of tense-aspect forms of the subjunctive mood in Spanish. In this study, I identify the frequency of use of the full range of tense-aspect forms of the subjunctive mood (e.g. present, pluperfect) that native speakers and five proficiency levels of second-language learners use in mood-choice contexts and seek to determine the linguistic contexts (i.e. functions) in which these forms occur. The results show that native speakers use the present, imperfect, and pluperfect subjunctive forms more frequently than other subjunctive forms and that they use these three forms in a range of linguistic contexts. The analysis also demonstrates that learners use these three forms in largely the same contexts as the native speakers and that they restructure the strength of their form-meaning associations as they become more proficient in the target language.

Economy in the acquisition of English universal quantifier sentences: The interpretations of deaf and hearing students and second language learners at the college level

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
GERALD P. BERENT ◽  
RONALD R. KELLY ◽  
TANYA SCHUELER-CHOUKAIRI
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Universal Quantifier ◽  
College Level ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Sentence Interpretation

ABSTRACTEnglish sentences containing the universal quantifiers each, every, and all are highly complex structures in view of the subtleties of their scope properties and resulting ambiguities. This study explored the acquisition of universal quantifier sentences as reflected in the performance of three diverse college-level student groups on a multipicture sentence interpretation task. The participant groups (hearing native speakers, deaf students, and second language learners of English) all exhibited fundamental knowledge of universal lexical, semantic, and syntactic properties that contribute to quantifier sentence interpretation. The native speakers outperformed the deaf and second language groups, whose performance was strikingly parallel. Performance patterns are explained in terms of the influences of derivational economy, including the option to restrict in situ indefinite noun phrases to singleton indefinites. The symmetry effect observed in child language studies was also observed among the college-aged participants in this study. It is explained in terms of a pragmatic challenge in managing contextual information that invokes an unexpected singleton indefinite interpretation. The results contribute to the understanding of sentence comprehension under conditions of restricted learner access to target language input and underscore the value of seeking correlates of theory-internal derivational economy in language acquisition and use.

scholarly journals Language transfer and positional bias in English stress

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-474
Author(s):  
Guilherme D Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Positional Bias ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Generalize Weight

This article shows that first language (L1) transfer may not be effectively maintained in the interlanguage due to confounding factors in the second language (L2). When two factors, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], are correlated in the L2, second language learners may only acquire [Formula: see text], even if [Formula: see text] is present in the L1. Transfer may not be effective because [Formula: see text], being more robust in the input, conceals [Formula: see text]. Native speakers, on the other hand, generalize [Formula: see text] in spite of [Formula: see text]. The variables in question are weight-sensitivity ([Formula: see text]) and positional bias ([Formula: see text]) in English, both of which can predict the location of stress in the language. I show that two seemingly target-like groups of second language learners of English (speakers of Mandarin and speakers Portuguese) fail to accurately generalize weight-sensitivity in the language, and instead display response patterns which are predictable given the existing positional bias in English stress.

Investigating the degree of humorous enjoyment in reading Chinese language errors

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-223
Author(s):  
Guangyan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Gender Difference ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Chinese Teachers ◽  
Reading Chinese ◽  
People’S Perceptions

AbstractSecond language learners often make errors when they use their target language for communication. People perceive some of these errors as humorous. Many factors influence these perceptions. The purpose of this study is to investigate how these factors affect people’s perceptions when they read CSL (Chinese as a second language) learners’ humorous errors. The factors mainly refer to error stimuli and readers’ backgrounds. The researcher collected 25 error stimuli from two popular and often-cited online articles. 57 participants responded to these errors and rated them in the following three categories: Very Funny, Somewhat Funny, and Not Funny. These participants included 51 Native Speakers (NSs) of Chinese and six Non-Native Speakers (NNSs). The NSs consisted of 28 females and 23 males. Out of the participants, 17 were Chinese teachers and 40 were non-teachers. The results indicate that teachers perceived these texts as less funny than non-teachers; No significant gender difference was found; NNSs seemed to perceive these error stimuli as less funny than NSs, however, readers should be cautious in interpreting this result because of the limited number of NNSs. In addition, this study compared the humorous texts that were perceived as the funniest and the ones perceived as the least funny. The results demonstrate that an error-evoked “Very Funny” joke text had two overlapping and opposing scripts. The more overlapping and opposing the two scripts within a joke text were, the more humorous enjoyment a reader experienced. These findings improve our understanding of the interrelationship of language and humor that has been neglected in CSL, Chinese linguistics, and humor literature.

Why is ‘is’ easier than ‘-s’?: acquisition of tense/agreement morphology by child second language learners of English

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Ionin ◽  
Kenneth Wexler
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Agreement Morphology ◽  
Verb Raising

This study of first-language (L1) Russian children acquiring English as a second language (L2) investigates the reasons behind omission of verbal inflection in L2 acquisition and argues for presence of functional categories in L2 grammar. Analyses of spontaneous production data show that the child L2 learners ( n = 20), while omitting inflection, almost never produce incorrect tense/agreement morphology. Furthermore, the L2 learners use suppletive inflection at a significantly higher rate than affixal inflection, and overgenerate be auxiliary forms in utterances lacking progressive participles (e.g., they are help people). A grammaticality judgement task of English tense/agreement morphology similarly shows that the child L2 English learners are significantly more sensitive to the be paradigm than to inflection on thematic verbs. These findings suggest that Tense is present in the learners’ L2 grammar, and that it is instantiated through forms of the be auxiliary. It is argued that omission of inflection is due to problems with the realization of surface morphology, rather than to feature impairment, in accordance with the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis of Prévost and White (2000). It is furthermore suggested that L2 learners initially associate morphological agreement with verb-raising and, thus, acquire forms of be before inflectional morphology on in situ thematic verbs.

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