We investigate L1 Italian-L2 English speakers using three types of subject raising constructions: Raising over lexical DPs, pronominal DPs, and topicalizations. We test locality constraints in L2 English, including how intervention effects affect the L2 processing of A-dependencies and whether exceptionality to certain locality constraints are learnable. Three main findings emerged: (i) L2 speakers are sensitive to intervention, yet exceptions to locality can be learned; (ii) intervening DPs elicited higher processing loads only for native controls; (iii) raising with topicalizations facilitated processing only for native speakers, even though topicalization is grammatical in the L2er’s L1. Results indicate that native and non-native grammars eventually converge, exceptionality to universal constraints is learnable, and differences between native and non-native speakers lies primarily in processing.
This study explores the L2 acquisition of quantifier scope in English, a notably difficult property to acquire by speakers of a scope-rigid language like Japanese. This study examines the knowledge of universal quantifiers in English that Japanese Learners of English (JLEs) have, focusing on the distributivity and collectivity of the quantifiers. Results of a picture-based acceptability judgment task showed that JLEs had problems with scope judgments and interpreted every NP as a distributive/collective quantifier akin to all NPPL in the grammar of English native speakers. Thus, this study implies that issues with the L2 acquisition of scope ambiguity are rooted in a problem with the reassembly of quantificational features of universal quantifiers, in accord with Lardiere (2008, 2009).
We investigate the hypothesis that nouns in article-less languages are unambiguous with respect to definiteness, an unambiguity that is evident in the interpretation of ungrammatical “bare” or article-less singular nouns in L2 English. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that bare nouns in L2 English are interpreted as definite, administering an acceptability judgment task to intermediate L2 learners of English whose native language is Mandarin. We used sentences containing bare singular nouns in different syntactic positions and discourse contexts. We found bare subjects to be most acceptable in contexts that required definites, while bare objects were acceptable across contexts. Bare nouns in L2 English are argued to be unambiguous, following a systematic pattern determined by argument position and discourse context.
English double-quantifier configurations such as A dog scared every man are ambiguous between a surface-scope reading (there exists one specific dog which scared every man) and an inverse-scope reading (each man was scared by a possibly different dog), while the Mandarin equivalent only has the surface-scope reading. Therefore, if L1-transfer is at work, L1-Mandarin L2-English learners would not initially allow inverse-scope readings in English, but may acquire them through exposure to relevant input. We tested learners in the U.S. and native English speakers on their acceptance of surface-scope and inverse-scope readings and found that learners disallowed inverse-scope readings of English double-quantifier sentences. This suggests that positive evidence alone is not sufficient for the L2-acquisition of inverse scope.
In this study, I investigated the acquisition of L2 German plural allomorphy via a written production task of classroom learners in North America. Trommer (2015) has argued that the mutual exclusivity of marking plural by either an [n] suffix or an umlauted (i.e. [CORONAL]) stem vowel derives from a universal property of phonological representations. The crossing of association lines, which would result from doubly linking the [CORONAL] feature (which marks the plural), is banned. The data show that the learners made many errors, but that the number of forms which suggested a violation of this universal property were statistically insignificant. I argue that these data are consistent with models showing that interlanguage phonologies are governed by universal phonological principles.
This study examines the development of L2 English prosody as associated with information focus by Japanese EFL (JEFL) learners. Comprehension, perception, and production tasks were conducted with 54 participants in three sub-groups: low proficiency level JEFLs, high proficiency level JEFLs, and native English speakers. Results show that the low-level JEFLs could identify which parts of sentences require focus but they could not successfully perceive nor produce three different prosodic patterns associated with information focus. In contrast, high proficiency JEFLs demonstrated native-like performance, with a slight difficulty in producing post-focal compression. Our findings have implications for the syntax-discourse-prosody interface: (i) the interface knowledge develops through multiple stages, and (ii) the discourse-prosody interface is challenging for L2 learners.
This study examines the spoken suppliance of inflectional morphology by L1 Bengali speakers of L2 English in the phonological framework of the Prosodic Transfer Hypothesis (Goad, White, & Steele, 2003; Goad & White, 2004; Goad & White, 2006, et seq.). Data from a semi-spontaneous elicitation task suggests that, at lower levels of proficiency, production of inflection is partially conditioned by the stem vowel in terms of vowel length and the voicing status of the stem-final consonant. This finding is proposed to be indicative not only of transfer of L1 prosodic representations, but also transfer of L1 word minimality requirements and moraic structure below the level of the prosodic word. Evidence of such transfer is arguably visible when there is a mismatch between word minimality and the distribution of syllable weight in the L1 and L2.
Focusing on the much-debated question of transfer from previously learned languages in L3 acquisition, we investigate acquisition of finite verb placement in L3 German. Participants are L1 Norwegian high-school students with L2 English, in years 1, 2, 4, and 5 of German instruction. Norwegian and German have V2 word order, while English does not. Participants completed acceptability judgments in L3 German and L2 English. Results show no clear preference for either V2 or non-V2 in German in the earliest learners, but later development towards target-like intuitions. Target-like L2 English judgments do not seem to be associated with more transfer from L2 to L3 of a given structure, and higher L2 proficiency does not predict more L2 transfer to L3.
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.
The role that working memory may play in explaining potential differences between native and non-native sentence processing has been increasingly debated. In this chapter, I discuss how the conceptualisation of working memory is crucial to our understanding of its role in second language processing. In particular, I compare capacity-based approaches that focus on working memory resources and interference-based approaches that focus on memory encoding and retrieval. After reviewing evidence for both approaches to working memory, I argue that interference-based accounts provide a promising approach for examining the role of working memory in second language processing. Although I focus on non-native sentence processing, I also touch on related issues in second language acquisition.
This chapter considers how heritage language speakers, bilinguals exposed to their L1 since birth either exclusively or simultaneously with the majority language, shed new light on the role of age in language acquisition. Investigating the ultimate attainment of bilinguals with early and late exposure to their L1 and L2 helps disentangle how the roles of previous linguistic knowledge and of quantity and quality of input interact with age of onset of bilingualism. Comparing the linguistic and processing abilities of heritage speakers and L2 learners allows us to understand how the timing of input interacts with situational factors and elucidates the developmental schedule of different modules of the grammar. Early exposure is critical for aspects of phonology, syntax, and morphology.
This study investigates attachment resolution of ambiguous relative clauses (RC) by second (L2) and third (L3) language speakers of English and Russian. Participants’ sensitivity to the language of testing, social conventions, and a linguistic effect of the matrix verb (perception, non-perception) is investigated. Monolingual controls confirm the established cross-linguistic variation: high attachment in Russian and low attachment in English. Non-native speakers demonstrate a tendency to perform in the target-like manner in their non-native languages. Both native and non-native speakers favor high attachment after a perception matrix verb. Neither monolinguals nor L2/L3 learners rely on social conventions to interpret ambiguous RCs. In other words, non-native sentence comprehension appears to be sensitive to syntactic cues prompted by a perception verb in RC resolution.
We investigate L1 Italian-L2 English speakers using three types of subject raising constructions: Raising over lexical DPs, pronominal DPs, and topicalizations. We test locality constraints in L2 English, including how intervention effects affect the L2 processing of A-dependencies and whether exceptionality to certain locality constraints are learnable. Three main findings emerged: (i) L2 speakers are sensitive to intervention, yet exceptions to locality can be learned; (ii) intervening DPs elicited higher processing loads only for native controls; (iii) raising with topicalizations facilitated processing only for native speakers, even though topicalization is grammatical in the L2er’s L1. Results indicate that native and non-native grammars eventually converge, exceptionality to universal constraints is learnable, and differences between native and non-native speakers lies primarily in processing.
This study explores the L2 acquisition of quantifier scope in English, a notably difficult property to acquire by speakers of a scope-rigid language like Japanese. This study examines the knowledge of universal quantifiers in English that Japanese Learners of English (JLEs) have, focusing on the distributivity and collectivity of the quantifiers. Results of a picture-based acceptability judgment task showed that JLEs had problems with scope judgments and interpreted every NP as a distributive/collective quantifier akin to all NPPL in the grammar of English native speakers. Thus, this study implies that issues with the L2 acquisition of scope ambiguity are rooted in a problem with the reassembly of quantificational features of universal quantifiers, in accord with Lardiere (2008, 2009).
We investigate the hypothesis that nouns in article-less languages are unambiguous with respect to definiteness, an unambiguity that is evident in the interpretation of ungrammatical “bare” or article-less singular nouns in L2 English. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that bare nouns in L2 English are interpreted as definite, administering an acceptability judgment task to intermediate L2 learners of English whose native language is Mandarin. We used sentences containing bare singular nouns in different syntactic positions and discourse contexts. We found bare subjects to be most acceptable in contexts that required definites, while bare objects were acceptable across contexts. Bare nouns in L2 English are argued to be unambiguous, following a systematic pattern determined by argument position and discourse context.
English double-quantifier configurations such as A dog scared every man are ambiguous between a surface-scope reading (there exists one specific dog which scared every man) and an inverse-scope reading (each man was scared by a possibly different dog), while the Mandarin equivalent only has the surface-scope reading. Therefore, if L1-transfer is at work, L1-Mandarin L2-English learners would not initially allow inverse-scope readings in English, but may acquire them through exposure to relevant input. We tested learners in the U.S. and native English speakers on their acceptance of surface-scope and inverse-scope readings and found that learners disallowed inverse-scope readings of English double-quantifier sentences. This suggests that positive evidence alone is not sufficient for the L2-acquisition of inverse scope.
In this study, I investigated the acquisition of L2 German plural allomorphy via a written production task of classroom learners in North America. Trommer (2015) has argued that the mutual exclusivity of marking plural by either an [n] suffix or an umlauted (i.e. [CORONAL]) stem vowel derives from a universal property of phonological representations. The crossing of association lines, which would result from doubly linking the [CORONAL] feature (which marks the plural), is banned. The data show that the learners made many errors, but that the number of forms which suggested a violation of this universal property were statistically insignificant. I argue that these data are consistent with models showing that interlanguage phonologies are governed by universal phonological principles.
This study examines the development of L2 English prosody as associated with information focus by Japanese EFL (JEFL) learners. Comprehension, perception, and production tasks were conducted with 54 participants in three sub-groups: low proficiency level JEFLs, high proficiency level JEFLs, and native English speakers. Results show that the low-level JEFLs could identify which parts of sentences require focus but they could not successfully perceive nor produce three different prosodic patterns associated with information focus. In contrast, high proficiency JEFLs demonstrated native-like performance, with a slight difficulty in producing post-focal compression. Our findings have implications for the syntax-discourse-prosody interface: (i) the interface knowledge develops through multiple stages, and (ii) the discourse-prosody interface is challenging for L2 learners.
This study examines the spoken suppliance of inflectional morphology by L1 Bengali speakers of L2 English in the phonological framework of the Prosodic Transfer Hypothesis (Goad, White, & Steele, 2003; Goad & White, 2004; Goad & White, 2006, et seq.). Data from a semi-spontaneous elicitation task suggests that, at lower levels of proficiency, production of inflection is partially conditioned by the stem vowel in terms of vowel length and the voicing status of the stem-final consonant. This finding is proposed to be indicative not only of transfer of L1 prosodic representations, but also transfer of L1 word minimality requirements and moraic structure below the level of the prosodic word. Evidence of such transfer is arguably visible when there is a mismatch between word minimality and the distribution of syllable weight in the L1 and L2.
Focusing on the much-debated question of transfer from previously learned languages in L3 acquisition, we investigate acquisition of finite verb placement in L3 German. Participants are L1 Norwegian high-school students with L2 English, in years 1, 2, 4, and 5 of German instruction. Norwegian and German have V2 word order, while English does not. Participants completed acceptability judgments in L3 German and L2 English. Results show no clear preference for either V2 or non-V2 in German in the earliest learners, but later development towards target-like intuitions. Target-like L2 English judgments do not seem to be associated with more transfer from L2 to L3 of a given structure, and higher L2 proficiency does not predict more L2 transfer to L3.
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.
The role that working memory may play in explaining potential differences between native and non-native sentence processing has been increasingly debated. In this chapter, I discuss how the conceptualisation of working memory is crucial to our understanding of its role in second language processing. In particular, I compare capacity-based approaches that focus on working memory resources and interference-based approaches that focus on memory encoding and retrieval. After reviewing evidence for both approaches to working memory, I argue that interference-based accounts provide a promising approach for examining the role of working memory in second language processing. Although I focus on non-native sentence processing, I also touch on related issues in second language acquisition.
This chapter considers how heritage language speakers, bilinguals exposed to their L1 since birth either exclusively or simultaneously with the majority language, shed new light on the role of age in language acquisition. Investigating the ultimate attainment of bilinguals with early and late exposure to their L1 and L2 helps disentangle how the roles of previous linguistic knowledge and of quantity and quality of input interact with age of onset of bilingualism. Comparing the linguistic and processing abilities of heritage speakers and L2 learners allows us to understand how the timing of input interacts with situational factors and elucidates the developmental schedule of different modules of the grammar. Early exposure is critical for aspects of phonology, syntax, and morphology.
This study investigates attachment resolution of ambiguous relative clauses (RC) by second (L2) and third (L3) language speakers of English and Russian. Participants’ sensitivity to the language of testing, social conventions, and a linguistic effect of the matrix verb (perception, non-perception) is investigated. Monolingual controls confirm the established cross-linguistic variation: high attachment in Russian and low attachment in English. Non-native speakers demonstrate a tendency to perform in the target-like manner in their non-native languages. Both native and non-native speakers favor high attachment after a perception matrix verb. Neither monolinguals nor L2/L3 learners rely on social conventions to interpret ambiguous RCs. In other words, non-native sentence comprehension appears to be sensitive to syntactic cues prompted by a perception verb in RC resolution.