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In:New Frontiers and Connections in Second Language Acquisition: Selected Proceedings of the 17th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (GASLA-17) Conference
Edited by Tania Ionin and Silvina Montrul
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 71] 2026
► pp. 101–128

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Acquiring the scope of logical connectives and negation in Japanese as a second language

 | Ritsumeikan University
Published online: 21 April 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.71.05oku
Abstract
This study investigated the interpretations of Japanese negated disjunctions and conjunctions by L1-English and L1-Mandarin learners of L2-Japanese. Negated disjunctions and conjunctions have different interpretations in English as opposed to Japanese and Mandarin. The results of a Truth Value Judgment Task show that L1-Mandarin L2-Japanese learners had more target-like interpretations than L1-English L2-Japanese learners, suggesting L1 transfer. L1-English L2-Japanese learners had more difficulty with Japanese negated disjunctions than conjunctions, contrary to predictions based on learnability. L1-English L2-Japanese learners also had difficulty with another form of Japanese negated disjunction. From these results, I argue that the cognitive complexity of negated disjunctions is a potential delaying factor in the acquisition of their correct interpretations.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Linguistic properties
    • 2.1Negated disjunctions
    • 2.2Negated conjunctions
  • 3.Previous L2 studies on disjunction and conjunction under negation
  • 4.Research questions and predictions
  • 5.Experiment
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Procedure
    • 5.3Materials
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Group results
      • 6.1.1Descriptive analysis
      • 6.1.2Statistical analysis
    • 6.2Individual results
  • 7.Discussion
    • 7.1Which L2ers will be more target-like, L1-Mandarin learners
      or L1-English learners?
    • 7.2Will L1-English and L1-Mandarin learners be more target-like in
      their interpretation of negated disjunctions compared to negated conjunctions, and does this pattern differ between these two L1 groups?
    • 7.3Follow-up experiment
    • 7.4Limitation of the study
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
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