Subject-to-subject raising and the syntax of tense in L2 Spanish: A Full Access approach

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
GONZALO CAMPOS-DINTRANS ◽  
ACRISIO PIRES ◽  
JASON ROTHMAN
Keyword(s):  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Grammatical Knowledge ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Subject Raising

This paper investigates the acquisition of syntax in L2 grammars. We tested adult L2 speakers of Spanish (English L1) on the feature specification of T(ense), which is different in English and Spanish in so-called subject-to-subject raising structures. We present experimental results with the verbparecer“to seem/to appear” in different tenses, with and without experiencers, and with Tense Phrase (TP), verb phrase (vP) and Adjectival Phrase (AP) complements. The results show that advanced L2 learners can perform just like native Spanish speakers regarding grammatical knowledge in this domain, although the subtle differences between both languages are not explicitly taught. We argue that these results support Full Access approaches to Universal Grammar (UG) in L2 acquisition, by providing evidence that uninterpretable syntactic features can be learned in adult L2, even when such features are not directly instantiated in the same grammatical domain in the L1 grammar.

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.

The acquisition of word order in Dutch and German as L1 and L2

1988 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Jordens
Keyword(s):  
Simple Model ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
First Language ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
German Word ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L1 And L2

In a recent paper, Clahsen and Muysken (1986) argue that children acquiring German as their first language have access to the 'move alpha' matrix when constructing a grammar for German. This should explain why children have SOV base order and the rule of verb-fronting from the very beginning. In this paper, it is argued that children's OV utterances cannot be related trans formationally to VO utterances. Initially, children acquire OV and VO with different sets of verbs.Clahsen and Muysken (1986) also claim that interlanguage rules of adult L2 learners are not definable in linguistic theory. Du Plessis et al. (1987) reply to this in arguing that the interlanguage rules of adults acquiring L2 German word order fall within the range of systems permitted by the Headedness parameter, the Proper Government parameter, and the Adjunction parameter. Therefore, these adult learners should have access to Universal Grammar (UG). It is argued here that it is not necessary to make this assumption. The L2-acquisition data can be easily accounted for within a simple model of L1-structural transfer.

Access to Universal Grammar: The real issues

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 718-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hagit Borer
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
The Real ◽  
L2 Learners

AbstractIssues concerning UG access for L2 acquisition as formulated by Epstein et al. are misleading as well as poorly discussed. UG accessibility can only be fully evaluated with respect to the steady state gram mar reached by the learner. The steady state for LI learners is self evidently the adult grammar in the speech community. For L2 learners, however, the steady state is not obvious. Yet, without its clear characterization, debates concerning stages of L2 acquisition and direct and indirect UG accessibility cannot be resolved.

Negation in L2 Acquisition and Beyond

2020 ◽  
pp. 614-632
Author(s):  
Liliana Sánchez ◽  
Jennifer Austin
Keyword(s):  
Relative Position ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Early Research ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter provides an overview of generative research on the acquisition of negation by multilingual learners. While early research compared the development of negation in adult L2 learners with L1 children to assess L2 learners’ access to Universal Grammar), subsequent studies focused instead on how verbal feature specification influences L2 acquisition of the relative position of negation and verbs. More recently, research on L2 negation has examined what the earliest stages of the acquisition of negation reveal about the relationship between the lexicon and syntax and has compared adult and child L2 acquisition. Other recent studies have examined the acquisition of relative scope and the source of difficulties in the L2 acquisition of negation at the interface between syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Investigating L2 Acquisition of Spanish Vocalic Sequences

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany MacLeod
Keyword(s):  
Relative Intensity ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Beginning Learners ◽  
Vocalic Sequences ◽  
The Individual

AbstractWhile previous studies have investigated the acquisition of Spanish vowels by English speakers, none has examined how sequences of vowels are acquired. This study considers the developmental path of acquisition of diphthongs and hiatus by English-speaking learners of Spanish. Previous studies have found that duration is a robust acoustic cue to the difference between a diphthong and a hiatus (Face & Alvord 2004, Hualde & Prieto 2002). This study investigates how the durational difference is manifest in the speech of L2 learners of Spanish and how its realization changes as a function of proficiency in Spanish. In addition, transfer of a phonological constraint in English barring homorganic consonant-glide (CG) onset clusters (Davis & Hammond 1995, Ohala & Kawasaki-Fukumori 1997) and phonetic transfer of the relative intensity values of English glides, which have been found to be lower in English (MacLeod 2008), onto production of Spanish glides are also investigated. A delayed-repetition task with English and Spanish tokens tested 4 groups of speakers: beginning learners, intermediate learners, native Spanish speakers, and native English speakers. The results show that the learners produce a durational difference similar to the native speakers (in that hiatus were, on average, longer than diphthongs), but that the duration of the individual vowels was longer in the speech of the learners as compared to the native speakers. Transfer of the phonological constraint against homorganic CG clusters was found to some extent since glides in homorganic CG clusters were marginally statistically significantly longer than those in non-homorganic clusters in the speech of the beginning learners, but not for native Spanish speakers. In contrast, phonetic transfer of the relative intensity norms of English onto Spanish was not found since the learners produced Spanish glides with a higher relative intensity than the native Spanish speakers. The salience of duration and intensity for English speakers are discussed in concert with general articulatory concerns, both of the vocalic sequences themselves and in terms of the surrounding consonants.

scholarly journals Investigating the acquisition of the Split-IP parameter and the V2 parameter in second language Afrikaans

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Conradie
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
First Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Parameter Resetting ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Parameter Values

Researchers who assume that Universal Grammar (UG) plays a role in second language (L2) acquisition are still debating whether L2 learners have access to UG in its entirety (the Full Access hypothesis; e.g. Schwartz and Sprouse, 1994; 1996; White, 1989; 2003) or only to those aspects of UG that are instantiated in their first language (L1) grammar (the No Parameter Resetting hypothesis; e.g. Hawkins and Chan, 1997). The Full Access hypothesis predicts that parameter resetting will be possible where the L1 and L2 differ in parameter values, whereas the No Parameter Resetting hypothesis predicts that parameter resetting will not be possible. These hypotheses are tested in a study examining whether English-speaking learners of Afrikaans can reset the Split-IP parameter (SIP) (Thráinsson, 1996) and the V2 parameter from their L1 ([-SIP], [-V2]) to their L2 ([+SIP], [+V2]) values. 15 advanced English learners of Afrikaans and 10 native speakers of Afrikaans completed three tasks: a sentence manipulation task, a grammaticality judgement task and a truth-value judgement task. Results suggest that the interlanguage grammars of the L2 learners are [+SIP] and [+V2] (unlike the L1), providing evidence for the Full Access hypothesis.

Ultimate attainment in Spanish spirantization

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy L. Face
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Intensity Measurements ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
University Level ◽  
The University ◽  
Manner Of Articulation ◽  
Ultimate Attainment ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract This study examines the acquisition of the Spanish spirantization of /b/, /d/ and /g/ by a group of very advanced L2 learners who immigrated to Spain from the United States and have lived in central Spain for many years. While spirantization has received considerable attention in previous L2 research on Spanish, the participants in previous studies have typically been newer learners of Spanish, typically studying at the university level. By examining the production of immigrants to Spain, the present study provides insight into ultimate attainment, and whether this results in a native-like pronunciation in the case of spirantization. Productions are examined both categorically to determine the manner of articulation employed (i.e., approximant, fricative, stop) and also gradiently, using intensity measurements to determine the degree of spirantization when approximants are produced. The comparisons for manner of articulation show significant differences between native Spanish speakers and L2 learners, although when approximants are produced the intensity measurements often do not differ significantly between the two groups. The degree to which individual learners approach native-like pronunciation, both in terms of manner of articulation and intensity measurements of produced approximants, varies considerably.

L2 acquisition of English synthetic compounding is not constrained by level-ordering (and neither, probably, is L1 )

1995 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna Lardiere
Keyword(s):  
Universal Grammar ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Native Chinese Speakers ◽  
L1 And L2

This article investigates the acquisition of English synthetic compounding by native Spanish and native Chinese speakers. Data are presented which con tradict the claim by Gordon (1985), Clahsen (1991) and Clahsen et al. (1992) that morphological level-ordering is universally, innately available to lan guage learners to guide their acquisition of compounding constraints. Empirical arguments are given which show that compounding, at least, can not be universally subject to the particular inflectional constraints - namely, a restriction on plurals in compounds - imposed by the level-ordering mod els cited in the above acquisition studies. I also present additional experi mental results which demonstrate that L2 learners of English freely violate this restriction, and that such violations reflect particular L1 influence. I suggest an alternative approach to analysing the role of Universal Grammar in the acquisition of compounding which better accounts for both the L1 and L2 English data, by considering 1) the interaction of syntactic principles with lexical derivation; 2) the parametric differences between the L1 and L2; and 3) the language-specific nature of morphological affixation.

Missing verbal inflections as a representational problem

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill VanPatten ◽  
Gregory D. Keating ◽  
Michael J. Leeser
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Grammatical Structures

A continuing concern in second language acquisition (SLA) research is whether problems with inflectional morphology are representational or related somehow to performance. In this study, we examine 25 non-advanced learners of L2 Spanish and compare them with 18 native Spanish speakers on three grammatical structures: subject-verb inversion, adverb placement and person-number inflections on verbs. We use self-paced reading as a measure of underlying sensitivity to grammatical violations. Our results clearly show that the L2 learners pattern like the native speakers on the two syntactic structures; both groups demonstrate sensitivity to grammatical violations while reading sentences for meaning. For person-number on verbs, L2 learners did not show sensitivity to grammatical violations whereas the native speakers did. We argue that these results suggest a representational problem for morphology in our L2 population.

scholarly journals Semantic-informational and formal processing principles in Processability Theory

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAN HULSTIJN
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Keynote Paper ◽  
Sufficient Detail ◽  
Great Generality ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Processability Theory

Let me begin my comments on Pienemann's keynote paper by expressing my admiration for the scholar who has developed Processability Theory (PT) over a period of some fifteen years with great determination and perseverance. What in earlier publications (e.g. Pienemann, 1985, 1987) appeared to me to be a rather disparate set of principles aiming to account for a limited set of empirical data (the well known sequence of five word orders of the ZISA study), has now evolved into a coherent theory which meets the demands of falsifiability, as PT's claims are formulated in sufficient detail to allow SLA researchers to put them to empirical test. PT comprises a number of principles of great generality, accounting, in principle, for the acquisition of any structure in any language, thereby exceeding the limits of the ZISA data of natural German L2 acquisition. As such, it is to be hoped that PT will have a healthy influence on the field of SLA research, as this field, in the last few years, has perhaps been dominated too much by the issue of whether L2 learners have access to Universal Grammar.

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