Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T15:03:58.490Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Assessing the effect of lexical aspect and grounding on the acquisition of L2 Spanish past tense morphology among L1 English speakers*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2010

MAXIMO RAFAEL SALABERRY
MAXIMO RAFAEL SALABERRY*
Affiliation:
The University of Texas at Austin
*
Address for correspondence: Department of Spanish and Portuguese, 1 University Station B3700, Austin, TX 78712-1155, USA[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present study compares the relative effect of inherent lexical aspect and discursive grounding on the use of L2 Spanish Preterit and Imperfect. The study is based on the analysis of responses to a written 40-item discourse-based forced-choice task among 286 English-speaking learners of Spanish. The analysis of data (repeated measures ANOVA) reveals that as learners gain more experience with the target language, the effect of both lexical aspect and grounding on past tense marking increases. That is, contrary to previous predictions, learners constantly move towards prototypical associations of lexical-narrative factors with morphological markers as knowledge of the second language increases. Second, grounding is the construct that most clearly distinguishes learners from native speakers.

Keywords

aspectlexical aspectdiscourseL2 acquisition
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , April 2011 , pp. 184 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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.)

Footnotes

*

I would like to thank Marianne Akerberg and Beatriz Granda (from Universidad Nacional de México), and Virginia Bertolotti (from Universidad de la República-Uruguay) for their help with the collection of data from Spanish native speakers in Mexico and Uruguay. I would also like to thank the editors and the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions to improve the final manuscript.

References

Allison, P. (2001). Missing data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Andersen, R. (1986). El desarrollo de la morfología verbal en el español como segundo idioma. In Meisel, J. M. (ed.), Adquisición del lenguaje – Acquisição da linguagem, pp. 115–138. Frankfurt: Klaus-Dieter Vervuert Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, R. (1991). Developmental sequences: The emergence of aspect marking in second language acquisition. In Huebner, T. & Ferguson, C. A. (eds.), Crosscurrents in second language acquisition and linguistic theories, pp. 305–324. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, R. (1994). The insider's advantage. In Giacalone-Ramat, A. & Vedovelli, M. (eds.), Italiano lingua seconda/lingua straniera [Italian: Second language/foreign language. Acts of the 26th Congress of the Italian Linguistic Society], pp. 1–26. Rome: Bulzoni.Google Scholar
Andersen, R. (2002). The dimensions of “pastness”. In Salaberry & Shirai (eds.), pp. 79–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, R., & Shirai, Y. (1994). Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16, 133–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayoun, D., & Salaberry, M. R. (eds.) (2005). Tense and aspect in the Romance languages: Theoretical and applied perspectives. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1992a). The relationship of form and meaning: A cross sectional study of tense and aspect in the interlanguage of learners of English as a second language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 13, 253–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1992b). The telling of a tale: Discourse structure and tense use in learner's narratives. In Bouton, L. & Kachru, Y. (eds.), Pragmatics and language learning (vol. 3), pp. 144–161. Urbana–Champaign, IL: Division of English as an International Language.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1994). Anecdote or evidence? Evaluating support for hypotheses concerning the development of tense and aspect. In Tarone, E., Gass, S. & Cohen, A. (eds.), Research methodology in second-language acquisition, pp. 41–60. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1995). A narrative perspective on the development of the tense/aspect system in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 17, 263–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1998). Examining the role of text type in L2 tense-aspect research: Broadening our horizons. In Robinson, P. & Jungheim, N. (eds.), Representation and process: Proceedings of the 3rd Pacific Second Language Research Forum, pp. 139–150. Tokyo: Pacific SLRF.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2000). Tense and aspect in second language acquisition: Form, meaning, and use. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Bergström, A. (1996). Acquisition of tense and aspect in second language and foreign language learning: Learner narratives in ESL and FFL. Canadian Modern Language Review, 52, 308–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binnick, R. (1991). Time and the verb. Oxford: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camps, J. (2002). Aspectual distinctions in Spanish as a foreign language: The early stages of oral production. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 40, 179–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camps, J. (2005). The emergence of the Imperfect in Spanish as a foreign language: The association between imperfective morphology and state verbs. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 43, 163–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, L. (2002). The roles of L1 influence and lexical aspect in the acquisition of temporal morphology. Language Learning, 52 (1), 43–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, L. (2004). The particulars on universals: A comparison of the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology among Japanese- and French-speaking learners of English. Canadian Modern Language Review, 61 (2), 251–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comajoan, L. (2001). The acquisition of Catalan L2 past morphology: Evidence for the aspect and discourse hypotheses. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Comajoan, L. (2005). The acquisition of perfective and imperfective morphology and the marking of discourse grounding in Catalan. In Ayoun & Salaberry (eds.), pp. 35–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comajoan, L. (2006). The aspect hypothesis: Relationship between use of morphology and appropriateness of use. Language Learning, 56 (2), 201–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comajoan, L., & Pérez Saldanya, M. (2005). Grammaticalization and language acquisition: Interaction of lexical aspect and discourse. In Eddington, D. (ed.), Selected proceedings of the 6th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages, pp. 44–55. Somerville: MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Comrie, B. (1976). Aspect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Coppieters, R. (1987). Competence differences between native and near-native speakers. Language, 63, 544–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Swart, H. (1998). Aspect shift and coercion. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 16 (2), 347–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Depraetre, I. (1995). On the necessity of distinguishing between (un)boundedness and (a)telicity. Linguistics and Philosophy, 18, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doiz-Bienzobas, A. (1995). The Preterite and the Imperfect in Spanish: Past situation vs. past viewpoint. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California San Diego.Google Scholar
Dowty, D. (1986). The effects of aspectual class on the temporal structure of discourse: Semantics or pragmatics? Linguistics and Philosophy, 9, 37–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filip, H. (1999). Aspect, eventuality types and nominal reference. New York: Garland.Google Scholar
García, E., & vanPutte, F. (1988). The value of contrast: Contrasting the value of strategies. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 26, 263–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giacalone-Ramat, A. (2002). How do learners acquire the classical three categories of temporality? Evidence from L2 Italian. In Salaberry & Shirai (eds.), pp. 221–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giorgi, A., & Pianesi, F. (1997). Tense and aspect: From semantics to morphosyntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Givón, T. (1982). Tense-aspect-modality: The Creole prototype and beyond. In Hopper, P. J. (ed.), Tense-aspect: Between semantics and pragmatics, pp. 115–163. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Güell, L. (1998). La adquisición del tiempo verbal en el aprendizaje del español como lengua extranjera. Ph.D. dissertation, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Google Scholar
Hasbún, L. (1995). The role of lexical aspect in the acquisition of the tense/aspect system in L2 Spanish. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Hopper, P. (1982). Tense-aspect: Between syntax and pragmatics. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Housen, A. (1994). Tense and aspect in second language learning: The Dutch interlanguage of a native speaker of English. In Vet, C. & Vetters, C. (eds.), Tense and aspect in discourse, pp. 257–291. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Housen, A. (2002). The development of tense-aspect in English as a second language and the variable influence of inherent aspect. In Salaberry & Shirai (eds.), pp. 155–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, W. (1994). Time in language. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lafford, B. (1996). The development of tense/aspect relations in L2 Spanish narratives: Evidence to test competing theories. Presented at the Second Language Research Forum 1996, Tucson, AZ.Google Scholar
Lavado, Joaquín (Quino). (1986). The world of Quino. New York: Holt.Google Scholar
Li, P., & Shirai, Y. (2000). The acquisition of lexical and grammatical aspect. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liceras, J. M., Zobl, H., & Goodluck, H. (eds.) (2007). Formal features in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
López-Ortega, N. (2000). Tense, aspect, and narrative structure in Spanish as a second language. Hispania, 83 (3), 488–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lubbers-Quesada, M. (1999). The acquisition of aspectual distinction in Spanish: A look at learners in an immersion program. Presented at the 6th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Stockholm, Sweden.Google Scholar
Lubbers-Quesada, M. (2007). La percepción de las propiedades semánticas y la adquisición de la morfología verbal en el español como L2. Estudios de Linguística Aplicada, 44, 11–36.Google Scholar
Michaelis, L. A. (2004). Type shifting in construction grammar: An integrated approach to aspectual coercion. Cognitive Linguistics, 15, 1–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., & Salaberry, R. (2003). The development of Spanish past tense morphology: Developing a research agenda. In Lafford, B. & Salaberry, [M.] R. (eds.), Studies in Spanish second language acquisition: State of the science, pp. 47–73. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Noyau, C. (1990). The development of means for temporality in the unguided acquisition of L2: Cross-linguistic perspectives. In Dechert, H. (ed.), Current trends in European second language acquisition research, pp. 143–170. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Olsen, M. (1997). A semantic and pragmatic model of lexical and grammatical aspect. New York: Garland.Google Scholar
Pérez-Leroux, A., Cuza, A., Majzlanova, M., & Sánchez-Naranjo, J. (2007). Non-native recognition of the iterative and habitual meanings of Spanish Preterite and Imperfect tenses. In Liceras et al. (eds.), pp. 432–451.Google Scholar
Reinhart, T. (1984). Principles of Gestalt perception in the temporal organization of narrative texts. Linguistics, 22, 779–809.Google Scholar
Robison, R. (1990). The primacy of aspect: Aspectual marking in English interlanguage. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 12, 315–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothstein, S. (2004). Structuring events: A study in the semantics of lexical aspect. Malden, MA: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salaberry, M. R. (1998). The development of aspectual distinctions in classroom L2 French. Canadian Modern Language Review, 54 (4), 504–542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salaberry, M. R. (1999). The development of past tense verbal morphology in classroom L2 Spanish. Applied Linguistics, 20 (2), 151–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salaberry, [M.] R. (2002). Tense and aspect in the selection of past tense verbal morphology. In Salaberry & Shirai (eds.), pp. 397–415.Google Scholar
Salaberry, [M.] R. (2003). Tense aspect in verbal morphology. Hispania, 3 (86), 559–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salaberry, M. R. (2005). Evidence for transfer of knowledge about aspect from L2 Spanish to L3 Portuguese. In Ayoun & Salaberry (eds.), pp. 179–210.Google Scholar
Salaberry, [M.] R. (2008). Marking past tense in second language acquisition: A theoretical model. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Salaberry, [M.] R., & Shirai, Y. (eds.) (2002). The L2 acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shirai, Y. (1991). Primacy of aspect in language acquisition: Simplified input and prototype. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Shirai, Y. (2004). A multiple-factor account for the form–meaning connections in the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. In Williams, J., VanPatten, B., Rott, S. & Overstreet, M. (eds.), Form–meaning connections in second language acquisition, pp. 91–112. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Shirai, Y., & Andersen, R. (1995). The acquisition of tense-aspect morphology: A prototype account. Language, 71 (4), 743–762.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shirai, Y., & Kurono, A. (1998). The acquisition of tense-aspect marking in Japanese as a second language. Language Learning, 48 (2), 245–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silva-Corvalán, C. (1983). Tense and aspect in oral Spanish narrative: Context and meaning. Language, 59, 760–780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silva-Corvalán, C. (1986). A speech event analysis of tense and aspect in Spanish. In Baldi, P. (ed.), Papers from the Twelfth Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages, pp. 229–251. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2002). Recent research on the acquisition of aspect: An embarrassment of riches? Second Language Research, 18 (2), 172–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slabakova, R., & Montrul, S. (2002). On aspectual shifts in L2 Spanish. In Skarabela, B., Fish, S. & Do, A.-H. (eds.), Proceedings of the 26th Boston University Conference on Language Development, pp. 631–642. Sommerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R., & Montrul, S. (2003). Genericity and aspect in L2 acquisition. Language Acquisition, 11 (3), 165–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slabakova, R., & Montrul, S. (2007). L2 acquisition at the grammar–discourse interface: Aspectual shifts in L2 Spanish. In Liceras et al. (eds.), pp. 452–483.Google Scholar
Smith, C. (1997). The parameter of aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tenny, C. (1994). Aspectual roles and the syntax–semantics interface. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tracy, N. (2007). Testing the Distributional Bias Hypothesis: A corpus-based study of lexical and grammatical aspect in Spanish. Ms., University of Southampton.Google Scholar
Vendler, Z. (1967). Linguistics in philosophy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verkuyl, H. J. (1972). On the compositional nature of the aspects. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verkuyl, H. (1989). Aspectual classes and aspectual composition. Linguistics and Philosophy, 12, 39–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verkuyl, H. (1993). A theory of aspectuality: The interaction between temporal and atemporal structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vet, C., & Vetters, C. (1994). Tense and aspect in discourse. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, S. (1982). Figure and ground: The interrelationships of linguistic categories. In Hopper, P. (ed.), Tense-aspect: Between syntax and pragmatics, pp. 201–233. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiberg, E. (1996). Reference to past events in bilingual Italian–Swedish children of school age. Linguistics, 34, 1087–1114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ziegeler, D. (2007). A word of caution on coercion. Journal of Pragmatics, 39, 990–1028.CrossRefGoogle Scholar