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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 versusimperfect aspectual distinctions in Spanish among English-speaking L2 learnersand long-term Spanish-speaking immigrants. Results from an acceptabilityjudgment task and a truth value judgment task demonstrate significantly lowerlevels of target performance by both groups when compared to the controlparticipants. The L2 learners outperform the native speakers undergoingattrition in some aspectual contexts, while in others both experimental groupsshow similar difficulties. To the extent that L2 learners and adult immigrantsdemonstrate comparable difficulties, L2 learners’ deficits cannot bedirectly related to impairment reasons. LI transfer of the semantic propertiesof tense heads offers a better explanation for the difficulties L2 learnersoften show in the aspectual domain.

Résumé

Résumé

Cette étude examine l’acquisition d’une L2 etl’attrition de l’opposition prétérit/imparfait enespagnol Ll parmi des apprenants anglophones de la L2 et des immigréshispanophones qui habitent depuis longtemps dans leur nouveau pays. Lesrésultats de deux tâches de jugement,d’acceptabilité grammaticale d’une part et de valeur devérité de l’autre, démontrent des niveaux deperformance cible sensiblement plus bas chez les deux groupes comparativementaux participants du groupe témoin. La performance des apprenants de L2est supérieure à celle des hispanophones natifs dont la Ll est enattrition pour certains contextes aspectuels, tandis que les autres contextesaspectuels présentent des difficultés similaires pour les deuxgroupes expérimentaux. Dans la mesure où les apprenants de L2 etles immigrés adultes démontrent des difficultéscomparables, les déficits des apprenants de L2 ne peuvent pas êtredirectement liés à des raisons d’infirmité. Letransfert des propriétés sémantiques des têtestemporelles de la Ll offre une meilleure explication des difficultés queconnaissent les apprenants de L2 dans le domaine aspectuel.

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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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