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Japanese Learners' Acquisition of the Locality Requirement of English Reflexives

Evidence for Retreat from Overgeneralization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Masanori Matsumura
Masanori Matsumura
Affiliation:
Tobct High School, Japan
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Abstract

This paper focuses on the process of Japanese learners' acquisition ofthe locality requirement of English reflexives. Previous studies seem to agree that the initial hypothesis of learners is an overgeneral one that allows nonlocal binding. Research findings diverge, however, as to whether or not learners can approximate the target grammar without the help of negativeevidence as their overall proficiency in English increases. This paper provides evidence of a successful retreat from the initial overgeneral hypothesis. In an attempt to explain the observed progress, it is suggested that a nonsyntactic aspect of language plays a role here, that is, viewpoint in sentence processing. This notion may help us to specify the type of evidence that can trigger learners' progress in the acquisition of the English reflexive.

Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 1994 , pp. 19 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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