Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 9. What is happened? Your amazon.com order has shipped
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 9. What is happened? Your amazon.com order has shipped

Overpassivization and unaccusativity as L2 construction learning
  • Lourdes Ortega , Sang-Ki Lee and Munehiko Miyata
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
Search
Language Learning, Discourse and Cognition
This chapter is in the book Language Learning, Discourse and Cognition

Abstract

It is well known that many L2 users overpassivize unaccusatives. The same L2 users may also be reluctant to accept constructions with unaccusative meanings. We examined the responses from 56 L2 users of English on a scaled grammaticality judgment task. We predicted that performance would be negatively affected in the presence of a conceptualizable agent in the discourse scene that biases an external causation construal and with low-frequency verbs and alternating verbs. We found clear effects for frequency and alternation in the hypothesized direction. However, there was no evidence for an independent contribution of the conceptualization bias condition. Our study supports the claim that learners build their L2 grammars by abstracting not only the statistical properties but also the complex, polysemous meanings of the constructions they experience in usage.

Abstract

It is well known that many L2 users overpassivize unaccusatives. The same L2 users may also be reluctant to accept constructions with unaccusative meanings. We examined the responses from 56 L2 users of English on a scaled grammaticality judgment task. We predicted that performance would be negatively affected in the presence of a conceptualizable agent in the discourse scene that biases an external causation construal and with low-frequency verbs and alternating verbs. We found clear effects for frequency and alternation in the hypothesized direction. However, there was no evidence for an independent contribution of the conceptualization bias condition. Our study supports the claim that learners build their L2 grammars by abstracting not only the statistical properties but also the complex, polysemous meanings of the constructions they experience in usage.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Acknowledgements ix
  5. Introduction. Discourse and cognitive perspectives on language learning 1
  6. Part I. Discourse perspectives
  7. Chapter 1. Culture, gender, ethnicity, identity in discourse 11
  8. Chapter 2. Discourse management strategies revisited 37
  9. Chapter 3. Senior confessions 63
  10. Part II. Cognitive perspectives
  11. Chapter 4. The speech went on (and on) as Kerry dozed off (*and off) 85
  12. Chapter 5. The role of embodiment in the semantic analysis of phrasal verbs 111
  13. Chapter 6. Synesthetic metaphors of sound 131
  14. Chapter 7. Conceptual vs. inter-lexical polysemy 159
  15. Part III. Applications to L2 teaching and learning
  16. Chapter 8. Formulaicity and context in second language pragmatics 193
  17. Chapter 9. What is happened? Your amazon.com order has shipped 213
  18. Chapter 10. Effects of L2 exposure on the use of discourse devices in L2 storytelling 249
  19. Chapter 11. The use of hedging devices in L2 legal writing 275
  20. Afterword. The theoretical and applied foundations of Andrea Tyler’s approach to the study of language 301
  21. Name index 311
  22. Subject Index 315
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.64.10ort

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Acknowledgements ix
  5. Introduction. Discourse and cognitive perspectives on language learning 1
  6. Part I. Discourse perspectives
  7. Chapter 1. Culture, gender, ethnicity, identity in discourse 11
  8. Chapter 2. Discourse management strategies revisited 37
  9. Chapter 3. Senior confessions 63
  10. Part II. Cognitive perspectives
  11. Chapter 4. The speech went on (and on) as Kerry dozed off (*and off) 85
  12. Chapter 5. The role of embodiment in the semantic analysis of phrasal verbs 111
  13. Chapter 6. Synesthetic metaphors of sound 131
  14. Chapter 7. Conceptual vs. inter-lexical polysemy 159
  15. Part III. Applications to L2 teaching and learning
  16. Chapter 8. Formulaicity and context in second language pragmatics 193
  17. Chapter 9. What is happened? Your amazon.com order has shipped 213
  18. Chapter 10. Effects of L2 exposure on the use of discourse devices in L2 storytelling 249
  19. Chapter 11. The use of hedging devices in L2 legal writing 275
  20. Afterword. The theoretical and applied foundations of Andrea Tyler’s approach to the study of language 301
  21. Name index 311
  22. Subject Index 315
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 16.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/hcp.64.10ort/html
Scroll to top button