This study attempts to explain a systematic phenomenon that has been described in interlanguage grammars crosslinguistically: Null-Prep, which consists of omitting the obligatory preposition in certain movement constructions. We propose that Null-Prep is not related to lack of knowledge of "wh"-movement, as previously assumed, but to…

This study examines the variable occurrence of preposition duplication in contexts of coordination in Spanish (e.g., "Fui con mi madre y (con) mi padre"). We build on previous research on this variable morphosyntactic phenomenon (namely, prepositions in contexts of coordination) by expanding the type of data and the independent variables…

Studies adopting a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory framework have often fallen into one of two camps: those investigating variable linguistic subsystems (namely, CAF studies) and those concerned with non-linguistic variables displaying the characteristics of dynamic systems, with little concern for their connection to linguistic development.…

Variability in the form of article (i.e., a and the) omissions and stressing has been attributed to a mismatch between first (L1) and second language (L2) prosodic and syntactic structures. An overlap between the L1 and L2 systems, on the other hand, is expected to contribute to native-like article productions. This case study aims to explore the…

In the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), the role of transfer has been theorized and studied to account for the influence of the native language on an interlanguage. However, stemming from behaviorist mentality, the concept of "transfer" has become widely associated with the direct transfer of habits and fails to take into…

The current study examines English-speaking learners of Spanish and their pragmatic development of request forms during a six-week immersion program in Madrid, Spain. Elicited production and intuition data were analyzed, focusing on personal deictic orientation, directness evidenced by clause type, and the use of "por favor"…

Adult second language (L2) learners often experience difficulty producing and perceiving non-native phonological contrasts. Even highly proficient bilinguals, who have been exposed to an L2 for long periods of time, struggle with difficult contrasts, such as /r/-/l/ for Japanese learners of English. To account for the relative ease or difficulty…

This study investigated the acquisition of the Spanish clitic se by English native speakers in passive, middle, and impersonal constructions. Little research has been done on this topic in SLA within a UG framework (Bayona, 2005; Bruhn de Garavito, 1999). VanPatten (2004) proposed the Processing Instruction (PI) model arguing for the necessity of…

This article offers a fine-grained investigation of how first-language (L1) phonetics involving English rhotics affect Spanish rhotic production by second-language (L2) learners. Specifically, this study investigates how different L1 English rhotic articulatory routines (retroflex-like and bunched-like) and the phonetic context that produces…

This article studies the acquisition of copulas by a Spanish-English bilingual between the ages of 1;6 and 3;0, examines the possibility of interlanguage influence, and considers the distributional frequencies of copular constructions in the speech of the child and in the language input from adults. The study is of interest because the bilingual…

This dissertation investigates the acquisition of oblique relative clauses in L2 Spanish by English and Moroccan Arabic speakers in order to understand the role of previous linguistic knowledge and its interaction with Universal Grammar on the one hand, and the relationship between grammatical knowledge and its use in real-time, on the other hand.…

This study examines the pragmatic strategies that learners utilize to negotiate a resolution when refusing a native speaker of higher status in three asymmetric situations (+Power, +Distance). Following Pomerantz's (1984) analysis of dispreferred responses, this study focuses on refusals to an invitation, a request, and a suggestion. Refusal…

Focuses on the relevance of principles of information organization in adult second language acquisition. Looks at typological features of information structure that allow speakers to organize and shape the flow of information when carrying out complex tasks and pinpoints factors that lead to the selection of linguistic form. The nature of the…

Investigates the relationship between lexical semantics and derivational morphology in the acquisition of causative/inchoative-related verbs in Turkish as a second language (L2) by Spanish and English speakers. Suggests that L2 learners are attuned to the rich morphology of Turkish and that the acquisition of derivational morphology and lexical…

An examination of the extent to which the polylectal grammar, a unified grammar constructed by a listener that subsumes the dialect differences that he has to cope with in a multidialectal situation, is an appropriate means of modelling listeners' receptive command of dialects other than their native one presents evidence that cross-dialectal…