Joyce Bruhn de Garavito

The Second Language Acquisition of Spanish DPS: the Status of Grammatical Features

Current research on the nature of interlanguage (IL) representation focuses on properties of functional categories (Det, Comp, Infl, etc.), investigating the extent to which IL grammars diverge from the second language (L2). There are a number of claims that IL grammars are in some sense defective in the functional domain. Included in this category are proposals that learners are restricted to Li categories, features or feature values (Hawkins 1998a, b; Hawkins and Chan 1997; Liceras et al. 1997; Smith and Tsimpli 1995; Tsimpli and Roussou 1991), such that certain L2 functional properties are not attainable beyond the critical period. Even stronger are claims that IL representations are permanently impaired at least as far as certain properties of functional categories are concerned (Beck 1998; Eubank et al. 1997; Eubank and Grace 1998). Such claims for impaired IL grammars contrast with proposals that IL grammars are not defective, with L2 functional categories, features and feature values being in principle attainable (e.g. Duffield and White 1999; Epstein, Flynn and Martohardjono 1996; Schwartz and Sprouse 1994, 1996; White 1996). Previous proposals have concentrated largely on properties of clausal projections (IP and CP). In this paper, we examine the L2 acquisition of Spanish DPs, arguing against the position that representation of functional categories, features or feature values is restricted to LI properties or is otherwise defective. At the same time, we will show that there are indeed some problems associated with acquiring gender. We will suggest that these problems cannot be attributed to presence or absence of gender in the L1 and that they are not necessarily indicative of a representational deficit.

Eventive and stative passives in Spanish L2 acquisition: A matter of aspect

This paper reports on an empirical study that examined knowledge of eventive and stative passives in the L2 Spanish grammar of L1 speakers of English. Although the two types of passive exist in English, the difference between them is not signaled in any specific way. In Spanish, in contrast, the distinction is marked by the choice of copula: ser is used to form eventive passives, estar for statives. Researchers agree that the two copulas, both of which translate as English “to be”, differ in relation to aspect: estar is perfective while ser is not marked for aspect (Schmitt, 1992). The question was whether L2 learners would be able to acquire the aspectual difference of the copulas and apply it to the formation of the passives. Two main tests were used, a Grammaticality Judgment Task and a Sentence Selection Task. The Grammaticality Judgment Task examined properties of the passives related, among other things, to aspect and agentivity. The Sentence Selection Task focused on the interpretation of the subject: only the subject of ser can be interpreted as generic. Although the learners in general distinguished between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences, they had not acquired the restriction on subject interpretation. These results are explained in terms of interfaces.

Mood Selection in Relative Clauses: Interfaces and Variability.

There is presently a lively debate in second language (L2) acquisition research as to whether (adult) learners can acquire linguistic phenomena located at the interface between syntax and other modules, such as semantics, pragmatics, and lexical semantics, in contrast to phenomena that are purely syntactic in nature. For some researchers, the interface is precisely the place where fossilization occurs and the source of nonconvergence in L2 speakers. In this article we focus on the acquisition of the morphosyntax-semantics interface by examining the acquisition of mood in Spanish relative clauses by native speakers (NSs) of English. In particular, we focus on the contrast illustrated by Busco unas tijeras que corten “I am looking for scissors that cut- subj ” versus Busco unas tijeras que cortan “I am looking for scissors that cut- ind .” When the indicative is used, there is a specific pair of scissors that the speaker is looking for. With the subjunctive, any pair of scissors will do, as long as it satisfies the condition expressed by the relative clause; the determiner phrase is nonspecific. In other words, we are dealing not with ungrammaticality, as both moods are possible in these contexts, but rather with differences in interpretation. General results showed that the learners could appropriately select the expected mood. We also saw that performance was not uniform across the various conditions tested. However, variability is not solely a product of L2 acquisition; we show it can be found in NSs as well.

What Research Can Tell Us About Teaching: The Case of Pronouns and Clitics

This chapter argues that generative linguistics is in a position to make available to second language teaching professionals a large body of evidence that can be fruitfully applied in many areas such as curriculum and textbook design. As an example, the chapter focuses on the acquisition of Spanish weak pronouns (clitics), showing how the current approach to teaching these elements, at least in many textbooks, is at odds with results from research that show consistently that the position of the pronoun is dependent on several factors, and as a result, the different positions are acquired in developmental stages. It is suggested that perhaps language pedagogy would be more effective if pronoun positions were not all taught at the same time, as is currently the practice.

The L2 acquisition of Spanish: generative perspectives

The present issue is devoted to recent research on the second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish within the generative tradition. The articles collected in this issue were originally presented at two conferences: Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition and the Colloquium on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese, held at McGill University in Montreal in May and November 1997, respectively. The focus on Spanish as a second language is part of a growing trend towards investigating L2s other than English. Most generative L2 studies in the early 1980s focused on English as the target language, and to a lesser extent German (e.g. Clahsen and Muysken, 1986). With the exception of Juana Liceras’s early studies on the acquisition of relative clauses (Liceras, 1986) and the pro-drop parameter (Liceras, 1988; 1989), L2 Spanish was not investigated within this framework. The predominance of English was largely due to the fact that English was also the most in-depth and widely studied language within generative linguistics. However, as different crosslinguistic phenomena began to be examined in the context of linguistic theory, this laid the foundation for subsequent crosslinguistic interests in language acquisition. Understanding how other languages work and how they are acquired is fundamental to theories of linguistic competence that assume a role for Universal Grammar. Theoretical claims about the nature of language and the language acquisition process should hold true of any language and need to be tested on as many different languages as possible. The more languages we look at, the more precise our theories and predictions become. The study of Spanish and its acquisition makes an important contribution to the

Semantic features in L2 Spanish: A response to Cuza, Guijarro-Fuentes, Pires, and Rothman

Cuza et al.’s article is a welcome addition to our current attempts to understand whether learners are able to not only acquire new features but also to take features present in the first language (L1) and bundle them in different ways (Lardiere, 2009). In the present case, Spanish plural definite phrases can be interpreted as either generic or specific in reference. In English, however, genericity is expressed by bare plurals, while definite determiner phrases (DPs) refer only to specific elements. In other words, the feature [generic] and the feature [specific] may both be mapped onto a definite plural in Spanish, while in English they are separate. As the authors correctly point out, this poses a learnability problem for L1 English speakers learning Spanish caused in great measure by transfer from the L1. This problem is initially framed by the authors in terms of subset/superset relationships, the English L1 learner of Spanish L2 having to move from the subset to the superset, acquiring the two possible interpretations of plural definite DPs. This, in principle, is not as difficult as the reverse process of moving from the superset to the subset, which is what learners encounter when interpreting Spanish bare plurals. Learners must lose the generic interpretation of preverbal bare nouns which, according to the authors, can only be interpreted as existential. Although the learnability problem in terms of superset/subset is serious, I believe the relationship between the input and transfer is more complex, making the results even more interesting. Learners’ input will not be limited to noun phrases in preverbal subject position, which are the focus of attention for most research (see Ionin & Montrul, 2010, among others), rather they will come into contact with noun phrases serving many different functions in many different positions. Examine the following examples:

Introduction to the special issue on Hispanic linguistics in Canada

Linguistics in Canada is a vibrant, flourishing field. In the Canadian research context, the social relevance of the formal study of languages and linguistics is wellunderstood. The Canadian Linguistics Association and the Canadian Journal of Linguistics have a strong tradition of linking the theoretical studies of language with the native languages of Canada and those of regional and immigrant groups. This issue on Hispanic linguistics is both relevant and timely. Beyond the traditional historical ties between Canada and Latin America, the demographic presence of Spanish speakers in Canada is changing. The last few decades have seen the arrival of successive diasporas of immigrant groups from different Latin American countries, at times tied to political conflict and economic changes, at times the result of active Canadian immigration policies and family reunifications. Recent census data show that the number of residents who declare Spanish as their mother tongue is increasing. The 2006 census, recently released by Statistics Canada, reports that 345,345 inhabitants (i.e., 1.1% of the countrys population) have Spanish as their mother tongue (Statistics Canada 2006). These speakers are unevenly distributed across the country. In the two most populated provinces, Ontario and Quebec, 1.3% and 1.5% of residents, respectively, report Spanish as their mother tongue (Statistics Canada 2006). In Ontario, Spanish has become the fifth most frequent mother tongue, after English, French, Chinese, and Italian (Ministry of Finance 2008). Within the academic context, Canada has been a pioneer in research into secondlanguage acquisition and learning. Names such as Patsy Lightbown, Nina Spada, Merrill Swain, Jim Cummins, Fred Genesee, among many others, are known internationally by anyone who is interested in bilingualism and second language acquisition. In the 1980s, within this rich research context, the framework of generative grammar was first applied to the field of second-language acquisition. Among the leading researchers in Canada to follow this path were Lydia White at McGill and Juana Liceras, now at the University of Ottawa. Both of these scholars have supported the training of generations of scholars who have focused on the acquisition of Spanish