TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIONS IN L2 ACQUISITION Toward a Modular View of Transfer

2000 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul
Keyword(s):  
Judgment Task ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Universal Principles ◽  
Transitivity Alternations ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Interlanguage Grammars ◽  
L1 Acquisition ◽  
Universal Mechanism

This experimental study on English, Spanish, and Turkish as second languages investigates the interaction of universal principles and L1 knowledge in interlanguage grammars by focusing on verbs that participate in the causative/inchoative alternation (such as break in English). These verbs have the same lexico-semantic composition, but differ crosslinguistically as to how they encode the alternation morphologically. Results of a picture judgment task show that, as in L1 acquisition, L2 learners of Turkish, Spanish, and English with different L1s rely on a universal mechanism when learning transitivity alternations. L1 influence plays a prominent role in the morphological realization of the alternation. These findings suggest that UG and L1 knowledge may not affect all linguistic domains in the same way at a given stage of development. It is proposed that transfer is subject to modularity in interlanguage grammars.

scholarly journals MORPHOLOGICAL AND SYNTACTIC TRANSFER IN CHILD L2 ACQUISITION OF THE ENGLISH DATIVE ALTERNATION

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Whong-Barr ◽  
Bonnie D. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Judgment Task ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Korean Children ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Accusative Constructions ◽  
L1 Acquisition ◽  
L1 English

This experimental study compares the acquisition of the English to- and for-dative alternation by L1 English, L1 Japanese, and L1 Korean children. It is well known that there are restrictions on the verbs that can enter into the dative alternation—for example, you can show the results to someone and show someone the results; and you can demonstrate the results to someone but you cannot *demonstrate someone the results. L1 children sometimes overextend the double-object variant to verbs that disallow it. One question we investigate is whether L2 children, like L1 children, overextend the double-object variant. A second question we probe is whether L2 children, like L2 adults, transfer properties of the L1 grammar. Japanese disallows all double-accusative constructions. Korean disallows them with analogues of to-dative verbs; but with analogues of for-dative verbs, Korean productively allows them—more broadly, in fact, than English—if the benefactive verbal morpheme cwu- is added. Results from an oral grammaticality judgment task show (a) that all groups allow illicit to-dative double-object forms and (b) that the Japanese—but not the Koreans—allow illicit for-dative double-object forms. This bifurcation, we argue, stems from the fact that Korean (but not Japanese) has an overt morphological licensor for double objects. We thus find evidence of both (a) overgeneralization, like in L1 acquisition, and (b) L1 influence, like in adult L2 acquisition, in this case from the (syntactic) argument-changing properties of overt morphology.

MOTION VERBS WITH GOAL PPs IN THE L2 ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH AND JAPANESE

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shunji Inagaki
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Directed Motion ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Japanese Learners

In English, manner-of-motion verbs (walk, run) and directed motion verbs (go) can appear with a prepositional phrase that expresses a goal (goal PP) as in John walked (ran, went) to school. In contrast, Japanese allows only directed motion verbs to occur with a goal PP. Thus, English allows a wider range of motion verbs to occur with goal PPs than Japanese does. Learnability considerations, then, lead me to hypothesize that Japanese learners will learn manner-of-motion verbs with goal PPs in English from positive evidence, whereas English learners will have difficulty learning that manner-of-motion verbs with goal PPs are impossible in Japanese because nothing in the input will tell them so. Forty-two intermediate Japanese learners of English and 21 advanced English learners of Japanese were tested using a grammaticality judgment task with pictures. Results support this prediction and provide a new piece of evidence for the previous findings indicating that L1 influence persists when an argument structure in the L2 constitutes a subset of its counterpart in the L1.

A functional approach to the attainability of typological targets in L2 acquisition

1986 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut Zobl
Keyword(s):  
Functional Approach ◽  
Input String ◽  
The Other ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Logical Entailment ◽  
L1 Acquisition ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Relationship Of

This paper proposes a functional, parsing-based approach to the attainability of typological targets in L1 and L2 acquisition. Ideally, there should be a functional synchronization between the order in which principles constituting typological values emerge in learner grammars and the computational demands imposed by the simplest data instantiating a typological value. In L2 acquisition this functional synchronization is jeopardized by the possibility of L1-inspired misparses which may impute more structure to an input string than is consistent with a minimal parse. As a result, the more marked typological setting or the implicans of two grammatical principles in a relationship of logical entailment can appear first in interlanguage grammars. In L1 acquisition, on the other hand, misparses appear to be the result of assuming too little structure. Because of these differences, recovery from an inappropriate value follows different courses in L1 and L2 acquisition. It is proposed that this difference has important implications for the learn-ability of first and second languages.

scholarly journals From a simple to a complex aspectual system: Feature reassembly in L2 acquisition of Chinese imperfective markers by English speakers

2020 ◽  
pp. 026765832091143
Author(s):  
Yanyu Guo
Keyword(s):  
Judgment Task ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Feature Reassembly ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
English Speaking

This article reports on an empirical study on the acquisition of Chinese imperfective markers ( zai, - zheP and - zheR) by English-speaking learners at three proficiency levels. Compared to English, Chinese has a richer imperfective aspect in terms of markers (forms) and features (meanings). Results are presented from a grammaticality judgment task, a sentence–picture matching task and a sentence completeness judgment task. We find that advanced learners are successful in reassembling additional semantic features (e.g. the [+durative] feature of zai and the [+atelic] feature of -zheP) when the first language (L1) and second language (L2) functional categories to which the to-be-added features belong are the same. However, advanced learners have problems in differentiating between the interpretations of the progressive zai and the resultant-stative - zheR, and are not sensitive to the incompleteness effect of - zheP, which indicates that discarding L1-transferred features is arduous for learners. Our findings, in general, support the predictions of the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (Lardiere, 2009). In addition, there is some evidence obtained for L1 influence, which persists at an advanced stage.

Child second language acquisition from a generative perspective

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belma Haznedar
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
First Language ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Current Work ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Functional Architecture ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
L1 Acquisition

This chapter reviews current work on child second language acquisition from a generative perspective. The primary goal is to identify characteristics of child L2 acquisition in relation to child first language (L1) acquisition and adult second language (L2) acquisition and to discuss its contribution to these sister fields both in typical and atypical domains. The chapter is organized into three sections, covering L1 influence in child L2 acquisition, the acquisition of functional architecture in child L2 acquisition, and the issue of morphological variability. Also included in the last section are the relatively new and fast developing areas of research in atypical child L2 acquisition research.

AGENTIVE VERBS OF MANNER OF MOTION IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH AS SECOND LANGUAGES

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Directed Motion ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Spanish Study

This article presents two experiments that examine the effects of the native language (L1) on the second language (L2) acquisition of argument structure. The linguistic focus is on agentive verbs of directed motion (march, walk) and change-of-state verbs (break, melt) in Spanish and English. Agentive verbs of directed motion undergo a transitivity alternation in English when there is a prepositional phrase (The captain marched the soldiers to the tents) but not in Spanish (*El capitán marchó a los soldados hasta el campamento). Two experiments are reported that examine whether Spanish and Turkish learners of English at the intermediate level undergeneralize the transitivity alternation with manner-of-motion verbs, and whether English learners of Spanish overgeneralize the alternation. In both experiments subjects performed a picture judgment task and a grammaticality judgment task. Results confirmed that the L1 constrains the acquisition of argument structure: There were overgeneralization errors with manner-of-motion verbs in the Spanish study and there were undergeneralization errors with these verbs in the English study. Learnability implications are discussed.

Causative errors with unaccusative verbs in L2 Spanish

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Unaccusative Verbs ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Intransitive Verbs ◽  
L1 Acquisition ◽  
L1 And L2

Unaccusative verbs do not form a homogeneous class with respect to the syntactic constructions in which they may appear. Change of state unaccusatives alternate in transitivity ( romper ‘break’), others have a suppletive causative counterpart for the transitive variant ( morir-matar ‘diekill’), while still others do not alternate and do not have lexically unrelated counterparts ( escapar ‘escape’). It has been documented that L1 and L2 learners of English use intransitive verbs in causative contexts ( Don't giggle me, Come it closer), due to the existence of the alternating class. Using a Picture Judgement Task,the present study investigates whether intermediate Turkish-speaking and English-speaking learners of Spanish know which unaccusative verbs alternate in transitivity and which ones do not, and whether they find causative errors natural with intransitive verbs. Results confirm similar findings to those reported in English interlanguage and L1 acquisition and suggest that at the level of argument structure, L1 and L2 acquisition are guided by the same linguistic principles; L1 influence plays a significant role with the reflexive morphology of intransitive forms. It is argued that transfer might not operate uniformly in all linguistic domains in interlanguage grammars (Schwartz and Sprouse, 1996).

L2 acquisition of the progressive marker zai in Mandarin Chinese

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng-hsi Liu,
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Acquisition Process ◽  
Aspect Hypothesis ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
L1 Influence

AbstractTwo studies on L2 acquisition of the progressive marker zai in Mandarin Chinese by native English speakers were conducted to investigate the interaction between L1 influence and the congruence of lexical aspect and tense-aspect morphology, as formulated in the aspect hypothesis. The two factors make opposite predictions with respect to the early stage and the acquisition process. The findings from a judgment task and a production task show that the observed pattern is neither predicted by the aspect hypothesis alone nor entirely conditioned by L1 influence. Rather, it is the result of both forces at work. At the early stage zai is associated with activities and accomplishments involving goal or distance. In the acquisition process, both widening and narrowing of predicate types are observed. The findings also show that the L1 effect does not disappear at the same time, but proceeds in stages. In the case of zai marking, the L1 effect weakening process is governed by the strength of event ending that is part of the meaning of the predicates.

‘I me Mine’ The Acquisition of Dutch Pronominal Possessives by L1 Children, L2 Children and L2 Adults

2008 ◽  
Vol 155 ◽  
pp. 23-52
Author(s):  
Elma Nap-Kolhoff ◽  
Peter Broeder
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Young Children ◽  
First Language ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Possessive Constructions ◽  
Speech Data ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Dutch Language ◽  
L1 Acquisition

Abstract This study compares pronominal possessive constructions in Dutch first language (L1) acquisition, second language (L2) acquisition by young children, and untutored L2 acquisition by adults. The L2 learners all have Turkish as L1. In longitudinal spontaneous speech data for four L1 learners, seven child L2 learners, and two adult learners, remarkable differences and similarities between the three learner groups were found. In some respects, the child L2 learners develop in a way that is similar to child L1 learners, for instance in the kind of overgeneralisations that they make. However, the child L2 learners also behave like adult L2 learners; i.e., in the pace of the acquisition process, the frequency and persistence of non-target constructions, and the difficulty in acquiring reduced pronouns. The similarities between the child and adult L2 learners are remarkable, because the child L2 learners were only two years old when they started learning Dutch. L2 acquisition before the age of three is often considered to be similar to L1 acquisition. The findings might be attributable to the relatively small amount of Dutch language input the L2 children received.

scholarly journals DOMAIN-GENERAL AUDITORY PROCESSING EXPLAINS MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF L2 ACQUISITION IN ADULTHOOD

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Kazuya Saito ◽  
Hui Sun ◽  
Magdalena Kachlicka ◽  
John Robert Carvajal Alayo ◽  
Tatsuya Nakata ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Primary Determinant ◽  
Proficiency Scores ◽  
L1 Acquisition

ABSTRACT In this study, we propose a hypothesis that domain-general auditory processing, a perceptual anchor of L1 acquisition, can serve as the foundation of successful post-pubertal L2 learning. This hypothesis was tested with 139 post-pubertal L2 immersion learners by linking individual differences in auditory discrimination across multiple acoustic dimensions to the segmental, prosodic, lexical, and morphosyntactic dimensions of L2 proficiency. Overall, auditory processing was a primary determinant of a range of participants’ proficiency scores, even after biographical factors (experience, age) were controlled for. The link between audition and proficiency was especially clear for L2 learners who had passed beyond the initial phase of immersion (length of residence > 1 year). The findings suggest that greater auditory processing skill benefits post-pubertal L2 learners immersed in naturalistic settings for a sufficient period of time by allowing them to better utilize received input, which results in greater language gains and leads to more advanced L2 proficiency in the long run (similar to L1 acquisition).

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