Cover not available
Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 1:4 (2011) ► pp.413–438

Acquiring the syntactic constraints on auxiliary change under restructuring in L2 Italian

Implications for the Interface Hypothesis

| University of Rijeka

This paper reports the findings of an experiment into the syntactic constraints on auxiliary change under restructuring in Italian L2 grammars which are possibly at the end state. Its aim is to test the prediction of the original version of the Interface Hypothesis that narrow syntactic properties are fully acquirable in the L2. In Italian restructuring constructions with embedded unaccusatives, the change of auxiliary from avere (‘have’) to essere (‘be’) is either optional or obligatory depending on clitic presence and placement. A group of highly proficient L1 Croatian adult L2 learners of Italian and a group of adult Italian native speakers used Magnitude Estimation to express their auxiliary preferences in restructuring constructions with embedded unaccusatives. The L2 learners were shown not to know when auxiliary change is optional and when obligatory. Such findings are not consistent with the version of the Interface Hypothesis tested. Possible reasons for the incomplete acquisition of the phenomenon under scrutiny are discussed in the paper.

Keywords: auxiliary change, clitics, restructuring constructions, unaccusative verbs, Interface Hypothesis, L2 acquisition, Italian
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Auxiliary change under restructuring in Italian and the relevant properties of Croatian
  • 3.Previous L2 research
  • 4.The study
    • 4.1Research question and hypothesis
    • 4.2Participants
    • 4.3Materials and procedure
  • 5.Results
  • 6.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 25 October 2011
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.1.4.03kra
References
Bard, E. G., Robertson, D., & Sorace, A
(1996) Magnitude estimation of linguistic acceptability. Language, 72(1), 32–68. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barić, E., Lončarić, M., Malić, D., Pavešić, S., Peti, M., Zečević, V., & Znika, M
(1995) Hrvatska gramatika. Zagreb: Školska knjiga.Google Scholar
Belletti, A., Bennati, E., & Sorace, A
(2007) Theoretical and developmental issues in the syntax of subjects: Evidence from near-native Italian. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 25(4), 657–689. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Borgonovo, C., Bruhn de Garavito, J., & Prévost, P
(2006) Is the semantics/syntax interface vulnerable in L2 acquisition? Focus on mood distinctions clauses in L2 Spanish. In V. Torrens & L. Escobar (Eds.), The acquisition of syntax in Romance languages (pp. 353–369). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Borgonovo, C., Bruhn de Garavito, J., Guijarro-Fuentes, P., Prévost, P., & Valenzuela, E
(2006) Specificity in Spanish: The syntax/semantics interface in SLA. In S. H. Foster-Cohen, M. Medved Krajnović & J. Mihaljević Djigunović (Eds.), EUROSLA yearbook: Volume 6 (2006) (pp. 57–78). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Borgonovo, C., & Prévost, P
(2003) Knowledge of polarity subjunctive in L2 Spanish. In B. Beachley, A. Brown & F. Conlin (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 151–161). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Burzio, L
(1986) Italian syntax: A Government-Binding approach. Dordrecht: Reidel. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cardinaletti, A., & Shlonsky, U
(2004) Clitic positions and restructuring in Italian. Linguistic Inquiry, 35(4), 519–557. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cinque, G
(2001) “Restructuring” and the order of aspectual and root modal heads. In G. Cinque & G. Salvi (Eds.), Current studies in Italian syntax. Essays offered to Lorenzo Renzi (pp. 137–155). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
(2003) The interaction of passive, causative, and “restructuring” in Romance. In C. Tortora (Ed.), The syntax of Italian dialects (pp. 50–66). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2004) “Restructuring” and functional structure. In A. Belletti (Ed.), Structures and beyond. The cartography of syntactic structures, volume 31 (pp. 132–191). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Coppieters, R
(1987) Competence differences between native and near-native speakers. Language, 63(3), 544–573. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dekydtspotter, L., & Sprouse, R. A
(2001) Mental design and (second) language epistemology: Adjectival restrictions of wh-quantifiers and tense in English-French interlanguage. Second Language Research, 17(1), 1–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dekydtspotter, L., Sprouse, R. A., & Anderson, B
(1997) The interpretive interface in L2 acquisition: The process-result distinction in English-French interlanguage grammars. Language Acquisition, 6(4), 297–332. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dekydtspotter, L., Sprouse, R. A., & Swanson, K. A. B
(2001) Reflexes of mental architecture in second-language acquisition: The interpretation of combien extractions in English-French interlanguage. Language Acquisition, 9(3), 175–227. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dekydtspotter, L., & Sprouse, R. A., & Thyre, R
(1999/2000) The interpretation of quantification at a distance in English-French interlanguage: Domain specificity and second-language acquisition. Language Acquisition, 8(4), 265–320. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Franks, S., & King, T. H
(2000) A handbook of Slavic clitics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Klein-Braley, C., & Raatz, U
(1984) A survey of research on the C-test. Language Testing, 1(2), 134–146. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kraš, T
(2008a) L2 acquisition of the lexicon-syntax interface and narrow syntax by child and adult Croatian learners of Italian. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Cambridge.
(2008b) Anaphora resolution in near-native Italian grammars: Evidence from native speakers of Croatian. In L. Roberts, F. Myles & A. David (Eds.), EUROSLA yearbook: Volume 8 (2008) (pp. 107–134). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
(2009a) Native-like attainment of the lexicon-syntax interface in the L2: Converging evidence from different methodologies. In J. Chandlee, M. Franchini, S. Lord & G.-M. Rheiner (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 278–289). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
(2009b) The lexicon-syntax interface in L2 Italian: Ne-cliticisation with intransitive verbs. In M. Bowles, T. Ionin, S. Montrul & A. Tremblay (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 2009) (pp. 220–230). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
(2010a) Unaccusativity in L2 Italian at the lexicon-syntax interface. In M. Iverson, I. Ivanov, T. Judy, J. Rothman, R. Slabakova & M. Tryzna (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2009 Mind/Context Divide Workshop (pp. 60–71). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
(2010b) The lexicon-syntax interface in child L2 grammars of Italian: Auxiliary selection and ne-cliticisation with intransitive verbs. In L. Roberts, M. Howard, M. Ó., Laoire & D. Singleton (Eds.), EUROSLA yearbook: Volume 10 (2010) (pp. 220–247). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Montrul, S
(2004) Subject and object expression in Spanish heritage speakers: A case of morphosyntactic convergence. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7(2), 125–142. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005a) Second language acquisition and first language loss in adult early bilinguals: Exploring some differences and similarities. Second Language Research, 21(3), 199–249. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005b) On knowledge and development of unaccusativity in Spanish L2 acquisition. Linguistics, 43(6), 1153–1190. DOI logoGoogle 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, 25(3), 351–398. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paradis, J., & Navarro, S
(2003) Subject realization and cross-linguistic interference in the bilingual acquisition of Spanish and English: What is the role of input?. Journal of Child Language, 30(2), 1–23. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rizzi, L
(1978) A restructuring rule in Italian syntax. In S. J. Keyser (Ed.), Recent transformational studies in European languages (pp. 113–158). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Reprinted in Rizzi, L. (1982). Issues in Italian syntax. Dordrecht: Foris.)Google Scholar
Rothman, J
(2009) Pragmatic deficits with syntactic consequences: L2 pronominal subjects and the syntax-pragmatics interface. Journal of Pragmatics, 41(5), 951–973. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Serratrice, L
(2007) Cross-linguistic influence in the interpretation of anaphoric and cataphoric pronouns in English–Italian bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10(3), 225–238. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Serratrice, L., Sorace, A., & Paoli, S
(2004) Subjects and objects in Italian-English bilingual and monolingual acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7(3), 183–206. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Serratrice, L., Sorace, A., Filiaci, F., & Baldo, M
(2009) Bilingual children’s sensitivity to specificity and genericity: Evidence from metalinguistic awareness. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12(2), 239–257. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Slabakova, R
(2006) Learnability in the second language acquisition of semantics: A bidirectional study of a semantic parameter. Second Language Research, 22(4), 498–523. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorace, A
(1993) Incomplete vs. divergent representations of unaccusativity in non-native grammars of Italian. Second Language Research, 9(1), 22–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2000) Gradients in auxiliary selection with intransitive verbs. Language, 76(4), 859–890. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005) Selective optionality in language development. In L. Cornips & K. Corrigan (Eds.), Syntax and variation: Reconciling the biological and the social (pp. 55–80). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) Pinning down the concept of “interface” in bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 1(1), 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorace, A., & Filiaci, F
(2006) Anaphora resolution in near-native speakers of Italian. Second Language Research, 22(3), 339–368. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorace, A., & Serratrice, L
(2009) Internal and external interfaces in bilingual language development: Beyond structural overlap. International Journal of Bilingualism, 13(2), 195–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorace, A., Serratrice, L., Filiaci, F., & Baldo, M
(2009) Discourse conditions on subject pronoun realization: Testing the linguistic intuitions of older bilingual children. Lingua, 119(3), 460–477. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsimpli, I. M., & Sorace, A
(2006) Differentiating interfaces: L2 performance in syntax-semantics and syntax-discourse phenomena. In D. Bamman, T. Magnitskaia & C. Zaller (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 653–664). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Tsimpli, I. M., Sorace, A., Heycock, C., & Filiaci, F
(2004) First language attrition and syntactic subjects: A study of Greek and Italian near-native speakers of English. International Journal of Bilingualism, 8(3), 257–277. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
White, L
(2009) Grammatical theory: Interfaces and L2 knowledge. In W. Ritchie & T. Bhatia (Eds.), The new handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 49–68). Bingley: Emerald.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, 12(3), 233–265. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilson, F., Sorace, A., & Keller, F
(2009) Antecedent preferences for anaphoric demonstratives in L2 German. In J. Chandlee, M. Franchini, S. Lord & G.-M. Rheiner (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 634–645). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Gass, Susan
2018. SLA Elicitation Tasks. In The Palgrave Handbook of Applied Linguistics Research Methodology, ► pp. 313 ff. DOI logo
Gómez Soler, Inmaculada & Diego Pascual y Cabo
2018. On focus and weight in Spanish as a heritage language. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics 31:2 ► pp. 437 ff. DOI logo
Ionin, Tania & Eve Zyzik
2014. Judgment and Interpretation Tasks in Second Language Research. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 34 ► pp. 37 ff. DOI logo
Zhao, Lucy Xia
2014. Ultimate attainment of anaphora resolution in L2 Chinese. Second Language Research 30:3 ► pp. 381 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 2 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.