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Showing all 14 results Save | Export
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Angelopoulos, Nikos; Bagioka, Dafni-Vaia; Terzi, Arhonto – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2023
The most recent studies on the acquisition of evidentiality, be it morphologically or syntactically encoded, have argued that the comprehension lag detected is due to factors having to do with others' authority or mental perspective, where "others" stands for other individuals involved in the experiment in various manners (e.g., the…
Descriptors: Syntax, Language Acquisition, Morphology (Languages), Age Differences
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Belletti, Adriana; Manetti, Claudia – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2019
Through two elicited production experiments we investigated how preschool Italian-speaking children access the left periphery of the clause with respect to topics in Clitic Left Dislocation (ClLD) structures. Since the discourse conditions of the experiments are felicitous for the production of passives as well, we also investigated children's…
Descriptors: Italian, Preschool Children, Phrase Structure, Discourse Analysis
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Getz, Heidi R. – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2019
The "wanna" facts are a classic Poverty of Stimulus (PoS) problem: "Wanna" is grammatical in certain contexts ("Who do you want PRO to play with?") but not others ("Who do you want who[strikethrough] to play with you?"). On a standard analysis, "contraction" to "wanna" is blocked by some…
Descriptors: Language Acquisition, Language Universals, Grammar, Language Usage
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Fukuda, Shin – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2017
This study investigates the knowledge of unaccusativity in Japanese native, heritage, and second/foreign language speakers with respect to licensing of floating numeral quantifiers (FNQs) by unaccusative and unergative subjects (the "FNQ diagnostic"). Two acceptability judgment experiments were conducted to examine (i) whether and how…
Descriptors: Japanese, Second Language Learning, Form Classes (Languages), Language Research
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VanPatten, Bill; Smith, Megan – Second Language Research, 2019
This article reports the findings of a study in which we investigated the possible effects of word order on the acquisition of case marking. In linguistic typology (e.g. Greenberg, 1963) a very strong correlation has been shown between dominant SOV (subject object verb) word order and case marking. No such correlation exists for SVO (subject verb…
Descriptors: Word Order, Second Language Learning, Grammar, Language Classification
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Rett, Jessica; Hyams, Nina – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2014
This article presents several empirical studies of syntactically encoded evidentiality in English. The first part of our study consists of an adult online experiment that confirms claims in Asudeh & Toivonen (2012) that raised Perception Verb Similatives (PVSs; e.g. "John looks like he is sick") encode direct evidentiality. We then…
Descriptors: Syntax, Databases, Grammar, Correlation
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Morales-Reyes, Alexandra; Soler, Inmaculada Gómez – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2016
L2 learners' problems with English articles have been linked to learners' L1 and their access to universal semantic features (e.g., definiteness and specificity). Studies suggest that L2 adults rely on their L1 knowledge, while child L2 learners rely more on their access to semantic universals. The present study investigates whether child L2…
Descriptors: Transfer of Training, Semantics, Language Research, Form Classes (Languages)
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Hwu, Fenfang; Pan, Wei; Sun, Shuyan – Language Teaching Research, 2014
Finding the match between individuals and educational treatments is the aim of both educators and the aptitude-treatment interaction research paradigm. Using the latent growth curve analysis, the present study investigates the interaction between the type of explicit instructional approaches (deductive vs. explicit-inductive) and the level of…
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Language Aptitude, Grammar, Teaching Methods
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Liu, Dilin – Research in the Teaching of English, 2011
Despite a long debate and the accompanying call for changes in the past few decades, grammar instruction in college English classes, according to some scholars, has remained largely "disempowering,""decontextualized," and "remedial" (Micciche, 2004, p. 718). To search for more effective and empowering grammar teaching, this study explores the use…
Descriptors: College English, Language Research, Grammar, Problem Based Learning
Islam, A. K. M. Mazharul – Online Submission, 2011
This study has investigated the interlanguage features in spoken language of four foreigner learners of Bangla. Data has been collected through interviews which were recorded and analyzed. The analysis of the respondents' language has been made in terms of phonetic, morphological and syntactic aspects. The language deviations may be attributed to…
Descriptors: Interlanguage, Indo European Languages, Language Processing, Interference (Language)
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Hawkins, Roger; And Others – Second Language Research, 1993
A detailed study of the developing intuitions of English-speaking adult learners of second-language French was conducted. One finding, that English-speaking learners of French can use nonparametrized properties of Universal Grammar to handle surface syntactic English-French differences, supports an emerging view about the role of parametrized…
Descriptors: English, Foreign Countries, French, Grammar
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Towell, Richard; And Others – Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1993
Variability has been the subject of recent debate in the study of learner interlanguage. Empirical evidence from a longitudinal study suggests that learning follows a systematic route. A grammaticality judgment test is appended. (Contains 19 references.) (Author/LB)
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, French, Grammar, Interlanguage
Stewart, Lea P. – 1979
Forty undergraduate students were subjects in a study to discover students' attitudes toward language and grammar and to determine how the demand for grammatical correctness affected them in preparing and delivering public speeches. The subjects each completed an 11-item interview schedule that elicited demographic information as well as feelings…
Descriptors: Grammar, Higher Education, Language Attitudes, Language Research
Sadeghi, Sima – Online Submission, 2006
To what extent does Universal Grammar (UG) constrain second language (L2) acquisition? This is not only an empirical question, but one which is currently investigable. In this context, L2 acquisition is emerging as an important new domain of psycholinguistic research. Three logical possibilities have been articulated regarding the role of UG in L2…
Descriptors: Indo European Languages, Error Analysis (Language), Structural Analysis (Linguistics), Phrase Structure