scholarly journals Acceptability of Different Psychological Verbal Constructions by Heritage Spanish Speakers from California

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Viola G. Miglio ◽  
Stefan Th. Gries
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Verbal Form ◽  
Singular Form ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Heritage Spanish Speakers ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Prescriptive Grammar ◽  
Psych Verb Constructions ◽  
Psych Verb

This study set out to investigate whether US Heritage Spanish features a more streamlined verbal paradigm in psych verb constructions compared to standard varieties of Spanish, where HS speakers find an invariable third-person singular form acceptable with both singular and plural grammatical subjects. In standard Spanish, the semantic subjects of psych verbs are typically pre-verbal experiencers cast as oblique arguments in inverse predicates such as in me encantan los buhos ‘I love owls’. The translation of this sentence shows that equivalent English predicates are typically direct constructions. The data were gathered using an acceptability judgement questionnaire that was distributed to participants that fit into one of three groups: early bilingual heritage speakers of Spanish from California, advanced Spanish as L2 speakers, and non-bilingual native speakers of Spanish who had learnt English as an L2 as adults. The Heritage Spanish speakers in this group often patterned differently from both other groups, who surprisingly patterned together. We argue that this is due to L2 speakers’ mode of acquisition (formal and subject to prescriptive grammar), in comparison with Heritage Spanish speakers’ naturalistic acquisition. Specifically, we find evidence for a streamlining of the Spanish verbal paradigm not immediately attributed to English interference, and that in psych verb constructions, Heritage Spanish speakers more readily accept a third-person singular invariable verbal form. This differentiation of the verbal paradigm from standard Spanish use should be considered a bona fide linguistic change, but not proof of either incomplete acquisition or language attrition. Since Heritage Spanish speakers are, after all, native speakers of Spanish, this study shows that Heritage Spanish should be considered and studied as any other dialect of Spanish, with its distinctive grammatical features, and subject to variability and change.

scholarly journals Feature Matching Does Not Equal Convergence: Acquisition of L2 French Accusative Pronouns by L1 Spanish Speakers

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 144
Author(s):  
Elena Shimanskaya ◽  
Tania Leal
Keyword(s):  
Feature Matching ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Formal Similarity ◽  
Considerable Difficulty ◽  
Feature Reassembly ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Surface Similarity

Our study aims to determine whether formal similarity between two languages (operationalized via the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis) allows adult L2 learners of French (Spanish native speakers; NSs) to straightforwardly acquire third-person singular accusative clitics in their L2. Additionally, we examined the role of surface similarity, since French and Spanish overlap and diverge in several ways. In terms of formal similarity, third-person accusative clitic pronouns in Spanish are almost perfect analogues of their French counterparts. In terms of surface similarity, however, while the feminine accusative pronouns are identical (“la” [la]), the masculine ones differ in Spanish (“lo” [lo]) and French (“le” [lǝ]). Participants included French NSs (n = 26) and Spanish-speaking L2 French learners (n = 36). Results from an offline forced-choice picture selection task and an online self-paced reading task did not support the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis because learners showed considerable difficulty with the interpretation and processing of these pronouns, revealing that, unlike French NSs, their interpretations and processing are guided by the feature [±Human] and, to a lesser degree, by gender, which might be due to the surface-level similarity between feminine accusative clitic pronouns in both languages.

scholarly journals Linking experiencer-subject psych verb constructions in Modern Greek

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valia Kordoni
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Prepositional Phrase ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Hierarchical Lexicon ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Psych Verb Constructions ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Psych Verb

This paper focuses on the semantic properties and the syntactic behaviour of Modern Greek (hence MG) Experiencer-Subject Psych Verb Constructions (hence ESPVCs). MG ESPVCs include verbs like miso (hate), agapo (love), or latrevo (adore), which feature a nominative experiencer in agreement with the verb and an accusative theme (see examples (1)-(3)). MG ESPVCs include also predicates like fovame (fear), which feature an experiencer-subject in agreement with the verb and either an accusative theme (example (4)), or a theme as the object of a prepositional phrase (example (5)). We should underline here that examples (4) and (5) below convey the same meaning. That is, they do NOT differ semantically. O    Gianis     misi       to   sholio.the Gianis.N hate.3S the school.A"John hates school." O    Gianis     agapa    tin  Maria.the Gianis.N loves.3S the Maria.A"John loves Mary." O    Gianis     latrevi      tin  musiki.the Gianis.N adore.3S the music.A"John adores music." I      Maria     fovate  tis  kategides.the Maria.N fear.3S the storms.A"Maria is afraid of the storms." I      Maria     fovate  me   tis   kategides.the Maria.N fear.3S with the storms.A"Maria is afraid of the storms." The challenge that constructions like the ones in (4) and (5) pose lies on the split syntactic realization of the "experienced" (hence EXPD) semantic role (i.e., the theme), which in constructions like (4) is syntactically realized as the object of the sentence, while in constructions like (5) it is syntactically realized as the object of a prepositional phrase. Our aim is to propose a unified linking account of the MG ESPVCs. This unified account is based on the assumption that the individual denoted by the object NP (or PP) of the MG ESPVCs is entailed to be semantically underspecified, and makes use of Wechsler's (1995) Notion Rule, Davis and Koenig's (2000) linking theory, as well as Markantonatou and Sadler's (1996) proposal for the linking of indirect arguments.   References Davis, A.R. and J.-P. Koenig (2000). Linking as constraints on word classes in a hierarchical lexicon. Language 76, 56-91. Markantonatou, S. and L. Sadler (1996). Linking Indirect Arguments. Essex Research Reports in Linguistics 9, 24-63. Wechsler, S. (1995). The Semantic Basis of Argument Structure. Stanford: CSLI Publications. Series: Dissertations in Linguistics, Joan Bresnan, Sharon Inkelas, William J. Poser, and Peter Sells (eds.).

An exploratory study on pro-drop in a written description task in L2 Spanish

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
An Vande Casteele ◽  
Alejandro Palomares Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
L2 Spanish ◽  
Spanish Language Learners ◽  
Description Task ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Written Description

Abstract The present article aims at investigating the pro-drop phenomenon in L2 Spanish. The phenomenon of pro-drop or null subject is a typological feature of some languages, which are characterized by an implicit subject in cases of topic continuity. More specifically, behaviour regarding subject (dis)continuity in Spanish differs from French. This paper will offer a contrastive analysis on subject realisation by French learners of L2 Spanish compared to L1 Spanish speakers. So, the goal of this pilot study is to see if a different functioning in pro-drop in the mother tongue also influences the L2. The study is based upon a written description task presented to the two groups of participants: the experimental group of French mother tongue L2 Spanish language learners and the control group of Spanish native speakers.

The effects of language impairment on the use of direct object pronouns and verb inflections in heritage Spanish speakers: A look at attrition, incomplete acquisition and maintenance

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
PEGGY F. JACOBSON
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Verb Inflection ◽  
Heritage Spanish Speakers ◽  
Third Person ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Verb Inflections ◽  
Incomplete Acquisition

This study examined object clitic pronouns (OCPs) and verb inflections in twenty-five school-age children with typical development (TD) and twenty children with bilingual language impairment (BLI). MANOVA and ANOVA were used to explore differences according to grade level and language status (TD vs. BLI). Although children with BLI produced higher rates of grammatical errors overall, accuracy on number and gender assignment for OCPs was better for both groups in the higher grades. Although the rate of verb inflection errors did not differ for children with TD and BLI in the lower grades, a significant interaction yielded higher error rates on subject–verb agreement for third person singular and plural inflections in the later grades for children with BLI. Greater accuracy on OCP use in later grades weakens claims that bilingualism exacerbates language impairment. For BLI, whether incomplete acquisition or delayed development is the determining factor for verb inflection errors remains undetermined.

Description, acquisition and teaching of polysemous verbs: The case of quedar

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-44
Author(s):  
Lucía Gómez Vicente
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
University Students ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Conventional Manner

Abstract This paper analyzes the usage of frequent polysemous verbs by native speakers and by L2 learners and it makes several pedagogical suggestions on how to teach polysemous verbs in a L2 classroom. To achieve these objectives, we have examined the case of the Spanish verb quedar, which means “to remain”, “to stay”, “to be left”, “to make an appointment”, etc. A methodology based on narratives and sentence elicitation has been created. The experiences were accomplished by Spanish speakers (adults and children), and French university students of Spanish, who performed productions in Spanish (L2) and in French (L1). The results of this study seem to confirm that adult native speakers used the semantic network of polysemous verbs in a very conventional manner. Meanings appear to have been acquired thanks to usage, by storing linguistic experiences as patterns, and operating mostly by analogy process. Children seem to have primarily elicited quedar in conventional situations (for instance, to fix an appointment) and depending on a cost-effectiveness criteria (only if this verb adds a pragmatic gain compared to simpler options). The acquisition path of quedar by children (L1) seems to be driven by different factors than for L2 learners. French learners of Spanish used quedar meanings differently from native speakers and they were highly influenced by their L1, both semantically and syntactically.

Typological features of grammaticalization in Semitic

2018 ◽  
pp. 35-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohssen Esseesy
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Personal Pronouns ◽  
Semitic Languages ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Grammatical Functions

This study highlights some notable typological features of ancient and modern Semitic languages. It sheds light on a number of shared intragenetic similarities and parallels within Semitic in the processes and outcomes of grammaticalization. Specifically, it examines the emergence and evolution of prepositionals from certain body-part terms; the shift from synthetic towards more analytic possessive strategies; and independent personal pronouns becoming inherently bound agreement markers as prefixes and suffixes on the imperfective and perfective verb stems, respectively. Moreover, with supporting evidence from corpus data, this study argues for the primacy of third-person pronouns, which assume expanded grammatical functions as copulas, expletives, and discourse-related functions. Finally, this study draws attention to the sociolinguistic factors, such as native speakers’ attitudinal stance, which directly impinge on language change within the diglossic nature of Arabic, and calls for consideration of sociolinguistic factors in the study of language evolution by grammaticalization.

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