Cover not available
Article published In:
ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 165:1 (2014) ► pp.46–75

Morphological variability at the morphosyntactic/semantic interface

Difficulty with epistemic modality in L2 Spanish. Morphological variability in L2

| Randolph-Macon College
| Oregon State University
Recent literature in second language acquisition shows that syntax-driven structures give way to successful modal interpretation and morphological production, while discourse-dependent environments do not (Sorace, 2005; Tsimpli & Sorace, 2006, Borganovo, Bruhn de Garavito, & Prévost, 2008; Iverson, Kempchinsky, & Rothman, 2008). It has also been suggested that discourse-dependent environments involve both structural and pragmatic knowledge of L2, which intersect at the syntax-discourse interface (Sorace, 2005; Iverson, Kempchinsky, & Rothman, 2008), thereby requiring a multi-layered understanding of the target language. The present study contributes to this line of research by further examining morphological variability (Prévost & White, 2000; Sorace, 2000; Sorace, 2005; Iverson, Kempchinsky, & Rothman, 2008; Slabakova, 2009) in L2 acquisition at the morphosyntactic-semantic interface, following the work of Borganovo, Bruhn de Garavito, & Prévost (2008). The results of our study reveal that learners, even at advanced stages of acquisition, perform poorly in epistemic environments where syntax and discourse intersect. In such environments, there appears to be an interaction with pragmatics (cf. Iverson, Kempchinsky, & Rothman, 2008) that causes learners to opt for the indicative mood, even when the subjunctive is prescriptively required. Unlike deontic modality, which is essentially syntax-driven, epistemic modality requires structural knowledge, as well as knowledge from other domains (Sorace, 2005). Our study reveals that learners at all levels of instruction performed better in “purely syntactic” environments of deontic modality than in pragmatically challenging epistemic environments.
Keywords: modality, epistemic, deontic, syntax, semantics, morphology
Published online: 6 June 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.165.1.03mas
References (37)
Borganovo, C., Bruhn de Garvito, J., & Prévost, P. (2008). Methodological issues in the L2 acquisition of a syntax/semantics phenomenon: How to assess L2 knowledge of mood in Spanish relative clauses. In J. Bruhn de Garavito, & E. Valenzuela (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 10th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 13–24). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Borganovo, C., & Prévost, P. (2003). Knowledge of polarity subjunctive in L2 Spanish. In B. Beachley, A. Brown, & F. Conlon (Eds.), BUCLD 2: Proceedings of the 27th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Dvelopment (pp. 150–161). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Casella, G., & Berger R. L. (2001). Statistical inference. Pacific Grove, CA: Duxbury Press.Google Scholar
Chen, H. (2010). Contrastive learner corpus analysis of epistemic modality in interlanguage pragmatic competence in L2 writing. Arizona Working Papers in SLA & Teaching, 171, 27–51.Google Scholar
Collentine, J. (1995a). The development of subjunctive and complex-syntactic abilities among FL Spanish learners. Hispania, 78(1), 122–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1995b). The development of complex syntax and mood-selection abilities by intermediate-level learners of Spanish. Hispania, 781, 123–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Foster, D. (1982). Internal contradictions of a Spanish subjunctive. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 20(2), 131 – 137.Google Scholar
Givón, T. (1994). Irrealis and the subjunctive. Studies in Language, 18(2), 265–337. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goldin, M. (1974). A psychological perspective of the Spanish subjunctive. Hispania, 57(2), 295–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gudmestad, A. (2006). L2 variation and the Spanish subjunctive: Linguistic features predicting mood selection. In C. Klee & T. Face (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 7th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages (pp. 170–184). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Haznadar, B. (2003). Missing surface inflection in adult & child L2 acquisition. In Liceras, Juana, Helmut Zobl, & Helen Goodluck (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference , (pp. 140–149). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Hualde, J.I., Olarrea, A., Escobar, A.M., Travis, C. (2001). Introducción a la lingüística hispánica. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Iverson, M., Kempchinsky, P., & Rothman, J. (2008). Interface vulnerability and knowledge of the subjunctive/indicative distinction with negated epistemic predicates in L2 Spanish. EUROSLA Yearbook, 81,135–163. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kellerman, E. (1985). If at first you do succeed. In S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 345–353). Rowly, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Lardiere, D. (2007). Acquiring (or assembling) functional categories in second language acquisition. In A. Belikova, L. Meroni, & M. Umeda (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America , 233–244. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Lazano, A. (1995). Cognitive development, deontic and epistemic subjunctives. Hispanic Linguistics, 6/71, 94–115.Google Scholar
Lightbown, P. (1985). Great expectations: Second-language acquisition research and classroom teaching. Applied Linguistics, 61, 173–189. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Lubbers Quesada, M. (1998). L2 acquisition of the Spanish subjunctive mood and prototype schema development. SAL, 2(1), 1–23.Google Scholar
Massery, L., & Fuentes, C. (2012). The role of functional categories in L2 Spanish: Persistence of L1 CP values in IL. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 5(2), 297. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mejias-Vikindi E. (1994). Assertion and Speaker’s Intention: A pragmatically based account of mood in Spanish. Hispania, 77(4), 892–902. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Leroux, A. (1998). The Acquisition of mood selection in Spanish relative clauses. Journal of Child Language, 25(3), 585–604. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Prévost, P., & White, L. (2000b). Missing surface inflection or impairment in second language? Evidence from tense and agreement. Second Language Research, 16(2), 103–133. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ramsey F.L., & Schafer D.W. (2012). The statistical sleuth: A course in methods of data analysis. St. Paul-Minneapolis MN: Brooks/Cole Publishing.Google Scholar
Schane, S. (1994). Illocutionary verbs, subject responsibility, and presupposition: The indicative versus the subjunctive in Spanish. In P. Hashemipour, R. Maldonado, & M. Van Naerssen (Eds.), Studies in language learning and Spanish linguistics in honor of Tracy D. Terrell (pp. 361–374). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B., & Sprouse, R. (1996). L2 cognitive states and the full transfer/full access model. Second Language Research, 121, 40–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Searle, S. (1987). Linear models for unbalanced data. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2009). What is easy and what is hard to acquire in a second language. In M. Bowles, T. Ionin, S. Montrul, & A. Tremblay (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference , (pp. 280–293). Somerville, MA: Casacadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Sorace, A. (2000). Syntactic optionality in non-native grammars. Second Language Research, 161, 293–102. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2005). Selective optionality in language development. In L. Cornips & K. Corrigan (Eds.), Syntax and variation: Reconciling the biological and the social (pp. 55–80). Amsterdam: Johns Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Studerus, L. (1995). Some unresolved issues in Spanish mood use. Hispania, 78(1), 94–104. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Terrell, T. & Hooper, J. (1974). A semantically based analysis of mood in Spanish. Hispania, 571, 484–494. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Terrell, T., Baycroft, B., & Perrone, C. (1987). The subjunctive in Spanish interlanguage: Accuracy and comprehensibility. In B. VanPatten, T. Dvorak, & J. Lee (Eds.), Foreign language learning: A research perspective (pp. 19–31). NewYork, NY: Newbury.Google Scholar
Tsimpli, I.M., & Sorace, A. (2006). Differentiating interfaces: L2 performance in syntax semantics and syntax discourse phenomena. In D. Bamman, T. Magnitskaia, & C. Zaller (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, BUCLD 30 , 653–664. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Vainikka, A., & Young-Scholten, M. (1996a). Gradual development of L2 phrase structure. Second Language Research, 121, 7–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996b). The early stages in adult L2 syntax: Additional evidence from romance speakers. Second Language Research, 121, 140–176. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
White, L. (2003). Second language acquisition and universal grammar. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Mañas Navarrete, I., E. Rosado Villegas, S. Mujcinovic & N. Fullana Rivera
2024. Acquisition of modal readings of the Imperfect tense in L2 Spanish. Language Acquisition ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Antonova-Unlu, Elena & Li Wei
2020. Examining possible sources of L2 divergence at the pragmatics interface: Turkish accusative in the end-state grammar of L1 Russian and L1 English users of L2 Turkish. Lingua 244 ► pp. 102868 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.