The lexicon-syntax interface in child L2 grammars of Italian

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 220-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tihana Kraš
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Magnitude Estimation ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Estimation Technique ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Semantic Classes ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Auxiliary Selection ◽  
Semantic Aspect

This paper investigates the knowledge of two unaccusative diagnostics in ­Italian, auxiliary selection and ne cliticisation, in child L2 grammars of L1 Croatian speakers. The two phenomena are not instantiated in Croatian. Following ­Sorace (2000), it is assumed in the paper that the lexical-semantic aspect of these phenomena is characterised by gradience that can be captured by the Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy. Findings are reported of an experimental study in which highly proficient child L2 learners and their monolingual peers rated the acceptability of two Italian auxiliaries and ne-cliticisation with different lexical-semantic classes of intransitives by using the Magnitude Estimation technique. The learners’ judgements largely converged on those of the native speakers, suggesting that the two phenomena had been acquired in the L2. Such findings support the hypothesis predicting complete L2 acquisition of properties pertaining to an interface between two domains within the language factory (the so-called internal interfaces), in this case syntax and the lexicon.

scholarly journals The effects of re-exposure to instruction and the use of discourse-level interpretation tasks on processing instruction and the Japanese passive

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Benati
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
Target Feature ◽  
Passive Construction ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Task Interpretation

AbstractThis experimental study explores immediate and re-exposure effects of processing instruction on the acquisition of Japanese passive forms as measured by sentence-level and discourse-level tasks. The passive construction in Japanese is affected by learners' use of the First Noun Strategy. Participants were English native speakers and were randomly assigned to one of three groups (processing instruction, processing instruction and re-exposure, and one control group), with the aim of measuring discourse-level and re-exposure effects. Two sentence-level tasks (interpretation and production), and one discourse level task (interpretation) were used in this experiment. The main findings from the study show that L2 learners receiving processing instruction not only improved in their ability to interpret and produce the target feature at sentence level, but they can also use the target forms to interpret discourse. Learners receiving re-exposure to the processing instruction treatment further improve their performance on both sentence-level and discourse-level tasks in an immediate and delayed post-tests battery.

scholarly journals Second Language Acquisition of the English Dative Alternation by Native Speakers of Arabic

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-88
Author(s):  
Anwar S. Aljadani
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Semantic Properties

Abstract This paper reports on an experimental study that investigates the influence of the disparity between English and Arabic on second language acquisition, namely the phenomenon of the acquisition of the English dative alternation by Arab learners. The disallowance of certain Arabic verbs to occur in the double object dative structure causes difficulty for Arab learners to acquire English as far as the acquisition of the dative alternation is concerned. The experiment is devised to examine whether Arab learners are sensitive to syntactic and semantic properties associated with the English dative alternation. The experiment involved picture tasks with two structures: the prepositional dative structure and the double object dative structure. Overall, the results of the experiment show that the L2 learners failed to acquire the double object dative structure which does not exist in their L1. Based on these results, it is argued that L1 has an important effect on the acquisition of L2.

Acquiring the syntactic constraints on auxiliary change under restructuring in L2 Italian

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tihana Kraš
Keyword(s):  
Magnitude Estimation ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Original Version ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Syntactic Constraints ◽  
Interface Hypothesis ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Incomplete Acquisition

This paper reports the findings of an experiment into the syntactic constraints on auxiliary change under restructuring in Italian L2 grammars which are possibly at the end state. Its aim is to test the prediction of the original version of the Interface Hypothesis that narrow syntactic properties are fully acquirable in the L2. In Italian restructuring constructions with embedded unaccusatives, the change of auxiliary from avere (‘have’) to essere (‘be’) is either optional or obligatory depending on clitic presence and placement. A group of highly proficient L1 Croatian adult L2 learners of Italian and a group of adult Italian native speakers used Magnitude Estimation to express their auxiliary preferences in restructuring constructions with embedded unaccusatives. The L2 learners were shown not to know when auxiliary change is optional and when obligatory. Such findings are not consistent with the version of the Interface Hypothesis tested. Possible reasons for the incomplete acquisition of the phenomenon under scrutiny are discussed in the paper.

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.

Verb movement in French L2 acquisition

1999 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalila Ayoun
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Production Task ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Parameter Resetting

This study investigates the acquisition of verb movement phenomena in the interlanguage of English native speakers learning French as a second language. Participants (n=83), who were enrolled in three different classes, were given a grammaticality judgment task and a production task. The French native speakers' results (n=85) go against certain theoretical predictions for negation and adverb placement in nonfinite contexts, as well as for quantification at a distance. The production task results, but not the grammaticality judgment results, support the hypothesis that the effects of parameter resetting successfully appear in the interlanguage of adult L2 learners.

Acquisition of scalar implicatures

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neal Snape ◽  
Hironobu Hosoi
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Scalar Implicatures ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Research Questions

Abstract Our study investigates the second language (L2) acquisition of scalar implicatures some and all. We set out to answer two research questions based on three theoretical accounts, the lexical, pragmatic and syntactic accounts. In an experiment we include English and Japanese native speakers, and intermediate and advanced Japanese L2 learners of English. We used quantifiers some and all in ‘Yes/No’ questions in a context with sets of toy fruits, where pragmatic answers are expected, e.g., a ‘No’ response to the question ‘Are some of the strawberries in the red circle?’ (when a set of 14/14 strawberries are placed inside a red circle). Our individual results indicate that L2 learners are generally more pragmatic in their responses than native English speakers. But, there are neither significant differences between groups nor significant differences between L2 proficiency levels. We consider the implications of our findings for the acquisition of L2 semantics and pragmatics.

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.

Anomaly detection in the processing of complex syntax by early L2 learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Stepanov ◽  
Sara Andreetta ◽  
Penka Stateva ◽  
Adam Zawiszewski ◽  
Itziar Laka
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Early Age ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Complex Syntax ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Syntactic Dependencies ◽  
Syntactic Islands ◽  
L1 And L2

This study investigates the processing of long-distance syntactic dependencies by native speakers of Slovenian (L1) who are advanced learners of Italian as a second language (L2), compared with monolingual Italian speakers. Using a self-paced reading task, we compare sensitivity of the early-acquired L2 learners to syntactic anomalies in their L2 in two empirical domains: (1) syntactic islands, for which the learners’ L1 and L2 grammars provide a converging characterization, and (2) verb–clitic constructions, for which the respective L1 and L2 grammatical descriptions diverge. We find that although our L2 learners show native-like processing patterns in the former, converging, grammatical domain, they may nevertheless perform non-native-like with respect to syntactic phenomena in which the L1 and L2 grammars do not align, despite the early age of L2 acquisition. Implications for theories of L2 acquisition and endstate are discussed.

Optionality in non-native grammars: L2 acquisition of German constructions with absent expletives

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALDONA SOPATA
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Written Production ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
High Level

This paper investigates the knowledge of constructions with absent expletives by advanced and high-proficiency non-native speakers of German whose first language is Polish. German grammar is known to license null subjects due to the strength of AGRP but not to identify them. Therefore only expletive subjects can be absent in German, except for Topic-drop and, crucially, the expletive subjects have to be absent in certain cases due to the Projection Principle. The knowledge of this phenomenon by second language (L2) learners has been investigated by two methods, elicited written production task and grammaticality judgment tests. High-level non-native speakers of German differ significantly from native speakers in both types of tasks. The differences are clearly not the result of transfer. The results reported here reveal permanent optionality in L2 grammars suggesting a deficit in the grammatical representations of L2 learners.

scholarly journals THE MODELLING OF THE DOMAINS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE CONCEPT OF LANGUAGE IN THE BRITISH PUBLICISTIC DISCOURSE ON THE BASIS OF THE CHI-SQUARE CRITERION

2021 ◽  
pp. 105-114
Author(s):  
Myroslava Kovaliuk
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Body Language ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Semantic Classes ◽  
Education Science ◽  
Modern Technologies

The article is devoted to the modelling of domains which express the concept of LANGUAGE in the British publicistic discourse on the basis of the χ2 criterion. A domain is a cognitive model that contains a set of features that are revealed when the concept name is combined with accompanying words. To determine the domains of the expression of the concept under study, the adjoining words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) are analyzed in one syntactic frame together with the nominative lexeme „language". Accompanying nouns, verbs and adjectives to the concept name of LANGUAGE are grouped by common thematic features and divided into lexical-semantic classes (LSCs), representing the spheres of concept expression: nouns constitute forty LSCs, verbs account for thirty-five LSCs, adjectives amount to twenty-six LSCs. The statistic-linguistic method of the χ²-test was employed to determine the lexical-semantic classes (LSCs) of adjoining lexemes associated with the name of the concept that are predominantly used in publicistic discourse and thus establish the most relevant areas of expression of the concept in the articles of the British publicistic discourse. On the basis of the dominant LSCs in accordance with the χ2 criterion, domains of the expression of the concept of LANGUAGE were identified. Fourteen domains („linguistic features of language”, „purity of speech”, „origin and territorial functioning of language”, „the existence of language and attitude to it”, „people as native speakers”, „education / science”, „communication / emphatics in relation to language”, „political and military spheres”, „modern technologies”, „religion”, „social spheres (Economics, Law, Sports) ”, „art / mass media”, „time”, „body language”) were determined.The broadest domain is the domain of „linguistic features of language”, which contains eight lexical-semantic classes. Such domains as „body language”, „the origin and territorial functioning of the language”, „purity of speech”, „people as native speakers”, „social spheres (Economics, Law, Sports)”, „education / science”, „modern technologies” are quite numerous in the discourse under study, since they make up six LSCs. The least used are the domains of „art / mass media”, „time”, „religion” (only two LSCs).

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