NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Showing all 7 results Save | Export
Dependency Resolutions of Null and Overt Subjects in English Speakers' L2 Chinese: Evidence for the Cue-Based Model
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Lilong Xu; Boping Yuan – Second Language Research, 2024
This study investigates whether there are different first-language-second-language (L1-L2) dependency resolutions by focusing on less-studied crosslinguistic variances in L2 acquisition of Chinese, a null-subject language, by speakers of English, a non-null-subject language. The overt subject pronoun of a Chinese main clause has free orientation…
Descriptors: Cues, Chinese, Phrase Structure, English
Cross-Linguistic Influence in the Acquisition of Adpositions in L3
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Çabuk-Balli, Sakine – International Journal of Multilingualism, 2023
This study sets out to investigate possible effects of previously learned languages on the acquisition of English as a third language by examining six prepositions (in, on, at, behind, over, to) when they denote spatial relations. Two picture description tasks were employed to find out which of the two known languages (L1 and/or L2) is the major…
Descriptors: Transfer of Training, Native Language, Second Language Learning, English (Second Language)
Microvariation and Transfer in L2 and L3 Acquisition
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Gabriele, Alison – Second Language Research, 2021
This commentary discusses Westergaard's (2021) keynote article, which presents a comprehensive model of first language (L1), second language (L2), and third language (L3) acquisition. The commentary presents evidence from a previous study of L3 learners that provides support for Westergaard's property-by-property transfer proposal. The commentary…
Descriptors: Multilingualism, Second Language Learning, Native Language, Linguistic Theory
Unclogging the Bottleneck: The Role of Case Morphology in L2 Acquisition at the Syntax-Discourse Interface
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Lecouvet, Mathieu; Degand, Liesbeth; Suner, Ferran – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2021
The Bottleneck Hypothesis argues that properties of inflectional morphology explain why second-language learners may face persistent difficulties in articulating meaning in target-language forms. In particular, the acquisition task proves even harder when first and second languages differ in the way they organize the mapping of functional features…
Descriptors: Morphology (Languages), Second Language Learning, Native Language, Syntax
Crosslinguistic Influence on Chinese EFL Learners' Acquisition of English Finite and Nonfinite Distinctions
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Tang, Mengmeng – Cogent Education, 2020
English and Chinese have typological differences in finiteness. English has morphological finite and nonfinite distinction, whereas Chinese has no morphological finiteness, and multiple verbs in a clause appear in the form of bare verbs with optional aspectual morphemes, such as the perfective morpheme "le". The current study explores…
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, English (Second Language), Language Classification
Acquisition of L3 French Wh-Question Structure by Persian-English Bilinguals
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Jabbari, Ali Akbar; Achard-Bayle, Guy; Ablali, Driss – Cogent Education, 2018
This study attempts to tease apart the effect of dominant languages of communication on the acquisition of syntactic properties of L3 French in order to test the current L3 generative theories. Three groups of bilinguals took part in this study: L1 Persian/L2 English, with French as the dominant language of communication, L1 Persian/L2 English,…
Descriptors: French, Bilingualism, Multilingualism, Native Language
A Cross-Linguistic Study of the Acquisition of Clitic and Pronoun Production
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Varlokosta, Spyridoula; Belletti, Adriana; Costa, João; Friedmann, Naama; Gavarró, Anna; Grohmann, Kleanthes K.; Guasti, Maria Teresa; Tuller, Laurice; Lobo, Maria; Andelkovic, Darinka; Argemí, Núria; Avram, Larisa; Berends, Sanne; Brunetto, Valentina; Delage, Hélène; Ezeizabarrena, María-José; Fattal, Iris; Haman, Ewa; van Hout, Angeliek; de López, Kristine Jensen; Katsos, Napoleon; Kologranic, Lana; Krstic, Nadezda; Kraljevic, Jelena Kuvac; Miekisz, Aneta; Nerantzini, Michaela; Queraltó, Clara; Radic, Zeljana; Ruiz, Sílvia; Sauerland, Uli; Sevcenco, Anca; Smoczynska, Magdalena; Theodorou, Eleni; van der Lely, Heather; Veenstra, Alma; Weston, John; Yachini, Maya; Yatsushiro, Kazuko – Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2016
This study develops a single elicitation method to test the acquisition of third-person pronominal objects in 5-year-olds for 16 languages. This methodology allows us to compare the acquisition of pronominals in languages that lack object clitics ("pronoun languages") with languages that employ clitics in the relevant context…
Descriptors: Language Research, Contrastive Linguistics, Form Classes (Languages), Morphology (Languages)