Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T16:07:13.490Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The role of dynamic contrasts in the L2 acquisition of Spanish past tense morphology*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2012

LAURA DOMÍNGUEZ ,
NICOLE TRACY-VENTURA ,
MARÍA J. ARCHE ,
ROSAMOND MITCHELL  and
FLORENCE MYLES
LAURA DOMÍNGUEZ*
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
NICOLE TRACY-VENTURA
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
MARÍA J. ARCHE
Affiliation:
University of Greenwich
ROSAMOND MITCHELL
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
FLORENCE MYLES
Affiliation:
University of Essex
*
Address for correspondence: Laura Domínguez, University of Southampton, Modern Languages, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examines the second language acquisition of Spanish past tense morphology by three groups of English speakers (beginners, intermediates and advanced). We adopt a novel methodological approach – combining oral corpus data with controlled experimental data – in order to provide new evidence on the validity of the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis (LAH) in L2 Spanish. Data elicited through one comprehension and three oral tasks with varying degrees of experimental control show that the emergence of temporal markings is determined mainly by the dynamic/non-dynamic contrast (whether a verb is a state or an event) as beginner and intermediate speakers use Preterit with event verbs but Imperfect mainly with state verbs. One crucial finding is that although advanced learners use typical Preterit–telic associations in the least controlled oral tasks, as predicted by the LAH, this pattern is often reversed in tasks designed to include non-prototypical (and infrequent) form–meaning contexts. The results of the comprehension task also show that the Preterit-event and Imperfect-state associations observed in the production data determine the interpretation that learners assign to the Preterit and the Imperfect as well. These results show that beginner and intermediate learners treat event verbs (achievements, accomplishments and activities) in Spanish as a single class that they associate with Preterit morphology. We argue that dynamicity contrasts, and not telicity, affect learners’ use of past tense forms during early stages of acquisition.

Keywords

Lexical Aspect Hypothesissecond language acquisitionImperfectSpanishlearner corpora
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , July 2013 , pp. 558 - 577
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This study has been supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) research grant RES-062–23-1075 and is part of the Spanish Learner Language Oral Corpora (SPLLOC) project. We would like to thank all the people involved in the project including fieldworkers and transcribers, and in particular schools and colleges in the UK and Spain which kindly agreed to participate in the study. We are also grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions for improvement.

References

Andersen, R. (1986). El desarrollo de la morfología verbal en el español como segundo idioma. In Meisel, J. M. (ed.), Adquisición de lenguaje/Aquisição da linguagem, pp. 115–138. Frankfurt: Vervuert.Google Scholar
Andersen, R. (1989). The acquisition of verbal morphology. Linguistica, 1, 89–141. [Los Angeles: University of California.]Google Scholar
Andersen, R. (1991). Developmental sequences: The emergence of aspect marking in second language acquisition. In Huebner, T. & Ferguson, C. (eds.), Crosscurrents in SLA and linguistic theories, pp. 305–324. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Andersen, R. (1993). Four operating principles and input distributions as explanations for underdeveloped and mature morphological systems. In Hyltenstam, K. & Virborg, A. (eds.), Progression and regression in language, pp. 309–339. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Andersen, R., & Shirai, Y. (1994). Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16, 133–156.Google Scholar
Antti, A., & Järvikivi, J. (2007). Every method counts: Combining corpus-based and experimental evidence in the study of synonymy. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 3 (2), 131–159.Google Scholar
Arche, M. J. (2006). Individuals in time: Tense, aspect and the individual/stage distinction. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Armstrong, S. (ed.) (1994). Using large corpora. Cambridge, MA: MIT. Press.Google Scholar
Bard, E., Robertson, B., & Sorace, A. (1996). Magnitude estimation of linguistic acceptability. Language, 72, 32–68.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1992). The telling of a tale: Discourse structure and tense use in learners’ narratives. Pragmatics and Language Learning, 3, 144–161.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1994). Anecdote or evidence? Evaluating support for hypotheses concerning the development of tense and aspect. In Gass, S., Cohen, A. & Tarone, E. (eds.), Research methodology in second language acquisition, pp. 41–60. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1995). A narrative perspective on the development of the tense/aspect system in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 17 (2), 263–291.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1998). Narrative structure and lexical aspect: Conspiring factors in second language acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20, 471–508.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2000). Tense and aspect in second language acquisition: Form, meaning, and use. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2005). Tracking the elusive Imperfect in adult second language acquisition: Refining the hunt. In Kempchinsky, P. & Slabakova, R. (eds.), Aspectual inquiries, pp. 397–419. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Bergström, A. (1995). The expression of past temporal reference by English-speaking learners of French. Ph.D. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Bergström, A. (1997). L'influence des distinctions aspectuelles sur l'acquisition des temps en français langue étrangère. In Bartning, I. (ed.), Special Issue of Acquisition et interaction en langue etrangere (AILE), 9, 51–82.Google Scholar
Bickerton, D. (1981), Roots of language. Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma Publishers.Google Scholar
Boogaart, R. (1999). Aspect and temporal ordering: A contrastive analysis of Dutch and English. The Hague: Holland Academic Graphics.Google Scholar
Brinton, L. (1988). The development of English aspectual systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bybee, J. (1985). Morphology. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Cadierno, T. (2000). The acquisition of Spanish grammatical aspect by Danish advanced language learners. Spanish Applied Linguistics, 4, 1–53.Google Scholar
Camps, J. (2002). Aspectual distinctions in Spanish as a foreign language: The early stages of oral production. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 40, 179–210.Google Scholar
Camps, J. (2005). The emergence of the Imperfect in Spanish as a foreign language: The association between imperfective morphology and state verbs. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 43, 163–192.Google Scholar
Collins, L. (2002). The roles of L1 influence and lexical aspect in the acquisition of temporal morphology. Language Learning, 52, 43–94.Google Scholar
Comajoan, L. (2001). The acquisition of Catalan L2 past morphology: Evidence for the aspect and discourse hypotheses. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Comajoan, L. (2005). The early L2 acquisition of past morphology: Perfective morphology as a default marker or aspectual marker? In Eddington, D. (ed.), Selected proceedings of the 6th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages, pp. 31–43. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Comajoan, L. (2006). The aspect hypothesis: Development of morphology and appropriateness of use. Language Learning, 56, 201–268.Google Scholar
Comrie, B. (1976). Aspect: An introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Depraertere, I. (1995). On the necessity of distinguishing between (un)boundedness and (a)telicity. Linguistics and Philosophy, 18, 1–19.Google Scholar
Domínguez, L., Arche, M. J., & Myles, F. (2011). Testing the predictions of the Feature- Assembly Hypothesis: Evidence from the L2 acquisition of Spanish aspect morphology. In Danis, N., Mesh, K. & Sung, H. (eds). Proceedings of the 35th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, pp. 183–196. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Dowty, D. R. (1986). The effects of aspectual class on the temporal structure of discourse: Semantics or pragmatics? Linguistics and Philosophy, 9, 37–61.Google Scholar
Dry, H. A. (1992). Foregrounding: An assessment. In Hwang, S. J. J. & Merrifield, W. R. (eds.), Language in context: Essays for Robert E. Longacre, pp. 435–450. Arlington, TX: The Summer Institute of Linguistics & the University of Texas at Arlington.Google Scholar
Duffield, N., & White, L. (1999). Assessing L2 knowledge of Spanish clitic placement: Converging methodologies. Second Language Research, 15 (2), 133–160.Google Scholar
Featherston, S. (2007). Data in generative grammar: The stick and the carrot. Theoretical Linguistics, 33 (3), 269–318.Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. J. (1992). ‘Corpus linguistics’ vs. ‘Computer-aided armchair linguistics’: Directions in corpus linguistics. Proceedings from a 1991 Nobel Symposium on Corpus Linguistics, pp. 35–66. Stockholm: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Fleischman, S. (1990). Tense and narrativity: From medieval performance to modern fiction. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Giacalone-Ramat, A. (2002). How do learners acquire the classical three categories of temporality? Evidence from L2 Italian. In Salaberry, & Shirai, (eds.), pp. 221–247.Google Scholar
Gilquin, G., & Gries, St. Th. (2009). Corpora and experimental methods: A state-of-the-art review. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 5 (1), 1–26.Google Scholar
Giorgi, A., & Pianesi, F. (1997). Tense and aspect: From semantics to morphosyntax. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Givón, T. (1987). Beyond foreground and background. In Tomlin, R. S. (ed.), Coherence and grounding in discourse, pp. 175–188. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
González, P. (2003). Aspects on aspect: Theory and applications of grammatical aspect in Spanish. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Utrecht.Google Scholar
Gries, St. Th., & Wulff, S. (2005). Do foreign language learners also have constructions? Evidence from priming, sorting, and corpora. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 3, 182–200.Google Scholar
Gries, St. Th., & Wulff, S. (2009). Psycholinguistic and corpus linguistic evidence for L2 constructions. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 7, 163–186.Google Scholar
Grinstead, J., Pratt, T., & McCurley, D. (2009). Comprehension of prototypical tense and aspect combinations in child Spanish. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 2 (2), 435–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasbún, L. (1995). The role of lexical aspect in the acquisition of the tense/aspect system in L2 Spanish. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Hodgson, M. (2006). Telicity and the syntax-semantics of the object and subject. Ph.D. dissertation., University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, T. (2006). Corpora and introspection as corroborating evidence: The case of preposition placement in English relative clauses. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 2 (2), 165–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Housen, A. (1994). Tense and aspect in second language learning: The Dutch interlanguage of a native speaker of English. In Vet, C. & Vetters, C. (eds.), Tense and aspect in discourse, pp. 257–291. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Jackson-Maldonado, D., & Maldonado, R. (2001). Determinaciones semánticas de la flexión verbal en la adquisición temprana del español. In Rojas, C. & de León, L. (eds.), La adquisición de la lengua materna, Español, lenguas mayas y, euskera, pp. 165–200. México: UNAM-CIESAS.Google Scholar
Kaplan, M. (1987). Developmental patterns of past tense acquisition among foreign learners of French. In VanPatten, B. (ed.), Foreign language learning: A research perspective, pp. 52–60. Rowley MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Kempchinsky, P., & Gupton, T. (2009). The role of quantitative data collection in theoretical syntax. Presented at the 13th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Universidad de Puerto Rico.Google Scholar
Kihlstedt, M. (2002). Reference to past events in dialogue: The acquisition of tense and aspect by advanced learners of French. In Salaberry, & Shirai, (eds.), pp. 323–362.Google Scholar
Kumpf, L. (1984). Temporal systems and universality in interlanguages: A case study. In Eckman, F., Bell, L. & Nelson, D. (eds.), Universals of second language acquisition, pp. 132–143. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Lenertová, D., & Sudhoff, S. (2007). Corpus data and experimental results as prosodic evidence: On the case of stressed auch in German. In Featherston, S. & Sternefeld, W. (eds.), Roots: Linguistics in search of its evidential base, pp. 227–247. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Liskin-Gasparro, J. (2000). The use of tense-aspect morphology in Spanish oral narratives: Exploring the perceptions of advanced learners. Hispania, 83, 830–844.Google Scholar
López-Ortega, N. R. (2000). Tense, aspect, and narrative structure in Spanish as a second language. Hispania, 83, 488–502.Google Scholar
Lubbers-Quesada, M. (2007). La percepción de las propiedades semánticas y la adquisición de la morfología verbal en el español como L2. In Buck, M. (ed.), Estudios de Lingüística Aplicada: La Adquisición del Aspecto en Español, 44, 11–36.Google Scholar
McManus, K. (2011). The development of aspect in a second language: What role for the first language? Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing.Google Scholar
Montrul, S., & Salaberry, R. (2003). The development of tense/aspect morphology in Spanish as a second language. In Lafford, B. A. & Salaberry, R. (eds.), Spanish second language acquisition, pp. 47–73. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Montrul, S., & Slabakova, R. (2002). The L2 acquisition of morphosyntactic and semantic properties of the aspectual tenses Preterite and Imperfect. In Pérez-Leroux, A. T. & Muñoz Liceras, J. (eds.), The acquisition of Spanish morphosyntax, pp. 115–151. Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., & Slabakova, R. (2003). Competence similarities between native and near-native speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25 (3), 351–398.Google Scholar
Noyau, C. (1989). The development of means for temporality in the unguided acquisition of L2: Cross-linguistic perspectives. In Dechert, H. (ed.), Current trends in European second language acquisition research, pp. 143–170. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Noyau, C. (2002). Temporal relations in learner varieties: Grammaticalisation and discourse construction. In Salaberry, & Shirai, (eds.), pp. 107–127.Google Scholar
Ramsay, V. (1990). Developmental stages in the acquisition of the perfective and the imperfective aspects by classroom L2 learners of Spanish. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oregon.Google Scholar
Reid, W. (1980). Meaning and narrative structure. Columbia University Working Papers in Linguistics, 5, 12–20.Google Scholar
Reinhart, T. (1984). Principles of gestalt perception in the temporal organization of narrative texts. Linguistics, 22, 779–809.Google Scholar
Rosch, E. H. (1973). Natural categories. Cognitive Psychology, 4, 328–350.Google Scholar
Rosch, E. H. (1978). Principles of categorization. In Rosch, E. & Lloyd, B. B. (eds.), Cognition and categorization, pp. 27–48. Hillsdale. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R. (1998). The development of aspectual distinctions in L2 French classroom learning. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 54, 508–542.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R. (1999). The development of past tense verbal morphology in classroom L2 Spanish. Applied Linguistics, 20, 151–178.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R. (2000). The development of past tense morphology in L2 Spanish. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R. (2002). Tense and aspect in the selection of past tense verbal morphology. In Salaberry, & Shirai, (eds.), pp. 397–415.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R. (2003). Tense and aspect in verbal morphology. Hispania, 86, 559–573.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R. (2008). Marking past tense in second language acquisition: A theoretical model. New York: Continuum Books.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R. (2011). Assessing the effect of lexical aspect and grounding on the acquisition of L2 Spanish past tense morphology among L1 English speakers. Bilingualism, Language and Cognition, 14 (2), 184–202.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R., & Ayoun, D. (2005). The development of L2 tense/aspect in the Romance languages. In Ayoun, D. & Salaberry, R. (eds.), Tense and aspect in Romance languages: Theoretical and applied perspectives, pp. 1–34. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Salaberry, R., & Shirai, Y. (eds.) (2002). L2 acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Schütze, C. T. (1996). The empirical base of linguistics: Grammaticality judgments and linguistic methodology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Shirai, Y. (1993). Inherent aspect and the acquisition of tense/aspect morphology in Japanese. In Nakajima, H. & Otsu, Y. (eds.), Argument structure: Its syntax and acquisition, pp. 185–211. Tokyo: Kaitakusha.Google Scholar
Shirai, Y. (1995). Tense-aspect marking by L2-learners of Japanese. In MacLaughlin, D. & Ewen, S. Mc. (eds.), Proceedings of 19th Annual Boston University Conference in Language Development, pp. 575–586. Somerville, MA: Casacadilla Press.Google Scholar
Shirai, Y. (2004). A multiple-factor account to form–meaning connection in the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. In VanPatten, B. (ed.), Form–meaning connections in second language acquisitions, pp. 91–112. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Shirai, Y., & Andersen, R. (1995). The acquisition of tense-aspect morphology: A prototype account. Language, 71, 743–762.Google Scholar
Shirai, Y., & Kurono, A. (1998). The acquisition of tense-aspect marking in Japanese as a second language. Language Learning, 48, 245–279.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R. (1999). The parameter of aspect in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 15 (3), 283–317.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2001). Telicity in the second language. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R., & Montrul, S. (2003). Genericity and aspect in L2 acquisition. Language Acquisition, 11 (3), 165–196.Google Scholar
Smith, C. (1991). The parameter of aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Press.Google Scholar
Smith, C. (2003). Aspectual entities and tense in discourse. In Kempchinsky, P. & Slabakova, R. (eds.), The syntax, semantics and acquisition of aspect, pp. 223–238. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Tenny, C. (1994). Aspectual roles and the syntax–semantics interface. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Tracy-Ventura, N. (2008). Developmental readiness and tense/aspect: An instructional study of L2 Preterit and Imperfect acquisition in Spanish. Ph.D. dissertation, Northern Arizona University.Google Scholar
Tracy-Ventura, N. (2012). Testing the Distributional Bias Hypothesis: A corpus-based investigation of lexical and grammatical aspect in native speaker Spanish. Ms., University of Southampton.Google Scholar
Vendler, Z. (1967). Linguistics in philosophy. Ithaca, NY & London: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Verkuyl, H. J. (1993). A theory of aspectuality: The interaction between temporal and atemporal structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Véronique, D. (1987). Reference to past events and actions in narratives in L2: Insights from North African learners’ French. In Pfaff, C. W. (ed.), First and second language acquisition processes, pp. 252–272. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Wagner, L. (2010). The acquisition of semantics. Cognitive Science, 1, 519–526.Google Scholar
Wallace, S. (1982). Figure and ground: The interrelationships of linguistic categories. In Hopper, P. (ed.), Tense-aspect: Between syntax and pragmatics, pp. 201–226. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Wasow, T., & Arnold, J. (2003). Post-verbal constituent ordering in English. In Rohdenburg, G. & Mondorf, B. (eds.), Determinants of grammatical variation in English, pp. 119–154. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Weist, R. M. (1989). Aspects of the roots of language: Commentary on Cziko. First Language, 9, 45–49.Google Scholar
White, L. (1989). Universal Grammar and second language acquisition. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Wulff, S., Ellis, N., Römer, U., Bardovi-Harlig, K., & LeBlanc, C. (2009). The acquisition of tense-aspect: Converging evidence from corpora, cognition, and learner constructions. Modern Language Journal, 93 (3), 354–369.Google Scholar