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Article published In:
Current Visions of TAML2: Tense, Aspect and Modality in Second Languages
Edited by Paz González and Tim Diaubalick
[Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics 8:1] 2019
► pp. 100–116

The effects of telicity, dynamicity and punctuality in L2 acquisition of Spanish Preterit and Imperfect

ORCID logo | Universidad de Huelva

The aim of this work is to investigate the use of Spanish Preterit and Imperfect by English speaking learners of L2 Spanish following the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis (Andersen & Shirai, 1996; Díaz, Bel, & Bekiou, 2008; Domínguez, Tracy-Ventura, Arche, Mitchell, & Miles, 2013; González, 2003, 2013; Montrul & Slabakova, 2002). The article studies how aspectual features bias Preterit and Imperfect in initial, intermediate and advanced learners. The results, based on an approximate binomial distribution analysis, confirm that Preterit is the preferred past, which supports L1 transfer (Salaberry & Shirai, 2002). The results also verify that Preterit is biased by dynamicity and punctuality at all levels. Telicity effects come into play in intermediate levels, while punctuality effects are reinforced in advanced levels. Stativity influences the use of Imperfect in intermediate level, which reveals that there are differences in the bias effect regarding proficiency level.

Keywords: L2 acquisition, telicity, dynamicity, punctuality, aspectual features, past tenses, grammatical aspect
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Aspect
  • 3.Grammatical aspect in Spanish and English
  • 4.Aspectual features in interlanguage hypotheses
  • 5.Study
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Methodology
    • 5.3Results
      • 5.3.1Use of past tenses
      • 5.3.2Use of Preterit
        • 5.3.2.1Dynamicity effects with Preterit
        • 5.3.2.2Telicity effects with Preterit
        • 5.3.2.3Punctuality effects with Preterits
      • 5.3.3Use of Imperfect
        • 5.3.3.1Stativity effects with Imperfect
        • 5.3.3.2Durativity effects with Imperfect
        • 5.3.3.3Atelicity effects with Imperfect
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 11 March 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dujal.19002.qui
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