Cover not available
Article published In:
Representation and Processing in Bilingual Morphology
Edited by Jennifer R. Austin
[Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 9:1] 2019
► pp. 73–119

Feature reassembly in the acquisition of plural marking by Korean and Indonesian bilinguals

A bidirectional study

| University of Pennsylvania
| Georgetown University

This bidirectional study investigated the L2 acquisition of plural marking in L2 Indonesian by native Korean speakers and in L2 Korean by native Indonesian speakers. Indonesian and Korean are classifier languages with partially overlapping restrictions on how pluralization interacts with quantification, allowing us to test the acquisition of new L2 features vs. the preemption of L1 features that are not in the L2. We also examined how the contextual complexity of new L2 features impacts development. Seventy learners at three L2 Korean proficiency levels and 40 native controls participated in Experiment 1; 61 learners at three L2 Indonesian proficiency levels and 39 native controls participated in Experiment 2. All participants completed three tasks – a Sentence Completion Task, a Grammaticality Judgment Task and a Multiple-Choice Task. Whereas learners were largely able to overcome the difficulty of preemption, they were less successful in acquiring new L2 feature contrasts in more complex conditioning environments.

Keywords: Plural marking in L2A, Indonesian and Korean, Feature reassembly
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Feature (re-)assembly in second language acquisition
    • 1.2Preemption in L2 acquisition
    • 1.3Feature hierarchies and computational complexity
  • 2.The number marking systems of Indonesian and Korean
    • 2.1Plural marking in classifier languages?
    • 2.2Classifiers in Indonesian and Korean
    • 2.3Classifiers with quantifiers
    • 2.4Plural marking in Indonesian and Korean
    • 2.5Plural marking with quantifiers
    • 2.6Numeral quantifiers + classifiers with plural marking
    • 2.7Features needed to acquire number marking in Korean and Indonesian
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Participants
      • 3.1.1Participants in Experiment 1 (L1 Indonesian/L2 Korean)
      • 3.1.2Participants in Experiment 2 (L1 Korean/L2 Indonesian)
    • 3.2Materials and procedures
      • 3.2.1Sentence completion task (SCT)
      • 3.2.2Grammaticality judgment task (GJT)
      • 3.2.3Multiple choice task (MCT)
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Results for Experiment 1 (L1 Indonesian/L2 Korean)
      • 4.1.1Sentence completion task (SCT)
      • 4.1.2Grammaticality judgment task (GJT)
      • 4.1.3Multiple choice test (MCT)
    • 4.2Results for Experiment 2 (L1 Korean/L2 Indonesian)
      • 4.2.1Sentence completion task (SCT)
      • 4.2.2Grammaticality judgment task (GJT)
      • 4.2.3Multiple choice task (MCT)
  • 5.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 July 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.16018.lee
References
An, Y.
(2007) Korean tul and English all . LSO Working Papers in Linguistics 7: Proceedings of WIGL, 1–16.Google Scholar
(2010) Frequency, gradience, and variance in consonant insertion (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Stony Brook University, New York.Google Scholar
Beard, R.
(1995) Lexeme-morpheme base morphology. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Borer, H.
(2005) In name only: Structuring sense: Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Boyd, J. & Goldberg, A.
(2011) Learning what NOT to say: The role of statistical preemption and categorization in a-adjective production. Language, 871, 55–83. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carson, J. C.
(2000) The semantics of number in Malay noun phrases (Unpublished MA thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.Google Scholar
Chierchia, G.
(1998) Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics, 61, 339–405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cho, J. & Slabakova, R.
(2014) Interpreting definiteness in second language without articles: The case of L2 Russian. Second Language Research, 301, 159–190. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cho, Y. M., Lee, H. S., Schulz, C., Sohn, H., & Sohn, S. O.
(2012) Integrated Korean: Beginning 1, (2nd ed.). University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
(2012) Integrated Korean: Beginning 2, (2nd ed.). University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
(2012) Integrated Korean: Intermediate 1, (2nd ed.). University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
(2012) Integrated Korean: Intermediate 2, (2nd ed.). University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N.
(1981) Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
(1998) Minimalist inquiries: the framework. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics, 151, 1–56.Google Scholar
(2001) Derivation by phase. In M. Kenstowicz (Ed.), Ken Hale: A life in language (pp. 1–52). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chung, S.
(2000) On reference to kinds in Indonesian. Natural Language Semantics, 91, 157–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corver, N.
(2003) Perfect projections. In R. van Hout, A. Hulk, F. Kuiken & R. Towell (Eds.), The Lexicon-Syntax-Interface in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 45–69). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cowper, E., & Hall, D. C.
(2012) Aspects of individuation. In D. Massam (Ed.), Count and mass across languages (pp. 27–53). Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dalrymple, M., & Mofu, S.
(2012) Plural semantics, reduplication, and numeral modification in Indonesian. Journal of Semantics, 291, 229–260. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Embick, D., & Noyer, R.
(2007) Distributed Morphology and the syntax–morphology interface. In G. Ramchand & C. Reiss (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of linguistic interfaces (pp. 289–324). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Franceschina, F.
(2005) Fossilized Second Language Grammars: The Acquisition of Grammatical Gender. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gabriele, A.
(2009) Transfer and transition in the SLA of aspect. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 311, 371–402. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gebhardt, L.
(2009) Numeral classifiers and the structure of DP (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.Google Scholar
Goldberg, A.
(2011) Corpus evidence of the viability of statistical preemption. Cognitive Linguistics, 221, 1–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halle, M. & Marantz, A.
(1993) Distributed Morphology and the pieces of inflection. In K. Hale & S. J. Keyser (Eds.), The view from Building 20: Essays in honor of Sylvain Bromberger (pp. 111–176). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Harley, H., & Ritter, E.
(2002) Person and number in pronouns: A feature-geometric analysis. Language, 781, 482–526. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Casillas, G.
(2008) Explaining frequency of verb morphology in early L2 speech. Lingua, 1181, 595–612. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Chan, Y.-H. C.
(1997) The partial availability of Universal Grammar in second language acquisition: the ‘failed functional feature hypothesis’. Second Language Research, 131, 187–226. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Hattori, H.
(2006) Interpretation of English multiple wh- questions by Japanese speakers: A missing uninterpretable feature account. Second Language Research, 221, 269–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haznedar, B., & Schwartz, B. D.
(1997) Are there Optional Infinitives in child L2 acquisition? In E. Hughes, M. Hughes & A. Greenhill (Eds.), Proceedings of the 21st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, 211, 257–68. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Hwang, S. H., & Lardiere, D.
(2013) Plural-marking in L2 Korean: A feature-based approach. Second Language Research, 291, 57–86. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hwang, S. H.
(2013) The acquisition of Korean plural marking by native English speakers (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Georgetown University, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Ionin, T., Montrul, S., & Crivos, M.
(2013) A bidirectional study on the acquisition of plural noun phrase interpretation in English and Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics, 341, 483–518. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kang, B-M.
(1994) Plurality and other semantic aspects of common nouns in Korean. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 31, 1–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kim, C.
(2005) The Korean plural marker tul and its implications. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware.Google Scholar
Kwon, S-N., & Zribi-Hertz, A.
(2004) Number from a syntactic perspective: Why plural marking looks ‘truer’ in French than in Korean. In O. Bonami & P. Cabredo Hofherr (Eds.), Empirical issues in formal syntax and semantics 51 (pp. 133–158). [URL].
Lardiere, D.
(1998) Dissociating syntax from morphology in a divergent end-state grammar. Second Language Research, 141, 359–375. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2000) Mapping features to forms in second language acquisition. In J. Archibald (Ed.), Second language acquisition and linguistic theory (pp. 102–129). Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
(2005) On morphological competence. In L. Dekydtspotter, R. A. Sprouse, & A. Liljestrad (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conferece (GASLA 2004), 178–192. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proc.Google Scholar
(2008) Feature assembly in second language acquisition. In J. M. Liceras, H. Zobl, & H. Goodluck (Eds.), The role of formal features in second language acquisition (pp. 106–140). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
(2009) Some thoughts on the contrastive analysis of features in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 251, 173–227. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, E.
(2015) L2 acquisition of number marking: A bidirectional study of adult learners of Korean and Indonesian (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Georgetown University, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Li, Y-H. A.
(1999) Plurality in a classifier language. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 81, 75–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Loewen, G.
(2011) The syntactic structure of noun phrases in Indonesian (Unpublished MA thesis). University of Manitoba, Winnipeg.Google Scholar
MacDonald, R. R.
(1976) Indonesian reference grammar. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
McCarthy, C.
(2008) Morphological variability in the comprehension of agreement: an argument for representation over computation. Second Language Research, 241, 459–486. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., & Yoon, J.
(2009) Putting parameters in their proper place. Second Language Research, 251, 291–311. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nakanishi, K., & Tomioka, S.
(2004) Japanese plurals are exceptional. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 131, 113–140. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nemoto, N.
(2005) On mass denotations of bare nouns in Japanese and Korean. Linguistics, 43(2), 383–413. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Noh, E.
(2008) A study on the meaning of Korean zero-marked and ‘tul’-marked nouns. Discourse and Cognition, 151, 43–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Park, S-Y.
(2008) Plural marking in classifier languages: A case-study of the so-called plural marking -tul in Korean. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics, 281, 281–295.Google Scholar
Prévost, P., & White, L.
(2000) Missing surface inflection or impairment in second language acquisition? Evidence from tense and agreement. Second Language Research, 161, 103–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Puspitorini, D.
(2010) Untaian Bahasa 2 [Indonesian Grammar 2]. Universitas Indonesia.Google Scholar
Ramscar, M., Dye, M., & McCauley, S. M.
(2013) Error and expectation in language learning: The curious absence of mouses in adult speech. Language, 891, 760–93. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rovita, D., Nuryanti, N., Puspitorini, D., & Westi, E. C.
(2010) 1Untaian Bahasa 1 [Indonesian Grammar 1] Universitas Indonesia.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. D., & Sprouse, R. A.
(1996) L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model. Second Language Research, 121, 40–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Slabakova, R.
(2008) Meaning in the second language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sneddon, J. N.
(2010) Indonesian: A comprehensive grammar. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sprouse, R. A.
(2006) Full transfer and relexification: Second language acquisition and creole genesis. In C. Lefebvre, L. White & C. Jourdan (Eds.), L2 acquisition and creole genesis: Dialogues (pp. 169–181). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsimpli, I. M., & Dimitrakopoulou, M.
(2007) The interpretability hypothesis: Evidence from wh- interrogatives in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 231, 215–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsimpli, I. M., & Mastropavlou, M.
(2008) Feature interpretability in L2 acquisition and SLI: Greek clitics and determiners. In J. M. Liceras, H. Zobl & H. Goodluck (Eds.) The Role of Formal Features in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 142–183). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Trahey, M. & White, L.
(1993) Positive evidence and preemption in the second language classroom. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 151, 181–204. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Widjaja, E. N.
(2010) Second language acquisition order of Indonesian reduplication and numeral classifier (Unpublished MA thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.Google Scholar
West, E. C.
(2010) Untaian Bahasa 3 [Indonesian Grammar 3]. Universitas Indonesia.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

Austin, Jennifer
2019. Representation and processing in bilingual morphology. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 9:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Ayoun, Dalila & Stefano Maranzana
2022. Chapter 5. The second language acquisition of grammatical gender and number in Italian. In The Acquisition of Gender [Studies in Bilingualism, 63], ► pp. 97 ff. DOI logo
Su, Jiajia
2019. Reassembly of plural and human features in the L2 acquisition of Chinese by adult Korean speakers. Second Language Research 35:4 ► pp. 529 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 april 2022. 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.