Aspectual perspective taking in event construal in L1 and L2 Dutch
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Gercoline van Beek
,
Monique Flecken
Abstract
The present study focuses on the role of grammatical aspect in event construal and its function in encoding the specificity of an event. We investigate whether advanced L2 learners (L1 German) acquire target-like patterns of use of progressive aspect in Dutch, a language in which use of aspect depends on specific situation types. We analyze use of progressive markers and patterns in information selection, relating to specific features of agents or actions in dynamic event scenes. L2 event descriptions are compared with L1 Dutch and L1 German data. The L2 users display the complex situation-dependent patterns of use of aspect in Dutch, but they do not select the aspectual viewpoint (<italic>aan he</italic> construction) to the same extent as native speakers. Moreover, the encoding of specificity of the events (mentioning of specific agent and action features) reflects L1 transfer, as well as target-like performance in specific domains.
© 2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Strategies for linking information by German and Japanese native Speakers and by German learners of Japanese
- Masthead
- Introduction: Conceptualizing in a second language
- Traces of L1 patterns in the event construal of Czech advanced speakers of L2 English and L2 German
- Linkage in narratives: A comparison between monolingual speakers of French and Italian, and early and late French-Italian bilinguals
- Resolving ambiguous pronouns in a second language: A visual-world eye-tracking study with Dutch learners of German
- Aspectual perspective taking in event construal in L1 and L2 Dutch
- Principles of information organization in L2 use: Complex patterns of conceptual transfer
