scholarly journals Aspects of the Grammar of Past Tense and the Present Perfective Aspect in English and Echie: A Contrastive Account

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-86
Author(s):  
Michael Alozie Nwala
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Present Perfect ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Morphological Differences

The absence of a parallel equivalence in the grammar of past tense and perfective aspect in English and Echie is significantly responsible for the errors that occur in the related sentences of the Echie second language learners of English. This article is a contrastive analysis of the grammar of past tense and present perfect tense in English and Echie and it highlighted the structural specifics of each of the languages. Using the descriptive research design, the data for this study were gathered through the primary sources (ten competent native speakers of Echie were interviewed) and the secondary sources (examples generated from textual materials). Our description showed a complete range of morphological differences in past tense and present perfect tense of English and Echie as seen in the use of 1st, 2nd and 3rd persons singular and plural respectively. The paper concludes that the parametric variation in the past tense and perfective aspect of English and Echie languages show that every language is unique in some sort. Key Words: Contrastive, grammar, tense, parametric, descriptive,  interference; language.

The functional roles of lexical devices in second language learners’ encoding of temporality: A study of Mandarin Chinese-speaking ESL learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Ma ◽  
Gita Martohardjono ◽  
William McClure
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Past Time ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Esl Learners

AbstractThe present study investigates the functional roles of two lexical devices, past-time temporal adverbials and frequency adverbs, in Mandarin Chinese-speaking ESL learners’ encoding of temporality in their English interlanguage. The results of the present study indicate that past-time temporal adverbials are facilitative in Mandarin Chinese-speaking ESL learners’ encoding of past time. Meanwhile, the existence/absence of the matrix agreement, which is a linguistic device that has not been discussed in previous studies, may also lead to learners’ different reactions. The results of the present study also show that the introduction of frequency adverbs is associated with a higher usage rate of the present tense and causes more difficulty in a past tense context. This association is found to exist not only in learners’ data, but also in English native speakers’ data. The present study contributes to our understanding of the development of second language learners’ expression of temporal locations and relations.

scholarly journals Honorifics: A sociocultural verb agreement cue in Japanese sentence processing

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUKI YOSHIMURA ◽  
BRIAN MACWHINNEY
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Role Assignment ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
New Type

ABSTRACTCase marking is the major cue to sentence interpretation in Japanese, whereas animacy and word order are much weaker. However, when subjects and their cases markers are omitted, Japanese honorific and humble verbs can provide information that compensates for the missing case role markers. This study examined the usage of honorific and humble verbs as cues to case role assignment by Japanese native speakers and second-language learners of Japanese. The results for native speakers replicated earlier findings regarding the predominant strength of case marking. However, when case marking was missing, native speakers relied more on honorific marking than word order. In these sentences, the processing that relied on the honorific cue was delayed by about 100 ms in comparison to processing that relied on the case-marking cue. Learners made extensive use of the honorific agreement cue, but their use of the cue was much less accurate than that of native speakers. In particular, they failed to systematically invoke the agreement cue when case marking was missing. Overall, the findings support the predictions of the model and extend its coverage to a new type of culturally determined cue.

Linking past and present

AILA Review ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 55-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Wilton ◽  
Holger Wochele
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Modern Concept ◽  
Folk Linguistics ◽  
Language Issues

In this paper, we focus on comments on language issues from a historical perspective. The concept of the layperson (non-linguist) is discussed to identify laypeople and lay comments in history when the modern concept of a linguist did not yet exist. Two studies show how the historical perspective complements modern research on folk linguistics. Firstly, historical comments about Latin will be put in relation to comments about English, focusing on their roles as linguae francae and exploring the potential and application of the ‘Latin Analogy’. Secondly, an analysis of language appraisal texts of French and Romanian from 1500 to the present shows that the topoi used are still reflected in today’s perception of the languages by their native speakers, affecting the attractiveness of the languages for second language learners.

scholarly journals Effects of orthographic forms on pronunciation in experienced instructed second language learners

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
BENE BASSETTI ◽  
NATHAN ATKINSON
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Writing System ◽  
The Past ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Repetition Task

ABSTRACTIn spite of burgeoning evidence that the orthographic forms (“spellings”) of second language (L2) words affect L2 learners’ pronunciation, little is known about the pronunciation of known words in experienced learners. In a series of four studies, we investigated various orthographic effects on the pronunciation of L2 English words in instructed learners with 10 years’ experience of learning English. Participants were native users of the phonologically transparent Italian writing system. Study 1 investigated the pronunciation of “silent letters,” using a word-reading task and a word-repetition task. Study 2 examined the effects of vowel spelling on vowel duration, namely, whether L2 speakers produce the same target vowel as longer when it is spelled with a vowel digraph than with a singleton letter. Study 3 explored the effects of the morphemic spelling of the past tense marker <ed> using a verb paradigm-production task. Study 4 tested whether L2 speakers produce homophonic words differently when they are spelled differently. Results confirmed that orthographic forms affect experienced instructed learners’ pronunciation of known words, albeit less so in immediate word repetition than in reading-aloud tasks.

scholarly journals Agreement attraction in native and nonnative speakers of German

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 619-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
SOL LAGO ◽  
CLAUDIA FELSER
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
Second Language Speakers ◽  
Linear Distance ◽  
The Subject

ABSTRACTSecond language speakers often struggle to apply grammatical constraints such as subject–verb agreement. One hypothesis for this difficulty is that it results from problems suppressing syntactically unlicensed constituents in working memory. We investigated which properties of these constituents make them more likely to elicit errors: their grammatical distance to the subject head or their linear distance to the verb. We used double modifier constructions (e.g., the smell of the stables of the farmers), where the errors of native speakers are modulated by the linguistic relationships between the nouns in the subject phrase: second plural nouns, which are syntactically and semantically closer to the subject head, elicit more errors than third plural nouns, which are linearly closer to the verb (2nd-3rd-noun asymmetry). In order to dissociate between grammatical and linear distance, we compared embedded and coordinated modifiers, which were linearly identical but differed in grammatical distance. Using an attraction paradigm, we showed that German native speakers and proficient Russian speakers of German exhibited similar attraction rates and that their errors displayed a 2nd-3rd-noun asymmetry, which was more pronounced in embedded than in coordinated constructions. We suggest that both native and second language learners prioritize linguistic structure over linear distance in their agreement computations.

The acquisition of the semantic values of the Spanish present tense in L2 and heritage Spanish

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 462-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Cuza ◽  
Julio César López Otero
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Patterns Of Use ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers ◽  
Semantic Values

We examine the acquisition of the semantic values of the Spanish present tense among second language learners and Spanish heritage speakers, an area so far underexplored. We predict bilingualism effects evidenced in lower patterns of use, acceptance and preference of the simple present with an ongoing meaning, as well as preference for the progressive in ongoing and habitual contexts. Furthermore, we expect the heritage speakers to outperform the L2 learners, and to behave closer to native speakers. In contrast to our expectations, we found overextension of the simple present to ongoing situations and to contexts where the present progressive is preferred. The heritage speakers behaved closer to the native speakers, suggesting age-related effects in language development. We argue for morphosemantic convergence towards the less aspectually restrictive configuration.

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