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Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 11:3 (2021) ► pp.323–367

Verb learning and the acquisition of aspect

L1 transfer of verb semantics

ORCID logo | University of Iowa
ORCID logo | Case Western Reserve University

Although SLA research has extensively investigated the role of lexical aspect in L2 acquisition of tense-aspect marking, the role of L1 is not yet fully understood. This paper investigates the effect of cross-linguistic variation in lexical aspect and explores how the learning of lexical aspect interacts with the acquisition of aspectual morphology, using oral picture-description and written judgment tasks. 391 learners of Japanese (L1 English, Chinese, and Korean) participated in the study. The results show that L2 learners have problems in rejecting incorrect L2 aspectual structures (but not in accepting correct ones) when such structures involve L1–L2 discrepancy in lexical aspect. The results also confirmed a strong L1 effect at the level of surface inflected verbal form, showing significantly higher accuracy for items for which direct translation yields correct meaning than those that do not. It is argued that L1 transfer may be playing an important role in the L2 acquisition of aspect in that both positive and negative transfer collectively determine the order of acquisition predicted by the Aspect Hypothesis.

Keywords: the Aspect Hypothesis, L1 transfer, lexical aspect
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The Aspect Hypothesis
    • 1.2The AH and L1 transfer
    • 1.3Cross-linguistic variation in grammatical aspect and lexical aspect
    • 1.4Problems for learners
  • 2.The study
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Design
      • Verb correspondence types
      • Question types
      • Transfer types
    • 2.3Materials and procedure
      • 2.3.1Picture description task
        • Test items
        • Coding of responses
      • 2.3.2Judgment task
        • Test items
        • Coding of responses
    • 2.4Analysis
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Proficiency test (Dictation)
    • 3.2Picture description task
      • 3.2.1Overall results
      • 3.2.2The effect of verb correspondence type (H1)
      • 3.2.3The effect of L1–L2 congruent mapping (H3)
    • 3.3Judgment task
      • 3.3.1Overall results
      • 3.3.2The effect of verb correspondence type and question type (H1 & H2)
      • 3.3.3The effect of L1–L2 congruent mapping (H3)
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1The effect of cross-linguistic discrepancy in lexical aspect
    • 4.2The role of L1 transfer and the AH
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 24 October 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.18084.nis
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