In this article we look at some of the structural properties of second language (L2) Japanese WH questions. In Japanese the WH words are licensed to remain "in situ" by the prosodic contiguity properties of the phrases which have no prosodic boundaries between the WH word and the question particle. In a rehearsed-reading, sentence…

This article documents a fairly rare kind of interlanguage phenomenon, namely one in which interlanguages exhibit syntactic constructions that are grammatical neither in a learner's native language nor in his or her target language, but are nevertheless typologically attested. The target construction is "wh"-scope marking, a cross-linguistically…

In English and Chinese, questions with a "wh"-object and a universally quantified subject (e.g. "What did everyone buy?") allow an individual answer ("Everyone bought apples.") and a pair-list answer ("Sam bought apples, Jo bought bananas, Sally bought..."). By contrast, the pair-list answer is reportedly unavailable in Japanese and Korean. This…

Examined two phenomena in the acquisition of second-language syllable structure among Japanese students of English as a foreign language: (1) a preference for open syllables, as manifest in paragoge; and (2) a developmental process of final segment apocopation. Results suggest that paragogic epenthesis is conditioned by a syllable structure…

Examines experimental data relative to second language acquisition of English reflexives. The article focuses on an experiment designed to tap syntactic constraints of interlanguage grammar and on the consideration of the consistency of responses of individual subjects. Findings reveal the systematicity of interlanguage grammar much more…

Reports an experimental study on the acquisition of English reflexives by adult Japanese-speaking learners of English. Consonant with a review of previous studies on binding in second-language acquisition, results of the experiment yield no evidence of an interlanguage grammar that is illicit with respect to universal grammar. (Author/ER)