Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 4. Kare and the acquisition of bound variable interpretations by Korean speaking learners of Japanese
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 4. Kare and the acquisition of bound variable interpretations by Korean speaking learners of Japanese

  • Sungshim Hong and Mineharu Nakayama
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company

Abstract

This paper reports on pronominal interpretations by Korean speaking learners of Japanese. Korean, like Japanese, has both null and overt pronouns and null pronouns can take quantifier antecedents while overt pronouns cannot. Most of the learners at the lowest proficiency level erroneously accepted overt pronouns with the quantifier antecedents in a truth value judgment experiment. This suggests that L1 transfer was not a general trend among the participants of the present study. The finding is similar to that in recent studies on English and Turkish speaking learners of Japanese. Taken together, they suggest that some L2 learners appear to follow a default strategy that accepts all pronouns with a bound variable reading.

Abstract

This paper reports on pronominal interpretations by Korean speaking learners of Japanese. Korean, like Japanese, has both null and overt pronouns and null pronouns can take quantifier antecedents while overt pronouns cannot. Most of the learners at the lowest proficiency level erroneously accepted overt pronouns with the quantifier antecedents in a truth value judgment experiment. This suggests that L1 transfer was not a general trend among the participants of the present study. The finding is similar to that in recent studies on English and Turkish speaking learners of Japanese. Taken together, they suggest that some L2 learners appear to follow a default strategy that accepts all pronouns with a bound variable reading.

Downloaded on 9.11.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/lald.60.05hon/html
Scroll to top button