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The L2 acquisition of aspectual properties in Spanish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Alejandro Cuza
Alejandro Cuza*
Affiliation:
Purdue University
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Abstract

This study examines the L2 acquisition and LI attrition of preterite versus imperfect aspectual distinctions in Spanish among English-speaking L2 learners and long-term Spanish-speaking immigrants. Results from an acceptability judgment task and a truth value judgment task demonstrate significantly lower levels of target performance by both groups when compared to the control participants. The L2 learners outperform the native speakers undergoing attrition in some aspectual contexts, while in others both experimental groups show similar difficulties. To the extent that L2 learners and adult immigrants demonstrate comparable difficulties, L2 learners’ deficits cannot be directly related to impairment reasons. LI transfer of the semantic properties of tense heads offers a better explanation for the difficulties L2 learners often show in the aspectual domain.

Résumé

Résumé

Cette étude examine l’acquisition d’une L2 et l’attrition de l’opposition prétérit/imparfait en espagnol Ll parmi des apprenants anglophones de la L2 et des immigrés hispanophones qui habitent depuis longtemps dans leur nouveau pays. Les résultats de deux tâches de jugement, d’acceptabilité grammaticale d’une part et de valeur de vérité de l’autre, démontrent des niveaux de performance cible sensiblement plus bas chez les deux groupes comparativement aux participants du groupe témoin. La performance des apprenants de L2 est supérieure à celle des hispanophones natifs dont la Ll est en attrition pour certains contextes aspectuels, tandis que les autres contextes aspectuels présentent des difficultés similaires pour les deux groupes expérimentaux. Dans la mesure où les apprenants de L2 et les immigrés adultes démontrent des difficultés comparables, les déficits des apprenants de L2 ne peuvent pas être directement liés à des raisons d’infirmité. Le transfert des propriétés sémantiques des têtes temporelles de la Ll offre une meilleure explication des difficultés que connaissent les apprenants de L2 dans le domaine aspectuel.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , July 2010 , pp. 181 - 208
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2010 

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