The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

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

The role of dynamic contrasts in the L2 acquisition of Spanish past tense morphology
The role of dynamic contrasts in the L2 acquisition of Spanish past tense morphology
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 event-Preterit and state-Imperfect 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 one 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.
lexical aspect, second language acquisition, imperfect, spanish, learner corpora
1366-7289
558-577
Dominguez, Laura
9c1bf2b4-b582-429b-9e8a-5264c4b7e63f
Tracy-Ventura, Nicole
c3cb9933-4cba-454d-8d23-ddc0589270c7
Arche, Maria J.
1844eaee-d062-48e3-a4ff-7c839be3872d
Rosamond, Mitchell
de2eabed-7903-43fa-961a-c16f69fddd7e
Myles, Florence
ddf117d7-7e40-4d54-beda-abce3f88a169
Dominguez, Laura
9c1bf2b4-b582-429b-9e8a-5264c4b7e63f
Tracy-Ventura, Nicole
c3cb9933-4cba-454d-8d23-ddc0589270c7
Arche, Maria J.
1844eaee-d062-48e3-a4ff-7c839be3872d
Rosamond, Mitchell
de2eabed-7903-43fa-961a-c16f69fddd7e
Myles, Florence
ddf117d7-7e40-4d54-beda-abce3f88a169

Dominguez, Laura, Tracy-Ventura, Nicole and Arche, Maria J. et al. (2013) The role of dynamic contrasts in the L2 acquisition of Spanish past tense morphology. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16 (3), 558-577. (doi:10.1017/S1366728912000363).

Record type: Article

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 event-Preterit and state-Imperfect 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 one 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.

Text
Dominguez_Tracy-ventura_Arche_Mitchell__Myles_FINAL.pdf - Author's Original
Download (537kB)

More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 20 November 2012
Published date: July 2013
Keywords: lexical aspect, second language acquisition, imperfect, spanish, learner corpora
Organisations: Modern Languages

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 191281
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/191281
ISSN: 1366-7289
PURE UUID: 0eb1d6e1-ae7b-4fbd-b2f2-6801ab178749
ORCID for Laura Dominguez: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2701-2469
ORCID for Mitchell Rosamond: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0325-528X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 20 Jun 2011 08:02
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:22

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Laura Dominguez ORCID iD
Author: Nicole Tracy-Ventura
Author: Maria J. Arche
Author: Florence Myles

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×