Integrating Linguistic Theory and Experimentation in L2 Acquisition: Learning of Spanish Differential Object Marking by Portuguese and English speakers
-
Will Nediger
,
Acrisio Pires
Abstract
This paper focuses on consequences for linguistic theory of a set of experiments on the L2 acquisition of Spanish Differential Object Marking (DOM), with three experimental groups: a native control group, a group of L2 learners whose L1 is English, and a group of L2 learners whose L1 is Brazilian Portuguese (BP). The results of the experiments shed light on two questions of theoretical import: (a) how best to characterize the syntax of Spanish DOM, and (b) whether BP should be classified as a DOM language. We argue that our results support López’s (2012, Indefinite objects: Scrambling, choice functions, and differential marking. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press) syntactic theory account of DOM over that of Torrego (1998, The dependencies of objects. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), in particular due to the more fine-grained distinctions between non-specific objects made by López (2012) compared to Torrego (1998). We also argue that although BP is a DOM language (as suggested by Schwenter 2014, Two kinds of differential object marking in Portuguese and Spanish. In Patricia Amaral & Ana Maria Carvalho (eds.), Portuguese-Spanish interfaces: Diachrony, synchrony, and contact, 237–260. Amsterdam: John Benjamins), our BP subjects do not show a clear acquisitional advantage over English speakers with regard to Spanish DOM, due to independent reasons that include the morphological realization of DOM in Spanish.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to audiences at the 2015 Boston University Conference on Language Development, the 2015 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, and the 2015 Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition conference for comments on aspects of this research. Thanks especially to Nicholas Mularoni for his help with preparation of the study materials and compilation of the results for statistical analysis.
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© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Effects of two forms of concept mapping on L2 reading comprehension and strategy awareness
- Exploring the effects of school context on Chinese students’ use of language learning strategies in English learning
- Language choice, identity and social distance: Ethnic minority students in Vietnam
- Linguistic precariat: Judith Butler’s ‘rethinking vulnerability and resistance’ as a useful perspective for applied linguistics
- Multi-modal language input: A learned superadditive effect
- Word knowledge in academic literacy skills among collegiate ESL learners
- Integrating Linguistic Theory and Experimentation in L2 Acquisition: Learning of Spanish Differential Object Marking by Portuguese and English speakers
- Pinpointing the role of the native language in L2 learning: Acquisition of spatial prepositions in English by Russian and Turkish native speakers
- Rethinking perceptions of fluency
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Effects of two forms of concept mapping on L2 reading comprehension and strategy awareness
- Exploring the effects of school context on Chinese students’ use of language learning strategies in English learning
- Language choice, identity and social distance: Ethnic minority students in Vietnam
- Linguistic precariat: Judith Butler’s ‘rethinking vulnerability and resistance’ as a useful perspective for applied linguistics
- Multi-modal language input: A learned superadditive effect
- Word knowledge in academic literacy skills among collegiate ESL learners
- Integrating Linguistic Theory and Experimentation in L2 Acquisition: Learning of Spanish Differential Object Marking by Portuguese and English speakers
- Pinpointing the role of the native language in L2 learning: Acquisition of spatial prepositions in English by Russian and Turkish native speakers
- Rethinking perceptions of fluency
