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Article In: Language, Interaction and Acquisition: Online-First Articles

The basic variety in learners of closely related languages

A case study of young Spanish-speaking migrants learning Italian

ORCiD logo with link | University of Turin
 | University of Turin
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Abstract
Longitudinal studies conducted within the ESF project in the 1980s revealed recurrent interlanguage stages developed by learners of different L2s and with different L1s, where similar morphological categories and syntactic properties emerged gradually and consistently, regardless of learners’ L1, age, or acquisition context, albeit at varying paces. A Basic Variety (BV) has been identified as an initial stage of such developmental path: a simplified, structurally reduced linguistic system typically characterized by the absence of inflectional morphology and a pragmatic-semantic organization of utterances.
This study investigates whether the concept of BV applies to untutored Spanish-speaking learners of Italian, analysing spontaneous and semi-spontaneous oral productions collected from recently arrived learners through a community-based data collection approach. It specifically focuses on forms and functions of verbal morphology: the early emergence of hybrid forms with functional value may indicate a possible phonological/morphological restructuring process originating from the source language. The use of a Basic Variety in such a context appears as an additional resource in cases of communicative breakdown.
Résumé
Les études longitudinales menées dans le cadre du projet ESF dans les années 1980 ont mis en évidence des stades récurrents d’interlangue développés par des apprenants de différentes L2 et ayant des L1 diverses, au cours desquels des catégories morphologiques similaires et des propriétés syntaxiques comparables émergent progressivement et de manière systématique, indépendamment de la L1, de l’âge ou du contexte d’acquisition des apprenants, bien qu’à des rythmes variables. La Variété de base a été proposée comme un stade initial de ce parcours développemental : un système linguistique simplifié et structurellement réduit, généralement caractérisé par l’absence de morphologie flexionnelle et par une organisation pragmatico-sémantique des énoncés.
La présente étude examine spécifiquement si le concept de Variété de base s’applique à des apprenants hispanophones de l’italien en situation d’acquisition non guidée, en analysant des productions orales spontanées et semi-spontanées recueillies auprès d’apprenants récemment arrivés, selon une approche communautaire de collecte des données. Elle se concentre en particulier sur les formes et fonctions de la morphologie verbale, l’émergence précoce de formes hybrides dotées d’une valeur fonctionnelle, pouvant indiquer un processus de restructuration phonologique/morphologique à partir de la langue source. Le recours à une Variété de base dans un tel contexte apparaît comme une ressource supplémentaire en cas de rupture communicative.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Italian and Spanish
  • 3.Spanish-speaking learners of Italian: Some relevant studies for the restructuring hypothesis
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Data collection
    • 4.2Participants and data transcription
    • 4.3Data analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1General view
    • 5.2The verbal system
    • 5.3Morphophonological characteristics of verb forms
      • 5.3.1Present indicative, infinitive, participle
      • 5.3.2Auxiliaries in compound forms
  • 6.Summary and discussion
    • 6.1SL, TL and hybrid forms
    • 6.2Restructuring processes
    • 6.3…and the Basic Variety?
  • 7.Concluding remarks: Basic Variety as a Communicative Strategy
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
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