Cover not available
Part of
The Acquisition of the Present
Edited by Dalila Ayoun
[Not in series 196] 2015
► pp. 215–252

Chapter 8. The L2 acquisition of the present in the Japanese tense-aspect system

Evidence for a tripartite system?

| University of Pittsburgh
ORCID logo | Case Western Reserve University

Although the research on the acquisition of tense-aspect markers has been extensively pursued since the 1970s, the focus of these studies has mostly been on particular grammatical markers (such as past tense markers, perfective aspect markers, progressive aspect markers), and they have tended to ignore how the full tense-aspect system, including the nonpast/present form, is acquired. This chapter investigates the development of the nonpast/present form -(r)u in Japanese among L2 learners, together with other aspectual forms – namely past -ta and imperfective -te i-(ru). The present study analyzes a longitudinal conversational corpus (C-JAS) of six learners of Japanese (native speakers of Korean and Chinese). The results indicate that while the production of the past tense marker -ta is aligned with the predictions set by the tripartite system hypothesis (Andersen & Shirai 1994), the nonpast/present form -(r)u does not. Furthermore, the results of the imperfective -te i-(ru) shows productivity in both resultative and progressive meanings, which goes against the universal prediction. It is suggested that the predictions set by universal hypotheses based on the tripartite system are not applicable to the acquisition of the Japanese tense-aspect system.

Published online: 9 October 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/z.196.08li
References
Andersen, R.W
1990 Verbal virtuosity and speakers’ purposes. In Variability in Second Language Acquisition: Proceedings of the Tenth Meeting of the Second Language Research Forum , H. Burmeister & P.L. Rounds (eds), 1–24. Eugene OR: University of Oregon.
1991 Developmental sequences: The emergence of aspect marking in second language acquisition. In Crosscurrents in Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theories [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 2], T. Huebner & C.A. Ferguson (eds), 305–324. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1994 The insider’s advantage. Italiano: Lingua seconda/lingua straniera (Italian: Second language/foreign language), A. Giacalone Ramat & M. Vedovelli (eds), 1–26. Rome: Bulzoni.Google Scholar
Andersen, R.W. & Shirai, Y
1994 Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 16: 133–156. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996 Primacy of aspect in first and second language acquisition: The pidgin/creole connection. In Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, W.C. Ritchie & T.K. Bhatia (eds), 527–570. San Diego CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Antinucci, F. & Miller, R
1976 How children talk about what happened. Journal of Child Language 3: 169–189. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ayoun, D. & Salaberry, M. R
2008 acquisition of English tense–aspect morphology by advanced French instructed learners. Language Learning 58: 555–595. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K
1998 Narrative structure and lexical aspect: Conspiring factors in second language acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 20: 471–508. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. & Bergström, A
1996 The acquisition of tense and aspect in SLA and FLL: A study of learner narratives in English (SL) and French (FL). Canadian Modern Language Review 52: 308–330.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. & Reynolds, D.W
1995 The role of lexical aspect in the acquisition of tense and aspect. TESOL Quarterly 29: 107–131. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bickerton, D
1981 Roots of Language. Ann Arbor MI: Karoma.Google Scholar
Bloom, L., Lifter, K. & Hafitz, J
1980 The semantics of verbs and the development of verb inflections in child language. Language 56: 386–412. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bohnemeyer, J. & Swift, M
2004 Event realization and default aspect. Linguistics and Philosophy 27: 263–296. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bronckart, J.-P. & Sinclair, H
1973 Time, tense, and aspect. Cognition 2: 107–130. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, R
1973 A First Language: The Early Stages. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bybee, J
1994 The grammaticization of zero. In Perspectives on Grammaticalization [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 109], W. Pagliuca (ed.), 235–254. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, J. & Shirai, Y
2010 The development of aspectual marking in Mandarin Chinese. Applied Psycholinguistics 31: 1–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Collins, L
2002 The roles of L1 influence and lexical aspect in the acquisition of temporal morphology. Language Learning 52: 43–94. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ishida, K
2007 Developing understanding of how the desu/masu and plain forms express one’s stance. In Selected Papers from the Conference of Pragmatics in the CJK Classroom, 5-7 June 2006, D.R. Yoshimi & H. Wang (eds), 97–120. Honolulu HI: University of Hawai’i, National Foreign Language Resource Center.Google Scholar
Ishida, M
2004 Effects of recasts on the acquisition of the aspectual form -te i-(ru) by learners of Japanese as a foreign language. Language Learning 54: 311–394. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Izquierdo, J. & Collins, L
2008 The facilitative role of L1 influence in tense–aspect marking: A comparison of Hispanophone and Anglophone learners of French. The Modern Language Journal 92: 350–368. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koyama, S
2003 Nihongo no tensu-asupekuto no syuutoku ni okeru huhensei to kobetusei: bogo no yakuwari to eikyoo o tyuusin ni (Universality and variability in the acquisition of Japanese tense-aspect: focusing on the role and effect of L1). In Gengo to Kyooiku: Nihongo o Taisyoo ni (Language and Education: The Case of Japanese), S. Koyama, M. Nohara & K. Otomo (eds), 415–436. Tokyo: Kurosio.Google Scholar
Lee, E.-J
2001 Interlanguage development by two Korean speakers of English with a focus on temporality. Language Learning 51: 591–633. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, P. & Shirai, Y
2000 The Acquisition of Lexical and Grammatical Aspect. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, P., Maher, S., Newmark, E. & Hurley, J
2001 The role of parental input in the acquisition of aspect. Journal of Cognitive Science 2: 119–143.Google Scholar
Martin, S.E
1988 A Reference Grammar of Japanese. Rutland VT: Charles E. Tuttle.Google Scholar
Maynard, S.K
1991 Pragmatics of discourse modality: A case of da and desu/masu forms in Japanese. Journal of Pragmatics 15: 551–582. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mourelatos, A.P.D
1981 Events, processes, and states. In Syntax and Semantics, Vol 14: Tense and Aspect, P.J. Tedeschi & A. Zaenen (eds), 191–212. New York NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Okuda, Y
1978 Asupekuto no kenkyuu o megutte (zyoo) (On the study of aspect (1)). Kyooiku Kokugo (Language Education) 53: 33–44.Google Scholar
Rohde, A
1996 The Aspect Hypothesis and emergence of tense distinctions in naturalistic L2 acquisition. Linguistics 34: 1115–1137. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2000 Tense and aspect in naturalistic L2 acquisition. In Psycholinguistics on the Threshold of the Year 2000: Proceedings of the Fifth International Congress of the International Society of Applied Linguistics, M. de Graca Pinto, J. Veloso & B. Maia (eds), 359–363. Porto: University of Portugal.Google Scholar
Robison, R.E
1990 The primacy of aspect: aspectual marking in English interlanguage. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 12: 315–330. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1995 The Aspect Hypothesis revisited: A cross-sectional study of tense and aspect marking in interlanguage. Applied Linguistics 16: 344–370. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ryu, J., Horie, K. & Shirai, Y
In press. The L2 Acquisition of the Korean imperfective aspect markers -ko iss- and -a iss- by Japanese learners: A multiple-factor account. Language Learning.
Salaberry, M.R
1999 The development of past tense verbal morphology in classroom L2 Spanish. Applied Linguistics 20: 151–178. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shibata, M
1998 The use of tense-aspect markers in a Brazilian worker’s Japanese. Bulletin of the Institute for Area Studies of Okinawa University 11: 45–63.Google Scholar
Shibatani, M
1990 The Languages of Japan. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Shirai, Y
1991 Primacy of Aspect in Language Acquisition: Simplified Input and Prototype. PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
1993 Inherent aspect and the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology in Japanese. In Argument Structure: Its Syntax and Acquisition, H. Nakajima & Y. Otsu (eds), 185–211. Tokyo: Kaitakusha.Google Scholar
1994 On the overgeneralization of progressive marking on stative verbs: Bioprogram or input? First Language 14: 67–82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1998a The emergence of tense-aspect morphology in Japanese: Universal predisposition? First Language 18: 281–309. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2000 The semantics of the Japanese imperfective -teiru: An integrative approach. Journal of Pragmatics 32: 327–361. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Temporality in first and second language acquisition. In The Expression of Time, W. Klein & P. Li (eds), 167–193. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
2011 Lexical and grammatical aspect in language acquisition, processing, and disorders. In Studies in Language Sciences, S. Arita, Y.G. Butler, K. Horie, E. Hauser, Y. Shirai, R. Mazuka & J. Tsubakita (eds), 41–57. Tokyo: Kurosio.Google Scholar
2012 Second language acquisition research and Japanese language teaching: A functionalist approach. Japanese Studies 32: 317–334. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shirai, Y. & Andersen, R. W
1995 The acquisition of tense-aspect morphology: A prototype account. Language 71: 743–762. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shirai, Y. & Kurono, A
1998 The acquisition of tense-aspect marking in Japanese as a second language. Language Learning 48: 245–279. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shirai, Y. & Nishi, Y
2002 Lexicalization of aspectual structures in English and Japanese. In Typology and Second Language Acquisition, A. Giacalone Ramat (ed.), 267–290. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2005 How what we mean impacts how we talk: The Japanese imperfective aspect marker -teiru in conversation. In The Power of Context in Language Learning and Teaching, J. Frodesen & C. Holten (eds), 39–48. Boston MA: Thomson Heinle.Google Scholar
Smith, C.S
1997 The Parameter of Aspect, 2nd edn. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sugaya, N
2003 Nihongo gakusyuusya no asupekuto syuutoku ni kansuru zyuudan kenkyuu: doosa no zizoku to kekka no zyootai no -te i-ru o tyuusin ni (A longitudinal study on the acquisition of imperfective aspect morphology by L2 learners of Japanese: focusing on the progressive and the resultative state use of -te i-ru). Nihongo Kyooiku (Journal of Japanese Language Teaching) 119: 65–74.Google Scholar
2005 Nihongo no asupekuto syuutoku ni kansuru kenkyuu no doukou (An overview of the acquisition of the aspect morphology in Japanese as a second language). Gengo bunka to Nihongo kyouiku 11 gatu tokushuugou ( Language Culture and Japanese Education, November special issue ), 39–67.Google Scholar
Sugaya, N. & Shirai, Y
2007 The acquisition of progressive and resultative meanings of the imperfective aspect marker by L2 learners of Japanese: Universals, transfer, or multiple factors? Studies in Second Language Acquisition 29: 1–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sugaya N. & Shirai, Y
2009 Can L2 learners productively use Japanese tense-aspect markers? A usage-based approach. In Formulaic Language, Vol. 2: Acquisition, Loss, Psychological Reality, and Functional Explanations [Typological Studies in Language 82], R. Corrigan, E.A. Moravcsik, H. Ouali & K. Wheatley (eds), 423–444. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vendler, Z
1957 Verbs and times. The Philosophical Review 66: 143–160 DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verkuyl, H. J
1972 The Compositional Nature of the Aspects [Foundations of Language Supplementary Series 15]. Dordrecht: Reidel. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yoshikawa, T
1976 Gendai Nihongo doosi no asupekuto no kenkyuu (Research on the aspect of verbs in Modern Japanese). In Nihongo doosi no asupekuto ( Aspects of Japanese Verbs ), H. Kindaichi (ed.), 155–327. Tokyo: Mugi Shobo.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Kawaguchi, Satomi
2023. Chapter 2. Studies of Japanese as a second language and their contribution to Processability Theory. In Processability and Language Acquisition in the Asia-Pacific Region [Processability Approaches to Language Acquisition Research & Teaching, 9], ► pp. 27 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 september 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.