The acquisition of interpretable features in L2 Spanish: Personala

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 701-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
PEDRO GUIJARRO-FUENTES
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
Feature Reassembly ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Personal A ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Complexity Constraints

This paper examines the acquisition of interpretable features in English second language (L2) learners of Spanish by investigating the personal preposition a in Spanish. The distribution of a in direct object NPs relates to the animacy/specificity of the NP, the animacy/agentivity of the subject, and the semantics of the predicate (Torrego, 1998; Zagona, 2002); i.e., personal a is conditioned by the interpretability of semantic features. Forty-nine English L2 learners of Spanish of three different proficiency levels, and 16 Spanish controls took part in a Completion Task and an Acceptability Judgement Task. These revealed that L2 learners of Spanish of all proficiency levels behaved differently from native speakers of Spanish. The L2 learners appear to have acquired some of the interpretable features (i.e., [±animate]), but show delays with others. Nonetheless, our data show partial convergence by advanced learners with the native speakers: some features are acquirable, while others may be less accessible and subject to developmental processes. In explaining our data we appeal to Lardiere's (2008, 2009) Feature Reassembly Hypothesis, but assess it critically and aim to develop it further by considering the complexity constraints in terms of the number of features involved and their configuration.

Feature composition in Differential Object Marking

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 138-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Feature Reassembly ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Personal A ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Object Marking

In this paper we examine the acquisition of interpretable features in English L2 learners of Spanish by investigating the personal preposition a in Spanish. The presence of a in direct object NPs relates to the animacy/specificity of the NP, the animacy/agentivity of the subject and the semantics of the predicate (Torrego, 1998; Zagona, 2002); that is, personal a is constrained by the interpretability of semantic features. Forty-nine English L2 learners of Spanish of different proficiency levels, and 16 Spanish controls participated in an Acceptability Judgement task. The results showed that L2 learners of Spanish across three proficiency levels behaved differently from native speakers of Spanish. The L2 learners seem to have attained some of the interpretable features (i.e., [±animate]) of the Spanish a-DP direct objects, but reveal delays with others. Nonetheless, our data illustrate partial convergence by advanced learners with the native speakers: some interpretable features are attainable, while others may be less accessible and subject to developmental processes. In analyzing our data we draw on Lardiere’s (2008, 2009) Feature Reassembly Hypothesis, but expanded and extended it in an attempt to critically evaluate and broaden it.

Acquiring phenomena at the syntax/semantics interface in L2 Spanish

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 67-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes ◽  
Theodoros Marinis
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Verb Semantics ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Interface Phenomena ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Subject

Recent second language (L2) acquisition research has proposed that purely syntactic features are easier to acquire and less vulnerable than ones involving the interfaces (Sorace, 2004; Serratrice et al. 2004). The present paper addresses this issue by investigating the acquisition of the Spanish personal preposition a in English L2 learners of Spanish. The distribution of a in direct object NPs relates to the specificity/definiteness of the NP, the animacy/agentivity of the subject, and verb semantics (Torrego 1998; Zagona 2002). 33 English L2 learners of Spanish of different proficiency levels, and 14 Spanish controls participated in an acceptability judgement task. The results showed significant differences between native speakers and L2 learners of all proficiency levels, who performed at chance, and support the claim that L2 learners have difficulties acquiring structures involving the syntax/semantics interface. However, the advanced learners showed sensitivity to the least complex condition providing evidence that interface phenomena may be acquirable.

scholarly journals The Acquisition of Arabic scrambling dative structures by English learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-360
Author(s):  
Anwar Saad Al-Jadani Anwar Saad Al-Jadani
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Feature Reassembly ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This paper represents an empirical study to investigate the ability of L2 learners to acquire structures that are not allowed by their L1 grammar. An experiment was made with 40 native speakers of English majoring at two proficiency levels: pre-intermediate and upper-intermediate. These participants completed written judgment tasks, which included 24 scrambling dative sentences, to judge their grammaticality in Arabic. The collected data was discussed based on the Full-Transfer/ Full Access approach and the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis. The statistical analysis showed no significant disparities between native speakers and L2 learners in acquiring L2 structures, which can be indicated as a sign of the fact that L2 learners acquired the structures that are not allowed in their L1.

Reassembly of plural and human features in the L2 acquisition of Chinese by adult Korean speakers

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 529-555
Author(s):  
Jiajia Su
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Feature Reassembly ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Korean Speakers

This article reports on a study investigating the second language (L2) acquisition of the plural and human features in Mandarin Chinese by adult Korean speakers. Both plural and human features are represented in Korean and Chinese, but assembled in different ways. Forty-eight L2 learners at beginner, intermediate, and advanced Chinese proficiency levels and twenty-three native speakers of Chinese were tested using a grammaticality judgment task. The results show that L2 learners can successfully reassemble the two features, though L2 specific contexts and restrictions on feature realization are difficult. The advanced group has achieved native-like performance. The findings provide empirical evidence for the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (Lardiere, 2009).

Exploring phonetic cues to persuasive oral presentation: A study with British English speakers and English L2 learners

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110376
Author(s):  
Elina Banzina
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Stop Consonant ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
British English ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Voiceless Stop ◽  
Phonetic Cues

Persuasiveness in oral communication in English can be expressed with various vocal phonetic cues that may not be readily accessible to English second language (L2) learners whose native language may employ a different set of cues. With a goal to increase L2 learners’ perceived spoken confidence and persuasiveness, and obtain empirical evidence for phonetic adjustments that native English speakers make to influence listeners, the current study explored the use of consonant prolongation in stressed syllable onsets for emphasis by native British English speakers and English L2 learners. The native speakers’ durations of continuant consonants and voiceless stop consonant voice onset times (VOTs) in (1) neutrally-produced speech and (2) persuasively delivered motivational/shocking/emotional messages were compared to Latvian L2 English speakers’ productions. The results revealed that in persuasive speech, the British speakers’ consonantal durations, particularly those of continuants, got significantly longer relative to the vowels that followed them; for English L2 learners, the duration of consonants did not change as a factor of speech type. This is in line with our previous research with American English speakers and carries implications for L2 speech learning and teaching.

scholarly journals The Emergence of Second Language Categorisation of the English Article Construction

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Helen Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Form Function ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
English Articles

This study examines the emergent cognitive categorisation of the English article construction among second language (L2) learners. One hundred and fourteen Mandarin-L1 learners of English, divided into two L2 proficiency levels (low-to-intermediate and advanced), were measured by a computer-based cloze test for the accuracy and response time of appropriate use of English articles in sentential contexts. Results showed that when learners acquired the polysemous English article construction they demonstrated stronger competence in differentiating individual form-function mappings in the article construction. L2 learners’ patterns of article construction usage were shaped by semantic functions. Learners performed better on the definiteness category than on the non-definiteness categories, suggesting that learners were sensitive to the prototypicality of nominal grounding. Advanced learners demonstrated an increased sensitivity to semantic idiosyncrasy, but they lacked contextualised constructional knowledge. Competition among the functional categories and restructuring of functional categories are important ways of regularization that learners go through to acquire semantically complex systems such as articles.

L1–L2 asymmetry in animacy effects in the processing of Japanese relative clause

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanako Mitsugi ◽  
Yasuhiro Shirai
Keyword(s):  
Constraint Satisfaction ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
First Languages ◽  
The Subject ◽  
English Group ◽  
Processing Difficulty

AbstractUsing self-paced reading, this study investigated the role of head animacy in the processing of Japanese relative clauses (RCs). Second language (L2) learners whose first languages (L1) are English and Korean, and Japanese native speakers participated. The results showed that for native speakers, inanimate heads diminished the processing difficulty associated with object RCs. However, head animacy did not have an effect on L2 processing. The Korean group showed the subject-object asymmetry but no effect of head animacy. The English group did not demonstrate the effect of RC type or head animacy. The overall pattern of these results suggests that L2 learners of Japanese are not guided by syntactic and lexical-semantic information in the same way as Japanese native speakers. These findings are interpreted within the constraint-satisfaction models (MacDonald et al., 1994) and are further discussed in the light of the research concerning the transfer of L1 processing routines.

A phrase-frame approach to investigating phraseology in learner writing across proficiency levels

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Garner
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Psycholinguistic Research ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Academic Settings ◽  
Qualitative Characteristics

Findings from corpus-based and psycholinguistic research have highlighted the importance of acquiring productive knowledge of English phraseology for L2 learners. Many studies exploring this facet of language learning have investigated the use of predominantly fixed multi-word sequences by advanced learners in academic settings and compared their use against that of native-speaking writers. More recent studies have attempted to explore the differences between learners’ use of multi-word sequences across proficiency levels. The current study aims to add to this growing body of literature. It examines the use of phrase-frames by L1 German learners of English as a Foreign Language at five different proficiency levels represented in the EF-Cambridge Open Language Database (EFCAMDAT). The most frequent phrase-frames in each level are analyzed according to both quantitative and qualitative characteristics. The results revealed that, at higher proficiency levels, p-frames in learner texts are more variable, less predictable, and more functionally complex.

Look before you move

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 396-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Leal
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Rating Task ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Visual Rating ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Left Dislocation ◽  
Clitic Left Dislocation ◽  
Discourse Interface

The present study examines whether, as proposed by the Interface Hypothesis (Sorace, 2011), the syntax-discourse interface is especially vulnerable to non-native optionality even at very advanced levels. I focus on the acquisition of Clitic Left Dislocation in Spanish (CLLD), a structure that involves both syntax and discourse, when it combines with other structures at the left periphery (iterative topics, Fronted Focus, and wh-constructions). CLLD is a realization of topicalization requiring the integration of syntactic and discourse knowledge. This study provides data from an audio-visual rating task completed by 120 learners of Spanish of different proficiency levels and 27 monolingual native speakers. Results showed evidence that the most advanced learners had acquired the restrictions of these structures in a native-like way and supports López’s (2009) syntactic analysis of CLLD, whereby CLLD is generated through movement so that the pragmatic features [+anaphor]/[+contrast] can be assigned to the dislocated element.

scholarly journals The use of collocations across proficiency levels: a literature review

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 34129
Author(s):  
Larissa Goulart
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Formulaic Language ◽  
Correct Word ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
L2 Learners

This literature review focuses on the use of formulaic language by English as a second language students (L2). Research on the field of phraseology has shown that mastery of formulas is central for fluency and linguistic competence (Ellis, 1996). Studies on the use of formulaic language by native speakers (Ellis et al., 2008) have shown that native speakers process these structures as a single word. Considering the use of formulaic language by L2 students, research has shown that this can be problematic to learners as they do not know the correct word association (Men, 2018). This paper presents a literature review on the studies of formulaic language, more specifically of collocations, used by L2 learners. The first part of this paper deals with the different definitions of collocations, while the second part focuses on studies on collocation use by L2 learners.

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