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The syntax/morphology interface in Spanish L2 acquisition: Focus onquantified DPs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Antonia Androutsopoulou ,
Manuel Español-Echevarría  and
Philippe Prévost
Antonia Androutsopoulou
Affiliation:
Université Laval
Manuel Español-Echevarría
Affiliation:
Université Laval
Philippe Prévost
Affiliation:
Université François-Rabelais de Tours
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Abstract

This article examines whether L2 acquisition of morphology and syntax developsindependently (the Separation Hypothesis) or not (the Rich AgreementHypothesis), focusing on the acquisition of Number specification on certainSpanish quantifiers by French speakers. In Spanish, some quantifiers arespecified for Number and directly precede the head noun, in contrast to theirFrench counterparts where a dummy preposition de must appearinside the DP. Results from a grammaticality judgement task and a productiontask show that intermediate and advanced learners perform poorly on pluralinflection with some quantifiers, and reject the use of de.This suggests that they have acquired Number specification on these quantifiers,which allows Case marking on the following noun, but do not produce theappropriate morphology. These results support the Separation Hypothesis, but notthe Rich Agreement Hypothesis.

Résumé

Résumé

L’objectif de cet article est de déterminer si la morphologie et lasyntaxe se développent indépendamment en acquisition L2(Hypothèse de la séparation) ou non (Hypothèse del’accord riche) en examinant l’acquisition de laspécification du Nombre sur certains quantificateurs espagnols par desfrancophones. En espagnol, certains quantificateurs sont spécifiéspour le Nombre et précèdent directement la tête nominale,contrairement à leurs homologues français où lapréposition de doit apparaître au sein du DP. Lesrésultats d’une tâche de jugement de grammaticalitéet d’une tâche de production montrent que les apprenantsintermédiaires et avancés affichent une performance mediocre en cequi a trait à l’apparition de la flexion pluriel sur certainsquantificateurs et qu’en même temps ils rejettentl’utilisation de de. Cela suggère qu’ilsont acquis la spécification en Nombre sur ces quantificateurs, ce quipermet au nom qui suit d’être marqué pour le Cas, sansproduire la morphologie appropriée. Ces résultats appuientl’Hypothèse de la séparation mais nonl’Hypothèse de l’accord riche.

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Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , July 2010 , pp. 149 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2010 

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