Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T07:22:43.189Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A bidirectional study on the acquisition of plural noun phrase interpretation in English and Spanish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2012

TANIA IONIN ,
SILVINA MONTRUL  and
MÓNICA CRIVOS
TANIA IONIN*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
SILVINA MONTRUL
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
MÓNICA CRIVOS
Affiliation:
Universidad CAECE sede Mar del Plata
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Tania Ionin, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Department of Linguistics, FLB 4080, MC-168, 707 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper investigates how learners interpret definite plural noun phrases (e.g., the tigers) and bare (article-less) plural noun phrases (e.g., tigers) in their second language. Whereas Spanish allows definite plurals to have both generic and specific readings, English requires definite plurals to have specific, nongeneric readings. Generic readings in English are expressed with bare plurals, which are ungrammatical in Spanish in preverbal subject position. Two studies were conducted in order to investigate the role of first language transfer in this domain in both English → Spanish and Spanish → English directions. Study 1 used a meaning-focused task to probe learners’ interpretation of definite plural nour phrases, whereas Study 2 used a form-focused task to examine learners’ judgments of the acceptability of definite and bare plurals in generic versus specific contexts. First language transfer was attested in both directions, at lower proficiency levels, whereas more targetlike performance was attested at higher proficiency levels. Furthermore, learners were found to be more successful in learning about the (un)grammaticality of bare plurals in the target language than in assigning the target interpretation to definite versus bare plurals. This finding is shown to be consistent with other studies’ findings of plural noun phrase interpretation in monolingual and bilingual children.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , May 2013 , pp. 483 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alonso Raya, R., Castañeda, A., Martínez Gila, P., Miquel López, L., Ortega Olivares, J., & Ruiz Campillo, J. P. (2008). Gramática básica del estudiante de español. New York: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Berwick, R. C. (1985). The acquisition of syntactic knowledge. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chierchia, G. (1998). Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics, 6, 339–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunningham, S., & Moor, P. (2007). Cutting edge: Intermediate. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Dayal, V. (2004). Number marking and (in)definiteness in kind terms. Linguistics and Philosophy, 27, 393–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dechert, H., & Raupach, M. (Eds.). (1989). Transfer in language production. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C. (2006). Selective attention and transfer phenomena in L2 acquisition: Contingency, cue competition, salience, interference, overshadowing, blocking, and perceptual learning. Applied Linguistics, 27, 164–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fodor, J. D., & Sakas, W. G. (2005). The Subset Principle in syntax: Costs of compliance. Journal of Linguistics, 41, 513–569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabriele, A. (2009). Transfer and transition in the SLA of aspect. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31, 371–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gass, S., & Selinker, L. (Eds.). (1992). Language transfer in language learning. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gelman, S., & Raman, L. (2003). Preschool children use linguistic form class and pragmatic cues to interpret generics. Child Development, 74, 308–325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grüter, T., Lieberman, M., & Gualmini, A. (2010). Acquisition the scope of disjunction and negation in L2: A bidirectional study of learners of Japanese and English. Language Acquisition, 17, 127–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, R. (2001). Second language syntax: A generative introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Huebner, T. (1983). A longitudinal analysis of the acquisition of English. Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma.Google Scholar
Iguina, Z., & Dozier, E. (1998). Manual de gramática. Florence, KY: Heinle.Google Scholar
Inagaki, S. (2001). Motion verbs with goal PPs in the L2 acquisition of English and Japanese. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23, 153–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., Ko, H., & Wexler, K. (2004). Article semantics in L2-acquisition: The role of specificity. Language Acquisition, 12, 3–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., & Montrul, S. (2010). The role of L1-transfer in the interpretation of articles with definite plurals in L2-English. Language Learning, 60, 877–925.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., Montrul, S., Kim, J.-H., & Philippov, V. (2011). Genericity distinctions and the interpretation of determiners in second language acquisition. Language Acquisition, 18, 242–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., Montrul, S., & Santos, H. (2011). An experimental investigation of the expression of genericity in English, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Lingua, 121, 963–985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., Zubizarreta, M. L., & Bautista Maldonado, S. (2008). Sources of linguistic knowledge in the second language acquisition of English articles. Lingua, 118, 554–576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., Zubizarreta, M. L., & Philippov, V. (2009). Acquisition of article semantics by child and adult L2-English learners. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12, 337–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, L., & Suñer, M. (1998). Gramática española: Análisis y práctica. New York: McGraw–Hill.Google Scholar
Ko, H., Ionin, T., & Wexler, K. (2010). The role of presuppositionality in the second language acquisition of English articles. Linguistic Inquiry, 41, 213–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kratzer, A. (1995). Stage-level and individual-level predicates. In Carlson, G. & Pelletier, F. (Eds.), The generic book (pp. 125–175). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Krifka, M., Pelletier, F., Carlson, G., ter Meulen, A., Link, G., & Chierchia, G. (1995). Genericity: An introduction. In Carlson, G. & Pelletier, F. (Eds.), The generic book (pp. 1–124). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Longobardi, G. (1994). Reference to kinds and proper names: A theory of N movement in syntax and logical form. Linguistic Inquiry, 25, 609–665.Google Scholar
Longobardi, G. (2001). How comparative is semantics? A unified parametric theory of bare nouns and proper names. Natural Language Semantics, 9, 335–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manzini, M. R., & Wexler, K. (1987). Parameters, binding theory, and learnability. Linguistic Inquiry, 18, 413–444.Google Scholar
Master, P. (1987). A cross-linguistic interlanguage analysis of the acquisition of the English article system. PhD dissertation, UCLA.Google Scholar
Montrul, S. (2001). Agentive verbs of manner of motion in Spanish and English as second languages. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23, 171–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S. (2010). Dominant language transfer in adult L2 learners and heritage speakers. Second Language Research, 3, 293–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., & Ionin, T. (in press). Dominant language transfer in Spanish heritage speakers and L2 learners in the interpretation of definite articles. Modern Language Journal.Google Scholar
Murphy, S. (1997). Knowledge and production of English articles by advanced second language learners. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Odlin, T. (1989). Language transfer: Cross-linguistic influence in language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ojeda, A. (1991). Definite descriptions and definite generics. Linguistics and Philosophy, 14, 367–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Neill, R., Cornelius, E., & Washburn, G. (1981). American kernel lessons: Advanced student book. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Pérez-Leroux, A. T., Munn, A., Schmitt, C., & DeIrish, M. (2004). Learning definite determiners: Genericity and definiteness in English and Spanish. BUCLD 28 Proceedings Supplement.Google Scholar
Schmitt, C., and Munn, A. (1999). Against the nominal mapping parameter: Bare nouns in Brazilian Portuguese. In Tamanji, P., Hirotani, M., & Hall, N. (Eds.), Proceedings of NELS 29. Amherst, MA: GLSA.Google Scholar
Schmitt, C., & Munn, A. (2002). The syntax and semantics of bare arguments in Brazilian Portuguese. Linguistic Variation Yearbook, 2, 185–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, B. D. (2003). Child L2 acquisition: Paving the way. In Beachley, B., Brown, A., & Conlin, F. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 26–50). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. D., & Sprouse, R. A. (1994). Word order and nominative case in non-native language acquisition: A longitudinal study of (L1 Turkish) German interlanguage. In Hoekstra, T. & Schwartz, B. D. (Eds.), Language acquisition studies in generative grammar: Papers in honor of Kenneth Wexler from the 1991 GLOW workshops (pp. 317–368). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, B. D., & Sprouse, R. A. (1996). L2 cognitive states and the full transfer/full access model. Second Language Research, 12, 40–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Serratrice, L., Sorace, A., Filiaci, F., & Baldo, M. (2009). Bilingual children's sensitivity to specificity and genericity: Evidence from metalinguistic awareness. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12, 239–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2006). Learnability in the second language acquisition of semantics: A bidirectional study of a semantic parameter. Second Language Research, 22, 498–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2008). Meaning in the second language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slabakova, R., & Montrul, S. (2003). Genericity and aspect in L2 acquisition. Language Acquisition, 11, 165–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, M. (1989). The acquisition of English articles by first- and second-language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 10, 335–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trenkic, D. (2008). The representation of English articles in second language grammars: Determiners or adjectives? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsimpli, I.-M., & Sorace, A. (2006). Differentiating Interfaces: L2 performance in syntax–semantics and syntax–discourse phenomena. In Caunt-Nulton, H., Kulatilake, S., & Woo, I.-H. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Boston University Conference on Language Development (Vol. 3, pp. 653–664). Sommerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Unsworth, S. (2005). Child L2, adult L2, child L1: Differences and similarities. A study on the acquisition of direct object scrambling in Dutch. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Utrecht University.Google Scholar
Vergnaud, J.-R., & Zubizarreta, M. L. (1992). The definite determiner and the inalienable constructions in French and English. Linguistic Inquiry, 23, 595–652.Google Scholar
White, L. (2003). Second language acquisition and Universal Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, L. (2009). Grammatical theory: Interfaces and L2 knowledge. In Ritchie, W. & Bhatia, T. K. (Eds.), Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Zamparelli, R. (2002). Definite and bare kind-denoting noun phrases. In Beyssade, C., Bok-Bennema, R., Drijkoningen, F., & Monachesi, P. (Eds.), Romance languages and linguistic theory 2000 (pp. 305–343). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar