ERIC Number: EJ1226624
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Oct
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0267-6583
EISSN: N/A
The Acquisition of Object Movement in Dutch: L1 Transfer and Near-Native Grammars at the Syntax-Discourse Interface
Smeets, Liz
Second Language Research, v35 n4 p479-504 Oct 2019
This article investigates near-native grammars at the syntax--discourse interface by examining the second language (L2) acquisition of two different domains of object movement in Dutch, which exhibit syntax-discourse or syntax-semantics level properties. English and German near-native speakers of Dutch, where German but not English allows the same mapping strategies as Dutch in the phenomena under investigation, are tested on two felicity judgment tasks and a truth value judgment task. The results from the English participants show sensitivity to discourse information on the acceptability of non-canonical word orders, but only when the relevant discourse cues are sufficiently salient in the input. The acquisition of semantic effects on object movement was native-like for a large subset of the participants. The German group performed on target in all experiments. The results are partially in line with previous studies reporting L2 convergence at the syntax-discourse interface, but suggest that input effects should also be taken into account. Furthermore, the differences between the first language (L1) English and the L1 German group suggests that non-target performance at the syntax-discourse interface is not caused by general bilingual difficulties in integrating discourse information into syntax. The article elaborates on factors that contribute to (in)complete acquisition at the syntax-discourse interface.
Descriptors: Syntax, Second Language Learning, Indo European Languages, Semantics, English, German, Native Language, Cognitive Mapping, Language Research, Form Classes (Languages), Decision Making, Task Analysis, Cues, Discourse Analysis, Linguistic Input, Linguistic Theory, Transfer of Training, Grammar, Cloze Procedure, Language Tests, Comparative Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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