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Syntax, Semantics, and SLA

The Convergence of Possessive and Existential Constructions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Patricia A. Duff
Patricia A. Duff
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
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Abstract

This paper examines the intersection of syntax and semantics in second language acquisition (SLA), a perspective on language learning that has received relatively little attention in the past, in ordertoanswer the following question: Why do English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners tend to use the same morpheme (e.g., HAVE) for Possessives (P) and Existentials (E), when English has separate forms (HAVE, THERE BE) for these two functions? Working within a functionalist framework, data are analyzed from the longitudinal case study of a Cambodian adult who, despite formal ESL instruction and residence in an English-speaking community, persistently uses the form has for both P and E. Although first language transfer can be invoked as a partial explanation forthis, it alone cannot account for the systematic conflation of P and E in interlanguage. Rather, it is argued that the shared semanticproperties of P/E, together with syntactic, pragmatic, and perceptual characteristics of native language, interlanguage, and second language constructions, make this overlap imminently transferable, especially in untutored or low-level instructed SLA.

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Articles
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Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 1 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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