The acquisition of the syntax of negation in French and German: contrasting first and second language development

Abstract

The acquisition of negation is perhaps the best-studied syntactic phenomenon in early interlanguage research,and many of these publications concluded that first (L1) and second language (L2) development had much more in common than had previously been assumed. In the present paper, the problem of whether the same underlying principles and mechanisms guide L1 and L2 acquisition will be re-examined from the perspective of more recent grammatical theory. The empirical basis consists of longitudinal case-studies of the acquisition of French and German as first and second languages. The L2 learners' first language is Spanish.In L1 data one finds a rapid, uniform and almost error-free course of development across languages exhibiting quite different morphosyntactic means of expressing negation. This is explained in terms of Parameter Theory, primarily referring to functional categories determining the placement of finite verbal elements. L2 acquisition, on the other hand, is characterized by considerable variability, not only crosslinguistically, but also across learners and even within individuals. This can be accounted for by assuming different strategies of language use. More importantly, different kinds of linguistic knowledge are drawn upon in L1 as opposed to L2. It is claimed that adult L2 learners, rather than using structure-dependent operations constrained by Universal Grammar (UG), rely primarily on linear sequencing strategies which apply to surface strings.

The Generative Approach to Sla and Its Place in Modern Second Language Studies

“…For example, learning Italian null subjects would be easier if your native language is Spanish, unlike if it were English. The interplay of UG access and L1 transfer allowed for several positions: UG is fully accessible (e.g., Epstein, Flynn, & Martohardjono, 1996;Schwartz & Sprouse, 1996;Vainikka & Young Scholten, 1994;White, 1989); UG is accessible through the L1 only (Bley-Vroman, 1991); and UG constrains only L1 acquisition and is inaccessible in SLA (Clahsen & Muysken, 1986;Meisel, 1997). In addition, as argued by Hale (1996), it may be exceedingly difficult to differentiate whether it is access to Minimalist UG or L1 transfer that guides L2A.…”

Errors in Second/Foreign Language Learning and Their Interpretations

“…Alternatively, Bley-Vroman, Felix & Ioup (1988) who, after undertaking a study with 92 Korean students having a good competence in L2, stated that it was difficult to believe that students had access to UG. Meisel (1997), however, claimed that one of the most fundamental principles of UG (structure-dependency) is not available to L2 learners any more. Finally, Sauter (2002) through a study on Spanish/Italian [+ null subject] claimed that the results did not provide full evidence for total accessibility to UG, and he preferred the notion of non-accessibility.…”

Maîtriser la norme sociolinguistique en interlangue française: le cas de l'omission variable de ‘ne’

“…On pourrait imaginer que des variantes fossilisées de stades antérieurs apparaissent occasionnellement dans l'interlangue avancée. Véronique (à paraître) signale la concomitance de l'apparition de non anaphorique et Ces constructions négatives non-natives pourraient constituer une trace de la variété basilectale comme le suggèrent Trévise et Noyau (1984) ou bien n'être qu'un effet de l'instruction formelle comme le pense Meisel (1997). Tous ces chercheurs avancent également l'hypothèse de transfert de la langue maternelle (L1).…”

“…Comme les auteurs ne présentent pas de description statistique de leurs données, ce qui serait en effet difficile vu la taille très limitée de l'échantillon, le poids des différentes variables reste cependant difficile à évaluer. Cette étude permet d'identifier, comme le constate Meisel (1997), différents types d'usage des négations. Un premier groupe de locuteurs utilise presque exclusivement pas, souvent dans des expressions formulaiques comme moi sais pas, y a pas.…”

“…Ces constructions négatives non-natives pourraient constituer une trace de la variété basilectale comme le suggèrent Trévise et Noyau (1984) ou bien n'être qu'un effet de l'instruction formelle comme le pense Meisel (1997). Tous ces chercheurs avancent également l'hypothèse de transfert de la langue maternelle (L1).…”