Chapter 10. Aspect in the acquisition of the Spanish locative paradigm by Italian L2 learners
-
Silvia Perpiñán
Abstract
The present study investigates the development of the expression of the locative paradigm in the L2 Spanish of Italian-speaking learners. We investigate (i) whether the developmental stages proposed for English-speaking learners (VanPatten 1987; Perpiñán, Marín & Moreno Villamar 2020) hold for Italian-speaking learners; and (ii) whether Italian, a language that partially overlaps with the distribution of the Spanish copulas has a facilitative role in the process. 33 Italian-speaking learners of Spanish and 21 monolingual Spanish speakers completed a short proficiency test, an acceptability judgement task, and a picture matching task targeting these constructions. Results indicate that unlike what VanPatten (1987, 2010) has proposed for English-speaking learners of Spanish, Italian speakers do not present a delay in the acquisition of estar, but instead, it is overproduced in locative contexts from very early on. We argue that this overproduction of estar is due to the readily available mapping of ‘temporal boundedness’ with estar in the grammar of these L2 learners, whereas the presence of the feature ‘dynamicity’, even though it is relevant in the distribution of copulas in Italian, comes later in L2 development.
Abstract
The present study investigates the development of the expression of the locative paradigm in the L2 Spanish of Italian-speaking learners. We investigate (i) whether the developmental stages proposed for English-speaking learners (VanPatten 1987; Perpiñán, Marín & Moreno Villamar 2020) hold for Italian-speaking learners; and (ii) whether Italian, a language that partially overlaps with the distribution of the Spanish copulas has a facilitative role in the process. 33 Italian-speaking learners of Spanish and 21 monolingual Spanish speakers completed a short proficiency test, an acceptability judgement task, and a picture matching task targeting these constructions. Results indicate that unlike what VanPatten (1987, 2010) has proposed for English-speaking learners of Spanish, Italian speakers do not present a delay in the acquisition of estar, but instead, it is overproduced in locative contexts from very early on. We argue that this overproduction of estar is due to the readily available mapping of ‘temporal boundedness’ with estar in the grammar of these L2 learners, whereas the presence of the feature ‘dynamicity’, even though it is relevant in the distribution of copulas in Italian, comes later in L2 development.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Processing clitic pronouns outside coargumenthood 11
- Chapter 2. Infinitival complement clauses 25
- Chapter 3. Focus fronting vs. wh -movement 49
- Chapter 4. The varieties of temporal anaphora and temporal coincidence 71
- Chapter 5. The structure and interpretation of ‘non-matching’ split interrogatives in Spanish 97
- Chapter 6. Differential object marking and scale reversals 117
- Chapter 7. Contact phenomena 131
- Chapter 8. - ŋ plurals in North Lombard varieties 151
- Chapter 9. Brazilian and European Portuguese and Holmberg’s 2005 typology of null subject languages 171
- Chapter 10. Aspect in the acquisition of the Spanish locative paradigm by Italian L2 learners 191
- Chapter 11. Catalan nativization patterns in the light of weighted scalar constraints 205
- Chapter 12. Temporal marking and (in)accessibility in Capeverdean 225
- Chapter 13. Very …. extracted 249
- Chapter 14. On adverbial perfect participial clauses in Portuguese varieties and British English 263
- Chapter 15. Craindre (“fear”) and expletive negation in diachrony 287
- Chapter 16. Fission in Romance demonstrative-reinforcer constructions 303
- Index 317
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Processing clitic pronouns outside coargumenthood 11
- Chapter 2. Infinitival complement clauses 25
- Chapter 3. Focus fronting vs. wh -movement 49
- Chapter 4. The varieties of temporal anaphora and temporal coincidence 71
- Chapter 5. The structure and interpretation of ‘non-matching’ split interrogatives in Spanish 97
- Chapter 6. Differential object marking and scale reversals 117
- Chapter 7. Contact phenomena 131
- Chapter 8. - ŋ plurals in North Lombard varieties 151
- Chapter 9. Brazilian and European Portuguese and Holmberg’s 2005 typology of null subject languages 171
- Chapter 10. Aspect in the acquisition of the Spanish locative paradigm by Italian L2 learners 191
- Chapter 11. Catalan nativization patterns in the light of weighted scalar constraints 205
- Chapter 12. Temporal marking and (in)accessibility in Capeverdean 225
- Chapter 13. Very …. extracted 249
- Chapter 14. On adverbial perfect participial clauses in Portuguese varieties and British English 263
- Chapter 15. Craindre (“fear”) and expletive negation in diachrony 287
- Chapter 16. Fission in Romance demonstrative-reinforcer constructions 303
- Index 317
