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Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 4:4 (2014) ► pp.432–461

Variational learning in L2

The transfer of L1 syntax and parsing strategies in the interpretation of wh-questions by L1 German learners of L2 English

| Vienna University of Economics and Business

This study examines the interpretation of constituent wh-questions in L2 English by learners whose L1 is Austrian German. Austrian German and English share identical surface word order patterns for a range of question forms, but with distinct semantic interpretations. Non-target patterns of interpretation show that the learners ay high levels of proficiency continue to optionally parse English questions with the L1 syntax. The continued presence of thematic verb movement and head-final VP syntax in L1 German-L2 English interlanguage challenges previous findings that headedness is reset very early and that V2 is realised by auxiliary verbs. This is analysed as an instance of Variational Learning (Yang, 2002), whereby the L1 grammar is accessed to parse L2 input where possible. The L1 syntactic representation thus continues to be available at high proficiency levels to parse input strings that are linearly compatible, giving rise in the case of L1 German-L2 English to non-target parses and interpretation of wh-questions.

Keywords: parsing, L1 transfer, parameters, headedness, verb second, variational learning
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Main clause subject and object questions in English and German
  • 3.Parsing and grammatical representation at the initial state
  • 4.OV to VO and V2 to V3: Previous SLA research
  • 5.Theoretical considerations
  • 6.Research questions and predictions
  • 7.Experiment 1
    • 7.1Participants
    • 7.2Materials and procedure
    • 7.3Results for Native German Group
  • 8.Experiment 2
    • 8.1Participants
    • 8.2Materials and procedure
    • 8.3Native English and L2 English results
    • 8.4Individual learner results
    • 9.English Wh-questions in the in instruction input
  • 10.Discussion and conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 8 December 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.4.4.02ran
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