Interpretation of English tense morphophonology by advanced L2 speakers

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 49-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Al-Hamad ◽  
E. Al-Malki ◽  
G. Casillas ◽  
Florencia Franceschina ◽  
Roger Hawkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Verb Raising

This study tests the assumption in much of the literature on the second language acquisition of English tense and aspect morphophonology (e.g. bare verbs, V-ing, V-ed) that once speakers are beyond intermediate levels of proficiency, both distribution and interpretation of these forms are represented in a target-like way in their mental grammars. Three groups of advanced non-native speakers (whose L1s were Chinese, Japanese and the verb-raising languages Arabic, French, German and Spanish) were compared with native speakers on an acceptability judgement task requiring informants to judge the appropriateness of sentences involving different verb forms to contexts which privileged specific interpretations. The results suggest an effect of the persistent influence of parametric differences between languages such that where parametrised grammatical properties are not activated in the L1, they are not available for the construction of representations in the L2.

scholarly journals A concept-oriented analysis of future-time reference in native and near-native Hexagonal French

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMANDA EDMONDS ◽  
AARNES GUDMESTAD ◽  
BRYAN DONALDSON
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Future Time ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Finite Verb

ABSTRACTThis study examined how native and near-native speakers of Hexagonal French make reference to future events in a corpus of informal conversations. A concept-oriented analysis reveals that no fewer than 13 different finite verb forms appeared in future-time contexts. A qualitative analysis of the use of the present in future-time contexts in the two portions of the corpus points to similarities in the native-speaker and near-native-speaker use. This analysis contributes to the understanding of future-time expression in Hexagonal French and to discussions concerning near-nativeness in second language acquisition.

scholarly journals Studying individual differences in the social environment to better understand language learning and processing

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiri Lev-Ari
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
The Social

AbstractPeople learn language from their social environment. Therefore, individual differences in the input that their social environment provides could influence their linguistic performance. Nevertheless, investigation of the role of individual differences in input on performance has been mostly restricted to first and second language acquisition. In this paper I argue that individual differences in input can influence linguistic performance even in adult native speakers. Specifically, differences in input can affect performance by influencing people’s knowledgebase, by modulating their processing manner, and by shaping expectations. Therefore, studying the role that individual differences in input play can improve our understanding of how language is learned, processed and represented.

scholarly journals Subjacency Violations in Second Language Acquisition: Some Evidence from Chinese Mandarin Speakers of L2 English

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Xia Dai
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Follow Up Study ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Mandarin Speakers

The literature review shows that many previous studies have used Subjacency to test the availability of UniversalGrammar (UG) in second language acquisition. Schachter (1989) claimed that L2 learners do not have access to UGprinciples, while Hawkins and Chan (1997) suggested that L2 learners had partial availability of UG, for they foundthere was a strong difference between the elementary L2 learners and the advanced L2 learners in judging theungrammaticality of Subjacency violations; that is, the elementary L2 learners owned the highest accuracy. Underthe hypothesis of partially availability of UG in second language acquisition, L2 learners are only able to acquire theproperties instantiated in their L1s. Although they may accept violations of universal constraints, it is only at facevalue; rather the L2 learners develop different syntactic representations from the native speakers. This study has beenundertaken as a follow-up study of Hawkins and Chan (1997), and tested on L1 Mandarin speakers of L2 English injudging the grammaticality of their Subjacency violations. The results of the Grammaticality Judgement Test showthat the accuracy of Chinese speakers in judgement increased with English proficiency and that they rejectedresumptives inside islands as a repair. Contrary to the previous findings, this study provides evidence that UG isavailable in adult second language acquisition.

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.

THE ASPECT HYPOTHESIS AND THE ACQUISITION OF L2 PAST MORPHOLOGY IN THE LAST 20 YEARS

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1137-1167
Author(s):  
Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig ◽  
Llorenç Comajoan-Colomé
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Aspect Hypothesis ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
The Third

AbstractTwenty years ago, a state-of-the-art review in SSLA marked the coming of age of the study of temporality in second language acquisition. This was followed by three monographs on tense and aspect the next year. This article presents a state-of-the-scholarship review of the last 20 years of research addressing the aspect hypothesis (AH) (Andersen, 1991, 2002; Andersen & Shirai, 1994, 1996), the most tested hypothesis in L2 temporality research. The first section of the article gives an overview of the AH and examines its central tenets, and then explores the results of empirical studies that test the hypothesis. The second section considers studies that have investigated four crucial variables in the acquisition of temporality and the testing of the AH. The third section discusses theoretically motivated areas of future research within the framework of the hypothesis.

Impact of an interaction-oriented Japanese course on learners

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 123-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyoko Ogawa
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Japanese People ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Active Interaction

Abstract Neustupny (1988, 1991) recommended an interactive competence approach for second language acquisition that places a greater emphasis on learners’ active interaction with native speakers in real communicative situations. In order to have the opportunity to interact with native speakers in the target language, a conscious effort by the learners as well as support from the teachers and the community is essential. The third-year Japanese course at Monash University was designed to encourage and support learners to establish and maintain relationships with Japanese people as well as to utilise various other resources of the target language and culture. This paper examines the impact of this interaction-oriented course on learners in their establishment and maintenance of relationships with Japanese people, and cultural and social understanding. It is based on data collected during 1996 and 1997.

Variation in Native Speaker Speech Modification to Non-Native Speakers

1985 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M. Gass ◽  
Evangeline Marlos Varonis
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Negotiation Of Meaning ◽  
Data Bases ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Telephone Interviews

This study builds upon prior research dealing with the nature of discourse involving non-native speakers. In particular, we examine variables influencing native speaker foreigner talk and the form that speech modification takes. The data bases are (1) 80 taped telephone interviews between NNSs at two distinct proficiency levels, (interviewer) and NSs (interviewee), and (2) 20 NS-NS interviews. We consider five variables: 1) negotiation of meaning, 2) quantity of speech, 3) amount of repair (following a specific NNS request for repair), 4) elaborated responses, and 5) transparent responses. We find that the speech of NSs changes as a function of an NNS's ability to understand and be understood. We further suggest a general cognitive principle—transparency—underlying aspects of both foreigner talk and second language acquisition.

scholarly journals Maturational Constraints on the Recruitment of Early Processes for Syntactic Processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2752-2765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Pakulak ◽  
Helen J. Neville
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Neural Organization ◽  
Anterior Negativity

An enduring question in the study of second-language acquisition concerns the relative contributions of age of acquisition (AOA) and ultimate linguistic proficiency to neural organization for second-language processing. Several ERP and neuroimaging studies of second-language learners have found that neural organization for syntactic processing is sensitive to delays in second-language acquisition. However, such delays in second-language acquisition are typically associated with lower language proficiency, rendering it difficult to assess whether differences in AOA or proficiency lead to these effects. Here we examined the effects of delayed second-language acquisition while controlling for proficiency differences by examining participants who differ in AOA but who were matched for proficiency in the same language. We compared the ERP response to auditory English phrase structure violations in a group of late learners of English matched for grammatical proficiency with a group of English native speakers. In the native speaker group, violations elicited a bilateral and prolonged anterior negativity, with onset at 100 msec, followed by a posterior positivity (P600). In contrast, in the nonnative speaker group, violations did not elicit the early anterior negativity, but did elicit a P600 which was more widespread spatially and temporally than that of the native speaker group. These results suggest that neural organization for syntactic processing is sensitive to delays in language acquisition independently of proficiency level. More specifically, they suggest that both early and later syntactic processes are sensitive to maturational constraints. These results also suggest that late learners who reach a high level of second-language proficiency rely on different neural mechanisms than native speakers of that language.

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