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Part of
The Portuguese Language Continuum in Africa and Brazil
Edited by Laura Álvarez López, Perpétua Gonçalves and Juanito Ornelas de Avelar
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 20] 2018
► pp. 43–64

Chapter 2
Research on L2 varieties of European languages

From descriptive to formal grammars

| Universidade Eduardo Mondlane

This chapter shows how the concepts of Internalized and Externalized language (Chomsky, 1986), while making clear the distinction between the products of language behaviour and the system of knowledge represented in the mind of individuals, can provide an adequate background to account for the formal grammars of L2 varieties and for the role of L1 transfer in their genesis. To support this approach, I will present linguistic innovations in the realization of different types of verbal arguments in Mozambican Portuguese, an African L2 variety typically acquired by Bantu L1 speakers. The evidence of the study draws upon observational data produced by L2 speakers of Portuguese.

Keywords: L2 varieties, Internalized/Externalized language, L1 transfer, descriptive/formal grammars
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework
  • 3.Critical issues in the grammatical description of L2 varieties
  • 4.From descriptive to formal grammars of L2 varieties
    • 4.1A descriptive grammar of MP
    • 4.2A formal grammar of MP
      • Case study 1 – Goal/beneficiary arguments
      • Case study 2 – Theme argument
      • Case study 3 – Locative/directional arguments
    • 4.3Conclusions
  • 5.Potential of formal grammars for the recognition of L2 varieties
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 22 November 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.20.03gon
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