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Generative SLA in the Age of Minimalism: Features, interfaces, and beyond
Edited by Tania Leal, Elena Shimanskaya and Casilde A. Isabelli
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 67] 2022
► pp. 213–240

Feature reconfiguration at the syntax-discourse interface

L2 acquisition of Italian CLLD

| York University

This study examines L1 transfer in the L2 acquisition of feature mappings associated with Italian Clitic Left Dislocation (CLLD) by native speakers of English and Romanian. In Italian, insertion of a clitic after dislocating a direct object is restricted to [+anaphor] objects (López, 2009) and in Romanian to [+specific] objects. Extending the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (Lardiere, 2009) to the syntax-discourse interface, successful acquisition is arguably more difficult for the L1 Romanian group than the L1 English group due to the need for feature reassembly. The findings show convergence with the target language only for the L1 English group in the near-native levels of L2 proficiency. The results suggest that reconfiguration is prone to fossilization when reassembly is required.

Keywords: feature reconfiguration, syntax-discourse interface, clitic left dislocation, Romance languages, Italian-Romanian, near-native grammars
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Syntax and properties of left dislocated objects
    • 2.1Object left dislocation constructions
    • 2.2The interpretative properties of CLLD in Italian and Romanian
    • 2.3Assignment of [+anaphor] and [+specific]
  • 3.Feature acquisition and feature reconfiguration
  • 4.Research question and feature reconfiguration
  • 5.The experiment
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Task 1: Acceptability judgments
      • 5.2.1Materials and procedure
      • 5.2.2Results and analysis
        • 5.2.2.1Italian and Romanian monolinguals
        • 5.2.2.2L1 Romanian, L2 Italian
        • 5.2.2.3L1 English, L2 Italian
    • 5.3Task 2: Written elicitation
      • 5.3.1Materials and procedure
      • 5.3.2Results and analysis
        • 5.3.2.1Italian and Romanian monolinguals
        • 5.3.2.2L1 Romanian, L2 Italian
        • 5.3.2.3L1 English, L2 Italian
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 17 August 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.67.09sme
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