DMCA
Abstract On the L2 acquisition of the morphosyntax of
BibTeX
@MISC{Nominals_abstracton,
author = {German Nominals and Teresa Parodi and Bonnie D. Schwartz and Harald Clahsen},
title = {Abstract On the L2 acquisition of the morphosyntax of},
year = {}
}
Share
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
OpenURL
Abstract
Our understanding of how adults acquire grammar has to date been mainly based on investigations of clause structure and the morphosyntax of verbs. The development of nominals, however, has so far not been investigated at the same level of detail. Against this background, the purpose of the present study is to provide an in-depth description of the L2 acquisition of nominals in German and to assess the results in regard to two general research issues: (i) di¤erences in the L1 and L2 development of inflectional morphology, and (ii) the role of transfer in L2 acquisition of grammar. We analyze data of untutored L2 German by speakers of Korean, Turkish, and Romance, concentrating on the realization vs. omission of D-elements, the marking of plurality, and the position of adjectives. While there are aspects of the data that evidence clear influence from the L1, we observe that, unlike in child L1 acquisition, nominal bound morphology poses a major acquisition problem for adult L2 acquirers independently of their L1. These results are reminiscent of what has been previously found for clause structure and the morphosyntax of verbs.
