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The syntax/morphology interface in Spanish L2 acquisition: Focus on quantified 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 develops independently (the Separation Hypothesis) or not (the Rich Agreement Hypothesis), focusing on the acquisition of Number specification on certain Spanish quantifiers by French speakers. In Spanish, some quantifiers are specified for Number and directly precede the head noun, in contrast to their French counterparts where a dummy preposition de must appear inside the DP. Results from a grammaticality judgement task and a production task show that intermediate and advanced learners perform poorly on plural inflection 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 the appropriate morphology. These results support the Separation Hypothesis, but not the Rich Agreement Hypothesis.

Résumé

Résumé

L’objectif de cet article est de déterminer si la morphologie et la syntaxe se développent indépendamment en acquisition L2 (Hypothèse de la séparation) ou non (Hypothèse de l’accord riche) en examinant l’acquisition de la spécification du Nombre sur certains quantificateurs espagnols par des francophones. En espagnol, certains quantificateurs sont spécifiés pour le Nombre et précèdent directement la tête nominale, contrairement à leurs homologues français où la préposition de doit apparaître au sein du DP. Les résultats d’une tâche de jugement de grammaticalité et d’une tâche de production montrent que les apprenants intermédiaires et avancés affichent une performance mediocre en ce qui a trait à l’apparition de la flexion pluriel sur certains quantificateurs et qu’en même temps ils rejettent l’utilisation de de. Cela suggère qu’ils ont acquis la spécification en Nombre sur ces quantificateurs, ce qui permet au nom qui suit d’être marqué pour le Cas, sans produire la morphologie appropriée. Ces résultats appuient l’Hypothèse de la séparation mais non l’Hypothèse de l’accord riche.

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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