An experimental investigation of the expression of genericity in English, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

Ionin, Tania; Montrul, Silvina; Santos, Hélade Scutti

doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2010.12.008

Cited by 46 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In the context of indefinite singular generics, the L1 Spanish speakers with advanced English proficiency incorrectly select the definite article only 14% of the time. This finding contrasts with our prediction but it is consistent with Ionin et al's (2011) results; choosing the indefinite article for generics at the sentence-level is not a problem for Spanish speakers. In the case of Turkish learners, L1 transfer may explain high accuracy with the indefinite article as bir may assist learners in correctly selecting indefinite article a because i.)…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 50%

L1 transfer in article selection for generic reference by Spanish, Turkish and Japanese L2 learners

Snape

García-Mayo

Gürel

2013

ijes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examines second language (L2) acquisition of English generic noun phrases (NPs) by Spanish, Turkish and Japanese learners. The aim is to identify the role of the first language (L1) in the L2 acquisition of definite NP-level generics and indefinite sentence-level generics with singular, bare plural, and mass generic nouns. The four languages in this study differ in the way they express generic interpretations: English and Spanish have article systems, Turkish has an indefinite article, but no definite article, and Japanese lacks an article system. Advanced and upper intermediate L2 learners were tested via a forced choice elicitation task. The results reveal different patterns of article selection across the three groups of L2 learners, which correspond with L1 transfer effects. Our findings suggest that L2 article choice is largely determined by the way the L1 realizes generic reference.KEYWORDS: L1 transfer, L2 acquisition, NP-level generics, sentence-level generics, articles, English, Spanish, Turkish, Japanese RESUMEN Este trabajo investiga la adquisición de sintagmas nominales (SN) genéricos en inglés como segunda lengua (L2) por parte de aprendices españoles, turcos y japoneses. El objetivo del trabajo es identificar el papel que desempeña la primera lengua (L1) en la adquisición de genéricos definidos al nivel del SN y genéricos indefinidos al nivel de la oración con sustantivos genéricos en singular, plural desnudo y de materia. Las cuatro lenguas que se investigan en este estudio difieren en la forma en que expresan las interpretaciones genéricas: el inglés y el español tienen artículos, el turco tiene artículo indefinido pero no definido y el japonés no tiene artículos. Aprendices de inglés como L2 con nivel avanzado e intermedio-alto completaron una tarea de elección guiada. Los resultados indican que existen diferentes pautas en la selección de artículos en los tres grupos de aprendices, pautas que pueden atribuirse a los efectos de la influencia de la L1. Nuestros resultados sugieren que la elección de artículo en la L2 está muy influenciada por la forma en que la L1 expresa la referencia genérica.PALABRAS CLAVE: transferencia de la L1, adquisición de la L2, genéricos a nivel del SN, genéricos a nivel de la oración, artículos, inglés, español, turco, japonés.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 50%

L1 transfer in article selection for generic reference by Spanish, Turkish and Japanese L2 learners

Snape

García-Mayo

Gürel

2013

ijes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In contrast to the growing body of evidence about the acquisition of genericity in English, there are only a few studies that address this issue in Spanish-speaking children (but see Bruhn de Garavito & Valenzuela, 2006;Geeslin & GuijarroFuentes, 2003;Geeslin, 2002;Ionin & Montrul, 2011;Serratrice, Sorace, Fillaci & Baldo, 2009) for work with bilingual and L2 speakers), and this work has focused primarily on whether children show a generic v. specific preference in their interpretation of definite noun phrases occurring with lexical verbs (e.g. Los tigres comen carne.…”

Section: Acquisition Of Genericitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, we examine the impact that the semantic structure of the adjective and the animacy of the sentential subject have on children's ability to associate generic v. specific interpretations to ser and estar. The following study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to directly examine Spanish-speaking children's ability to assign generic v. existential interpretations to predicates with ser or estar (Ionin, Montrul & Crivos, 2013;Ionin & Montrul, 2011) for a study on L2 Spanish). We set out to answer the following two research questions:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genericity and the Interpretation of the Copulas by Spanish-Speaking Children

Beausire

Miller

2015

RLA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In Spanish the copulas ser and estar correlate with generic and specific interpretations, respectively. Likewise, both adjective types (scalar vs. non-scalar) and animacy of the sentential subject have been found to impact generic vs. specific interpretations in speakers. The current study extends upon previous research by investigating the interplay between copula, adjective type, and animacy in children's ability to access the generic vs. specific readings of the two copulas. The results of two comprehension experiments indicate that children treat the two copulas differently, associating ser + adjective constructions to generic interpretations significantly more often than they do for estar + adjective constructions. Nevertheless, the results also show that children do not reach adult levels on their interpretation of estar + adjective constructions. Instead, children's performance also depends on adjective type (scalar vs. non-scalar) and animacy of the subject. The results suggest that children have knowledge of the generic and existential interpretations associated with ser and estar, but that, in addition, they use the semantic structure of adjectives and their knowledge of the world (typicality of properties and how they apply to animate v. inanimate subjects) to assign generic and existential interpretations to the copulas.Keywords: Semantics, generic interpretation, Spanish copulas, adjective type. RESUMENEn español, las cópulas ser y estar se asocian con interpretaciones genéricas y específicas, respectivamente. Además, existe evidencia de que tanto la clase de adjetivo (escalar, no escalar) como la animacidad del sujeto oracional influyen en cómo los hablantes interpretan oraciones de manera genérica o específica. El presente estudio investiga cómo estos factores inciden en la capacidad de asignar interpretaciones genéricas o específicas a las dos cópulas. Los resultados de dos experimentos de comprensión indican que los niños interpretan las cópulas de manera diferente al asignar significativamente más interpretaciones genéricas a la construcción "ser + adjetivo" que a la construcción "estar + adjetivo". Sin embargo, los resultados muestran que los niños no alcanzan niveles adultos en la interpretación de la construcción "estar + adjetivo". Esto se debe a que la clase de adjetivo y la animacidad del sujeto influyen en la asignación de interpretaciones genéricas a construcciones con estar. Los resultados sugieren que los niños saben que ser y estar se asocian con interpretaciones genéricas y específicas respectivamente, pero que, además, hacen uso de la estructura semántica del adjetivo y su conocimiento del mundo (tipicidad de las propiedades y cómo se aplican a sujetos animados y no animados) para asignar interpretaciones a oraciones con ser y estar.Palabras clave: Semántica, interpretación genérica, cópulas en español, clase de adjetivos.

show abstract

“…The experiment reported by Ionin et al (2011) is especially interesting since it was conducted in three languages: English, Spanish and BrP. It is far more sophisticated than the previously reported one and I will only summarize the most important details for the points I want to make here concerning BrP kind predicates and anaphoric singular contexts.…”

Section: Empirical Controversy 2: Do Brp Bss Denote Kinds?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The items as well as the order of the five simultaneously presented sentences were randomized by the software. (12) is an example item of a "definite singular" context followed by the five different NPs, (13) illustrates a kind predicate (for the sake of simplicity, the English version is given, the BrP sentences are direct translations): Table 3: Some results (mean judgments) from Ionin et al (2011).…”

Section: Empirical Controversy 2: Do Brp Bss Denote Kinds?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Grammaticality Judgments Within an Integral Approach to Brazilian Portuguese Bare Nominals

Wall

2014

Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper is mainly concerned with two points: The first one is a better theoretical foundation of the interpretation of acceptability judgment tasks (AJTs) in studies on Brazilian Portuguese (BrP) bare nominals (BNs). I draw on Bader & Häussler's (2010) model which is based on Signal Detection Theory and show that an (explicitly or implicitly) binary approach to AJTs on BrP BNs fails to capture the whole picture. This is exemplified by contrasting the two AJT studies on specific and definite BNs presented in this paper with other experimental approaches to BrP BNs. The second concern is the status of these rather marginal forms in BrP. It will be claimed that only an approach combining different empirical methods can give a sufficiently clear picture. In order to support this claim, a third experiment, namely an elicitation task will be presented and discussed. IntroductionAt least since their appearance as counter-evidence to Chierchia's (1998) wellknown Nominal Mapping Parameter in Schmitt & Munn (1999) 2 , Brazilian Portu-1 This work was financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 833, project C3. I would like to thank Sam Featherston, Oliver Bott, Fabian Schlotterbeck and Janina Rado for their support regarding technical implementation, statistical analysis and much constructive feedback. Two anonymous reviewers helped to improve the paper at several critical points. I am also grateful to all the people in Brazil who made the data collection possible, special thanks to José Simões da Silva, Célia Regina dos Santos Lopes and Bruno Festas. The interpretation of the results as well as remaining errors are completely my responsibility.2 For a recent discussion of Schmitt & Munn's claim with regard to "semantic parameterization" and the role of the BrP data as counter-evidence to Chierchia (1998), see Dayal (2011 and references therein. 2 guese (BrP) BNs have received a considerable degree of attention from researchers interested in the syntax and semantics of the nominal domain. This is due to the fact that BrP, which has a full-fledged Romance-style article paradigm, at the same time allows for plural as well as singular BNs in argument position in surprisingly many contexts. In the words of Braga et al. (2010: 75f): "[…] the determiner phrase […] ranges from overtly definite and indefinite phrases, both singular and plural, to a complete system of bare noun phrases in argument position: bare singulars […], bare plurals […] and bare mass […]". The investigation of this topic has led to a very dynamic and productive but also controversial discussion during the last decade, especially in the case of the so-called "bare singulars" (BSs) 3 , to which this paper is mainly devoted, as well. Examples (1) and (2) contrast a BS with a bare mass noun:(1) Professor trabalha muito.Teacher works much 'Teachers work a lot.' (Müller & Oliveira 2004: 12) (2) Leite faz bem pra saúde. milk makes well for health 'Milk is healthy. ' (Braga et al. 2010: 76) While (2) is not surprising at all from a Roman...

show abstract

An experimental investigation of the expression of genericity in English, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

Cited by 46 publications

References 18 publications

L1 transfer in article selection for generic reference by Spanish, Turkish and Japanese L2 learners

L1 transfer in article selection for generic reference by Spanish, Turkish and Japanese L2 learners

Genericity and the Interpretation of the Copulas by Spanish-Speaking Children

The Role of Grammaticality Judgments Within an Integral Approach to Brazilian Portuguese Bare Nominals

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About