Volume 38, Issue 2

This article deals with the acquisition of possessive DP structures by Turkish and Moroccan adults and children learning Dutch without substantial classroom instruction. Our main claim is that L 2 learners systematically and consistently rely on their grammatical knowledge, which surfaces in the initial stages of the L 2 acquisition process but also has a strong impact on later developmental stages. Such a strong conservation encompasses parameter settings as well as morphological and vocabulary knowledge. Before analyzing the various learner variants, we first consider the possessive structures in Turkish, Moroccan Arabic, and Dutch. A thorough analysis of the source languages Turkish and Moroccan Arabic is necessary to reveal the L 1 properties conserved in the expression of L 2 utterances. The analysis of the L 2 possessive variants provides ample evidence that Moroccan learners differ from Turkish learners in their developmental path as well as in the end state attained. We will argue that these differences are due to the different initial states of Turkish and Moroccan learners. The data also provide evidence that adult learners are able to change parametric values that relate to word-order phenomena. They seem less able, however, to acquire new morphological knowledge and language-specific lexical knowledge, which is crucial in appropriating L 2 function words.

The purpose of this paper is to consider how the preference in the interpretation of anaphors and their distribution properties can interact and be best explained. To reach the goal, this paper presents the prominence hierarchy for computing a different degree of preference when there is more than one option for anaphor interpretations. This paper also argues that the coreferential possibility between the Korean anaphor caki and its antecedent is determined by the prominence principle, which is stated in terms of the prominence hierarchy: caki must be coreferential with a more prominent antecedent only if there exists such an antecedent. Finally, this paper extends its proposal to anaphors in other languages such as English, Icelandic, Japanese, and Chinese.

Oroqen, a Tungusic language spoken in China, uses the partial reduplication of adjective stems to indicate intensity. This process of “emphatic reduplication” is widespread in Altaic languages, which raises the question of whether it might be a reflex of an archaic genetic trait of Altaic. We argue, to the contrary, that the presence of reduplication in Oroqen is the result of borrowing, most likely from a Mongolic language. Inter alia, the highly restrictive nature of the reduplication in Oroqen, its failure to adhere to Oroqen phonotactics, and the distribution of reduplication in other Tungusic and Mongolic languages are offered as evidence to support this position. Finally, we also provide data that point to the disappearance of emphatic reduplication in Oroqen.

This paper examines the notions of anteriority and current relevance in the Thai grammatical perfect marker lέεw (grammaticalized from the lexical verb ‘finish’). Cross-linguistic studies of the grammatical category perfect or anterior have raised uncertainties about the importance of the notion of current relevance in characterizing this category (Klein 1992). This study examines the use of the Thai perfect in natural spoken discourse in order to determine its relation to the cross-linguistic prototype “prior action currently relevant” (Dahl 1985; Bybee et al. 1994). The use of the perfect is analyzed in relation to the Aktionsart of the predicate, its use in narrative grounding, and semantic and pragmatic uses in context. The notion of current relevance is found to be crucial in characterizing the basic meaning of this morpheme, while the notion of anteriority is found to be a reflex of the use of the perfect in context. Findings are discussed in terms of the cross-linguistic prototype category perfect or anterior, and a new typology of the category perfect in the languages of the world is suggested.

J. J. Gumperz and S. C. Levinson, editors: Rethinking Linguistic Relativity . Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language 17. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Joel C. Kuipers: Language, Identity, and Marginality in Indonesia: The Changing Nature of Ritual Speech on the Island of Sumba . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. xviii & 183 pp. US$59.95 hardback; US$35.00 paper. (Gunter Senft) Michael G. Smith: Language and Power in the Creation of the USSR, 1917–1953 . Contributions to the Sociology of Language 80. Berlin and New York: Moution de Gruyter, 1998. vi+294 pp. (Bernard Comrie)

September 20–22, 2000, Innsbruck, Austria: 35th Colloquium of Linguistics, “A Europe of Languages: Language Competence — Multilingualism — Translation,” to be held at Innsbruck University, Institute of Translation Studies. For further information: Professor Dr. Lew Zybatow, Institute of Translation Studies, Innsbruck University, Herzog-Siegmund-Ufer 15, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Tel: (+43) 512 507 4252. Fax: (+43) 512 507 2885. E-mail: lk35@uibk.ac.at. Please also visit the conference homepage at http://translation.uibk.ac.at/lk/