Selective vulnerability in very advanced L2 grammars
Evidence from VPE constraints
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11655737 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kholoud A Al-Thubaiti (0000-0002-5286-6549, Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 225-252 |
| Publication date | 2018-01-31 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Second language Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0267-6583 • E-ISSN: 1477-0326 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0267658317751577 |
| OpenAlex | W2786036821 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 18 |
This study examines whether the second language acquisition (L2A) of syntactic properties at the interfaces is problematic for L2 learners. English verb phrase ellipsis (VPE) was tested as an interface property which involves feature interpretability. Two subtle contrasts of VPE at different grammar-internal interfaces were examined: (a) copula be and lexical verb ellipsis at the syntax–lexicon interface (*John is here, and Mary will too vs. John slept, and Mary will too), and (b) progressive be and perfective have stranding at the syntax–semantics interface (*John slept, and Mary was too vs. Peter saw your parents last week, but he hasn’t since). Unlike (a), the contrast in (b) requires identifying (un)interpretable features on -ing and -en to recover the semantics of the elided material. Since Saudi Arabic does not license VPE, (very-)advanced English L2 speakers whose first language (L1) is Saudi Arabic were tested. The results from a bimodal timed acceptability judgment task showed they were more target-like on the contrast at the syntax–lexicon interface than they were on the syntax–semantics interface. They particularly deviated from target-like judgments on have stranding which requires recognizing the perfective uninterpretable feature on - en. These results suggest selective vulnerability at grammar-internal interfaces whenever uninterpretable features are involved
Grammar · Interface (matter · Lexicon · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Programming language · Semantics (computer science · Syntax · Verb · Computer Science · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Second Language Acquisition and Learning · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence
The Syntactic Licensing of Ellipsis
Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
Ellipsis
What VP Ellipsis Can Do, and What it Can't, But Not Why
Knowledge of English verb phrase ellipsis by speakers of Arabic and Chinese
Factoring out the parallelism effect in VP-ellipsis
The effect of modality on a grammaticality judgement task
Anaphora resolution in near-native speakers of Italian
Second language research
VP ellipsis, phases and the syntax of morphology
Pinning down the concept of "interface" in bilingualism
The Interpretability Hypothesis
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |