Cover not available
Article published In:
ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 153 (2007) ► pp.25–51

The Sla of Variable Structures

Analyzing Obligatory and Variable Contexts

| Indiana University
| The University of Plymouth

This study examines the acquisition of copula choice, more particularly the contrast between ser and estar ('to be') in Spanish by native speakers of Portuguese. Our research differs from previous work because the first language of the participants included also contains a copula contrast. Our previous analysis of data collected in adult L1 Spanish and Portuguese L2 Spanish, and data collected in Portuguese from adult L1 Portuguese, demonstrated important differences between these groups (Geeslin & Guijarro-Fuentes, 2006). The frequency of copula selection can be seen to be a result of L1 transfer, but the predictors of copula choice do not transfer directly from L1 to the L2. We argue that one of the key focuses of investigation should be the distinction between obligatory and variable contexts (Geeslin & Guijarro-Fuentes, 2004). Moreover, one must examine the linguistic features associated with variation between these three groups. In response, the current study analyzes those contexts where copula selection is unanimous for some or all of the participants in contrast with those where all speakers exhibit variation. We aim to determine whether or not those contexts that allow variation are the source of differences between the natives and the non-natives. This study is of general interest not only to those working on L2 Spanish, but also to the growing body of research on the acquisition of variable structures in SLA.

Published online: 1 January 2007
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.2143/ITL.153.0.2022820
References
Adamson, H.D. & Kovac, C.
(1981) Variation theory and second language acquisition: An analysis of Schumann's data. In D. Sankoff & H. Cedergren (Eds.), Variation omnibus (pp. 285–292). Edmonton, Alberta: Linguistic Research.Google Scholar
Adamson, H.D. & Regan, V.
(1991) The acquisition of community speech norms by Asian immigrants learning English as a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 1, 1–22.Google Scholar
Bayley, R. & Langman, J.
(2004) Variation in the group and the individual: Evidence from second language acquisition. IRAL 42, 4, 303–318.Google Scholar
Beebe, L.
(1980) Sociolinguistic variation and style shifting in SLA. Language Learning, 30, 2, 433–447.Google Scholar
Beebe, L. & Zuengler, J.
(1983) Accommodation theory: An explanation for style shifting in second language dialects. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (pp. 195–213). Rowley, MA: Newbury.Google Scholar
Berkowitz, D.
(1989) The effects of cultural empathy on second language phonological production. In M. Eisenstein (Ed.), The dynamic interlanguage: Empirical studies in second language variation, (pp. 101–114). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Birdsong, D.
(ed.) 1999 Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Bongaerts, T
(1999) Ultimate attainment in L2 pronunciation: The case of very advanced later learners. In D. Birdsong (Ed.), Second language acquisition and the critical period hypothesis (pp. 133–160). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Carlson, G.
(1989) On the semantic composition of English generic sentences. In G. Chierchia,Google Scholar
B. Partee, & R. Turner
(Eds.) Properties, types and meaning pp. 167 192 Volume 21 Dordrecht Kluwer
Clements, J. C.
(1988) The semantics and pragmatics of the Spanish #x003C;copula + adjective#x003E; construction. Linguistics, 261, 779–822.Google Scholar
Costa, J.
(1998) L'opposition seriestar en portugais. In A. Rouveret (Ed.), #x0022;ETRE#x0022; et AVOIR. Syntaxe, sémantique, typologie, (pp. 139–153). Vicennes University Press.Google Scholar
Dickerson, L. & Dickerson, W.
(1977) Interlanguage phonology: Current research and future directions. In P. Corder & E. Roulet (eds.), Acres du 5ème Colloque de Linguistique Appliqué de Neuchátel: The notions of simplification, interlanguages and pidgins and their relation to second language acquisition (pp. 18–29). Geneva: Droz.Google Scholar
Ellis, R.
(1999) Item versus system learning: Explaining free variation. Applied Linguistics, 20, 4, 460–480.Google Scholar
Falk, J.
(1979) Ser y estar con atributos adjetivales. Uppsala: Alqvist and Wiksell.Google Scholar
Fernández Leborans, M. J.
(1999) La predicación: las oraciones copulativas. In I. Bosque, & V. Demonte (Eds.), Gramática descriptiva de la lengua espahola (pp. 2354–2460). Madrid: Espasa.Google Scholar
Gatbonton, E.
(1978) Patterned phonetic variability in second language speech: A gradual diffusion model. Canadian Modern Language Review, 341, 335–347.Google Scholar
Geeslin, K.
(2000) A new approach to the second language acquisition of copula choice in Spanish. In R. Leow & C. Sanz (Eds.), Spanish Applied Linguistics at the Turn of the Millennium: Papers from the 1999 Conference on the LI & L2 Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese, (pp. 50–66). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
(2001) Changing norms, moving targets and the SLA of copula choice. Spanish Applied Linguistics, 5 (1-2), 29–55.Google Scholar
(2003) A comparison of copula choice in advanced and native Spanish. Language Learning, 53,4, 703–764.Google Scholar
(2005) Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries to Improve the Analysis of Second Language Data: A Study of Copula Choice with Adjectives in Spanish. Munich: LINCOM Publishers.Google Scholar
(2006) Linguistic contextual features and variation in L2 data elicitation. In C. Klee & T. Face (eds.), Selected proceedings from the 7th Conference on the acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as a first and second language, pp. 74–85. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. & Guijarro-Fuentes, P.
(2004) Estudio longitudinal del Ser y Estar en el español como L2. Porta Linguarum 21,93–110.Google Scholar
(2005) The acquisition of copula choice in instructed Spanish: The role of individual characteristics. In Eddington, D. (Ed.), Studies in the Acquisition of the Hispanic Languages: Papers from the 6th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages, pp. 66–77. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
(2006) The Second Language Acquisition of Variable Structures in Spanish by Portuguese Speakers. Language Learning 56 (1), 53–107.Google Scholar
Guijarro-Fuentes, P. & Geeslin, K.
(2006) Copula choice in the Spanish of Galicia: The effects of bilingualism on language use. Spanish in Context 3(1), 63–83.Google Scholar
Guitart, J.
(2002) Spanish ser and estar in cognitive/pragmatic perspective. Paper presented at the Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, KY.Google Scholar
Gutierrez, M.
(1992) Ser y estar en elhabla de Michoacán, México. México, D.F.: UNAM.Google Scholar
Howard, M.
(2004) On the interactional effect of linguistic constraints on interlanguage variation: The case of past time marking. IRAL 42,4,319–34.Google Scholar
Larsen-Freeman, D.
(1975) The acquisition of gramatical morphemes by adult ESL students. TESOL Quarterly 91,409–30.Google Scholar
Leonetti, M.
(1994) Sery estar. estado de la cuestión. Barataria, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, 11, 182–205.Google Scholar
Luján, M.
(1981) The Spanish copulas as aspectual indicators. Lingua 541,165–210.Google Scholar
Montrul, S & Slabakova, R.
(2003) Competence similarities between native and near-native speakers. An investigation of the Preterite-Imperfect Contrast in Spanish. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 251, 351–398.Google Scholar
Mougeon, R. & Dewaele, J.
(2004) Preface to variation in the interlanguage of advanced second language learners. IRAL, 42,4,295–301.Google Scholar
Preston, D.
(1993) Variationist linguistics and second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 9,2,153–172.Google Scholar
(1996) Variationist perspectives on second language acquisition. In R. Bayley & D. Preston (eds.), Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Variation (pp. 1–45). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
(2000) Three kinds of sociolinguistics and SLA: A psycholinguistic perspective. In B. Swierzbin et al.. (Eds.). Social and Cognitive Factors in SLA, (pp. 3–30). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla.Google Scholar
Regan, V.
(1995) The acquisition of sociolinguistic native speech norms. In Freed, B. (Ed.). Second Language Acquisition in a Study Abroad Context, (pp. 245–267). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Rehner, K.
(2002) The development of aspects of linguistic and discourse competence by advanced second language learners of French. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, OISE/ University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Rehner, K., Mougeon, R. & Nadasdi, T.
(2003) The learning of sociolinguistic variation by advanced FSL learners: The case of nous versus on in immersion French. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 251, 127–156.Google Scholar
Ryan, J. & Lafford, B.
(1992) The acquisition of lexical meaning in a study abroad nvironment: Ser+ estar and the Granada experience. Hispania, 751, 714–22.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R. & López-Ortega, N.
(1998) Accurate L2 production across language tasks: Focus on form, focus on meaning and communicative control. Modern Language Journal 82, 4, 514–532.Google Scholar
Selinker, L. & Douglass, D.
(1985) Wrestling with 'context' in interlanguage theory. Applied Linguistics, 61, 190–204.Google Scholar
Silva-Corvalán, C.
(1986) Bilingualism and language change: The extension of estar in Los Angeles Spanish. Language, 621, 587–608.Google Scholar
(1994) Language contact and change: Spanish in Los Angeles. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Tarone, E.
(1983) On the variability of interlanguage systems. Applied Linguistics, 41, 142–63.Google Scholar
(1985) Variability in interlanguage use: A study of style-shifting in morphology and syntax. Language Learning, 351, 373–404.Google Scholar
(1988) Variation in Interlanguage. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
(2000) Still wrestling with context in Interlanguage Theory. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 201,182–198.Google Scholar
Vañó-Cerdá, A.
(1982) Ser y Estar + Adjetivos. Tubingen: Narr.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B.
(1987) The acquisition of ser and estar: Accounting for developmental patterns. In B. VanPatten, T. Dvorak, & J. Lee (Eds.), Foreign language learning: A research perspective (pp. 61–75). New York: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Weinberger, S.
(1987) The influence of linguistic context on syllable simplification. In G. loup & S. Weinberger (Eds.), Interlanguage phonology: The acquisition of a second language sound system, (pp. 401–417). Cambridge: Newbury House Publishers.Google Scholar
Wenk, B.
(1986) Cross-linguistic influence in second language phonology: Speech Rhythms. In Kellerman, E. & M. Sharwood Smith (Eds.), Cross-linguistic influence in second language acquisition, (pp. 120–133). New York: Pergamon.Google Scholar
White, L. & Genesee, F.
(1996) How native is near-native? The issue of ultimate attainment in adult second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 121, 238–265.Google Scholar
Young, R.
(1991) Variation in Interlanguage Morphology. New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Zampini, M.
(1994) The role of native language transfer and task formality in the acquisition of Spanish spirantization. Hispania 771,470–481.Google Scholar