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THE DATIVE ALTERNATION IN GERMAN-ENGLISH INTERLANGUAGE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2015

Katja Jäschke  and
Ingo Plag
Katja Jäschke
Affiliation:
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Ingo Plag*
Affiliation:
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ingo Plag, Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, English Language and Linguistics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40204 Düsseldorf, Germany. E-mail: ingo.plag@uni-duesseldorf.de
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Abstract

This study investigates the role of probabilistic grammatical constraints on the dative alternation in English as a second language (ESL). It presents the results of an experiment in which the different factors that are influential in first language (L1) English are tested with advanced learners of English whose L1 is German. Second language (L2) learners are influenced by the same determinants as L1 speakers but to a lesser degree. Together with the results of previous studies, the present results suggest that, initially, the learners do not make use of probabilistic constraints in spite of the constraints being influential in the L1 and only gradually acquire a sensitivity toward the constraints that govern the choice between the two dative constructions.

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Articles
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Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 485 - 521
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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