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Spanish Imperfect revisited: exploring L1 influence in the reassembly of imperfective features onto new L2 forms

Spanish Imperfect revisited: exploring L1 influence in the reassembly of imperfective features onto new L2 forms
Spanish Imperfect revisited: exploring L1 influence in the reassembly of imperfective features onto new L2 forms
This study investigates the acquisition of the Spanish Imperfect by sixty English learners of Spanish at three different proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate and advanced). Two oral production tasks and one interpretation task show that although the Imperfect is used from early on, the full array of interpretations associated with this form (habitual, continuous and progressive) is not completely acquired even at advanced levels. Learners accept the Imperfect in imperfective contexts but have problems rejecting the Preterit. This problem persists even at advanced levels in continuous contexts. The continuous is conveyed in English by Past Tense, which is used in both perfective and imperfective contexts, whereas in Spanish only the Imperfect is appropriate. We argue that the incorrect low rejection of the Preterit signals a mapping problem of aspect-related features present in both English and Spanish onto a new form (the Imperfect). These results support the problematic nature of feature reassembly in the acquisition of the Spanish Imperfect by English speakers.
aspect, feature reassembly, Imperfect, L1 influence, transfer, Spanish
0267-6583
431-457
Dominguez, Laura
9c1bf2b4-b582-429b-9e8a-5264c4b7e63f
Arche, Maria J.
6066fa9e-e8b0-4d2b-aa51-e3bd061c9c8b
Myles, Florence
df8bd3e2-558f-407c-a8e0-d4350a019873
Dominguez, Laura
9c1bf2b4-b582-429b-9e8a-5264c4b7e63f
Arche, Maria J.
6066fa9e-e8b0-4d2b-aa51-e3bd061c9c8b
Myles, Florence
df8bd3e2-558f-407c-a8e0-d4350a019873

Dominguez, Laura, Arche, Maria J. and Myles, Florence (2017) Spanish Imperfect revisited: exploring L1 influence in the reassembly of imperfective features onto new L2 forms. Second Language Research, 33 (4), 431-457. (doi:10.1177/0267658317701991).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This study investigates the acquisition of the Spanish Imperfect by sixty English learners of Spanish at three different proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate and advanced). Two oral production tasks and one interpretation task show that although the Imperfect is used from early on, the full array of interpretations associated with this form (habitual, continuous and progressive) is not completely acquired even at advanced levels. Learners accept the Imperfect in imperfective contexts but have problems rejecting the Preterit. This problem persists even at advanced levels in continuous contexts. The continuous is conveyed in English by Past Tense, which is used in both perfective and imperfective contexts, whereas in Spanish only the Imperfect is appropriate. We argue that the incorrect low rejection of the Preterit signals a mapping problem of aspect-related features present in both English and Spanish onto a new form (the Imperfect). These results support the problematic nature of feature reassembly in the acquisition of the Spanish Imperfect by English speakers.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 2 March 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 April 2017
Published date: 1 October 2017
Keywords: aspect, feature reassembly, Imperfect, L1 influence, transfer, Spanish
Organisations: Modern Languages and Linguistics

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 406189
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/406189
ISSN: 0267-6583
PURE UUID: 638fe6a6-313a-487e-b73a-b57bae73d448
ORCID for Laura Dominguez: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2701-2469

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 10 Mar 2017 10:41
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 05:06

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Contributors

Author: Laura Dominguez ORCID iD
Author: Maria J. Arche
Author: Florence Myles

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