Acquisition of genericity in L2 English
The effect of multilingualism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12738334 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marta Velnić (0000-0002-2523-4570, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, corresponding author), Roumyana Slabakova (0000-0002-5839-460X, University of Southampton), Anne Dahl (0000-0002-6413-4193, Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 594-617 |
| Publication date | 2025-06-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Multilingualism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1479-0718 • E-ISSN: 1747-7530 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14790718.2025.2508854 |
| OpenAlex | W4411074303 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 26 |
This study explores the acquisition of genericity in English as a second language (L2) by analysing judgments of singular noun phrases' acceptability across generic contexts. We sampled three groups acquiring L2 English: L1-Norwegian L2-English learners, L1-Polish L2-English learners (bilingual group), and L1 Polish L2 English learners also acquiring Norwegian as a third language (multilingual group). Our findings confirm a selective effect of native language transfer in the Norwegian group, arguably due to L1–L2 similarities. Within the Polish groups, we found that knowledge of another language with articles positively impacted the understanding of genericity, with the multilingual group showing more nuanced acceptance of the target-like form–meaning choices, compared to the bilingual group. At the same time, the bilingual group performed better on two proficiency measures. Furthermore, we assessed participants' knowledge of the English article system. The multilingual group outperformed the bilingual group, thus suggesting that a better grasp of the L2 article system correlated with the ability to comprehend generic forms more accurately
Linguistics · Multilingualism · Sociology · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Second Language Acquisition and Learning
The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Multi-Competence
ADynamic Model of Multilingualism
Linguistic Awareness in Multilinguals
Premises of multi-competence
OpenSesame
Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4
Crosslinguistic influence in the acquisition of a third language
The scalpel model of third language acquisition
Crosslinguistic influence in child L3 English
Singular NPs and the expression of genericity in Norwegian
The Rise of an Indefinite Article in Polish
The Rise of an Indefinite Article in Polish
Crosslinguistic influence in L3 acquisition across linguistic modules
Variability in second language article production
Some thoughts on the contrastive analysis of features in second language acquisition
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |