scholarly journals Korean Learners’ Acquisition and Use of Variable First-Person Subject Forms in Spanish

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 208
Author(s):  
Avizia Y. Long
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Social Constraints ◽  
First Person ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Verb Semantics ◽  
Subject Expression ◽  
Verb Number ◽  
Korean Learners

Within the scope of research that lies at the intersection of sociolinguistics and second language acquisition, there is a growing body of empirical work on learners’ acquisition of variable subject expression in Spanish. This research has been instrumental for demonstrating that second language (L2) learners acquire linguistic and social constraints on subject form use. The present study extends research on variable Spanish subject expression to an understudied learner population: native Korean-speaking learners. Interview data were examined for the range and frequency of first-person subject forms produced by Korean-speaking learners at four instructional levels as well as linguistic and individual (extralinguistic) predictors of subject use. Results showed that learners at each level produced primarily null subjects, and verb number, verb-form regularity, verb semantics, and use of Spanish outside of class significantly predicted use of an overt personal pronoun over null subjects.

Null anaphora in Spanish second language acquisition: probabilistic versus generative approaches

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana T. Pérez-Leroux ◽  
William R. Glass
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Optimal Domain ◽  
Null Pronoun ◽  
Discourse Topic

The acquisition of Spanish null pronouns is an optimal domain for comparing the predictions of generativist vs. probabilistic approaches to language acquisition. This paper presents two studies on the acquisition of null subjects by English adult learners of Spanish as a second language. The first investigates a low frequency construction in which the antecedent of the pronoun is a quantifier, and the distribution is regulated by a principle of UG. The second looks at a high frequency context,where the distribution of the null pronoun depends on whether it is interpreted as focus or as discourse topic. The data indicate early mastery, and no development in the case of the low frequency quantifier construction, and gradual acquisition for the distribution of pronouns in discourse. These findings lend support to grammatical as opposed to probabilistic approaches to language learning.

A minimalist approach to null subjects and objects in second language acquisition

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyeson Park
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Feature Learning ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Korean Type

Studies of the second language acquisition of pronominal arguments have observed that: (1) L1 speakers of null subject languages of the Spanish type drop more subjects in their second language (L2) English than first language (L1) speakers of null subject languages of the Korean type and (2) speakers of Korean-type languages drop more objects than subjects in their L2 English. An analysis of these two asymmetries is conducted within the Minimalist Program framework (MP), which hypothesizes that language acquisition involves the learning of formal features of a target language.I propose, based on Alexiadou and Anagnostopoulou (1998), that the licensing of null subjects is conditioned by the interpretability of agreement features. When a language has [+interpretable] agreement features, raising of the verb to T (X-movement) satisfies the EPP requirement: hence, a null subject is allowed. On the other hand, in a language with [-interpretable] agreement features, the subject is obligatory since merger of the subject in the specifier of TP (XP-merge) is required to check the EPP feature. Learning of the obligatory status of English subjects is easier for Korean learners than for Spanish speakers since syntactically both English and Korean have the same feature value [-interpretable] (although null subjects are allowed in Korean for pragmatic reasons). Spanish has the opposite syntactic feature value [+interpretable] and resetting of this is more difficult. Licensing of null objects is hypothesized to be related to the strength of theta-features. Languages with strong theta-features, such as English and Spanish, do not allow null objects, whereas languages with weak theta-features like Korean allow null objects. It takes time for Korean speakers to learn the different value of English theta-features, resulting in the extended null object period in L2 English of Korean L1 speakers.

Explicit and implicit dimensions of sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic competence

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Darcy Sperlich ◽  
Jaiho Leem ◽  
Eui-Jeen Ahn
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Knowledge Use ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Implicit And Explicit ◽  
Korean Learners

AbstractImplicit and explicit knowledge use in second language acquisition has been rigorously researched in areas such as syntax, however our understanding of how these knowledge constructs affect learner pragmatics is not well understood. Through an interlanguage pragmatic perspective we aim to understand how implicit and explicit knowledge intertwines with pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic competence. This is investigated by testing for L1 politeness transfer in Korean learners of French regarding their acquisition of tu and vous, which provides a new perspective as past research focuses on Anglophone learners. By triangulating data from two test types, results show that the learners have difficulty with vous but not tu, attributed to negative language transfer of L1 politeness values. Moreover, learner variation of tu/vous use can be linked to the explicit/implicit status of their pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic knowledge, showing that the implicitization of their sociopragmatic knowledge is a challenging hurdle towards native-like tu/vous use.

L1/L2 parametric directionality matters

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 165-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Judy
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Syntactic Property ◽  
Overt Pronoun ◽  
Null Subject Parameter ◽  
Shed Light

Assuming transfer of the L1 grammar, in the present study the question of whether all parameters can be reset even with access to UG is examined in light of the subset/superset relationship. Specifically, the resetting of the Null Subject Parameter (NSP) in L2 learners of English (L1 Spanish) is investigated by means of examining the application of the Overt Pronoun Constraint (Montalbetti 1984), a property that clusters with the null subject setting only, as well as acceptance/rejection of null subjects in English. Since English does not syntactically license empty subjects, but Spanish does, the two languages are in a subset/superset relationship such that Spanish is the superset grammar. Therefore, the results stand to shed light on the validity of the Subset Principle (Berwick 1982; Manzini and Wexler 1987; Wexler and Manzini 1987) and its learnability constraints applied to second language acquisition (SLA) where transfer might impede convergence on the narrow syntactic property despite full access to Universal Grammar.

The acquisition of non-null subjects in English: a minimalist account

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigenori Wakabayashi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
Lexical Items

Second language acquisition (SLA) research in the last 20 years appears to have shown that Universal Grammar (UG) constrains SLA, and a number of specific models of SLA have been offered. However, some crucial problems have been left unsolved in previous models suggested by the Principles and Parameters Approach; the Minimalist Program is likely to provide a better account of the data. The acquisition of the obligatoriness of overt subjects in English is one such problem. The Minimalist approach suggests that first language (L1) transfer is realized as the transfer of lexical items and their features.This further implies that some cross-linguistic effects do not exist at the initial stage of development, but may emerge gradually in the course of second language (L2) development in accordance with the expansion of L2 lexicon and the number of lexical items to be placed in the sentence structure. With these considerations, the Minimalist Program provides us with a new framework for explaining data concerning the L2 acquisition of non-null subjects in English, especially the developmental changes of interlanguage grammar and L1 influences on it.

scholarly journals Psycho-Social Constraints on Naturalistic Adult Second Language Acquisition

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Azza Al-Kendi ◽  
Ghada Khattab
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
First Language ◽  
Social Constraints ◽  
Speech Performance ◽  
Low Sensitivity ◽  
Language Context ◽  
L2 Literacy ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Small Positive Effect

The following study investigated a rare case of adult immersion in a second language context without prior exposure to the language. It aimed to investigate whether Length of Residence (LoR) acts as a strong index of L2 speech performance when coupled with daily exposure and interaction with first language speakers. Twenty-two females from Africa and Asia who worked as Foreign Domestic Helpers (FDH) in Omani homes and with varying LoRs performed an AX discrimination and a production task which tapped into Omani consonants and clusters that are absent from their L1s; their accent was also rated by L1 Omani listeners. Results showed a surprising lack of significance of LoR on all the production and perception measures examined. Discrimination results showed a low sensitivity to Arabic consonantal contrasts that are lacking in the L1 across all participants, and a small positive effect of L1 literacy. Production results exhibited low accuracy on all Arabic consonants and a marked foreign accent as judged by L1 listeners, with a small positive effect of L2 literacy. We argue that the nature of the interactions between FDH and employers, along with uneven power relations and social distance, counteract any advantage of LoR and the immersion setting examined here.

Focus prosody by Korean learners of English

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Liu ◽  
Yong-cheol Lee
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Identification Rate ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Digit String ◽  
Korean Learners ◽  
Korean Learners Of English

Abstract This study examined whether Korean learners of English attained native-like performance in English focus prosody by conducting production and perception experiments using digit strings. Language learners were classified into advanced-, intermediate-, and low-level groups according to their proficiency and compared with native speakers. Native speakers’ focus prosody was clearly prominent in the focus positions, and their post-focus positions were considerably compressed. Their focused digits were easy to detect, resulting in a 97% identification rate. Although advanced-level speakers produced acoustic cues quite similar to those of native speakers, their post-focus production did not resemble that of native speakers. Their identification rate was 81%, 16% lower than that of native speakers. Neither intermediate- nor low-level speakers’ focus-cueing changes were distinguished whatsoever in the focus and post-focus positions. Their identification rates were just over 10%, similar to the level of chance in a 10-digit string, implying that their focus productions were not sufficiently salient to be recognized in the experiment. The results suggest that second language acquisition is hindered by a negative transfer between English and Korean. The acquisition of second language focus prosody proceeds slowly; second language learners approach native-like proficiency once they become advanced.

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