Cover not available
Part of
Current Perspectives on Generative SLA - Processing, Influence, and Interfaces: Selected proceedings of the 16th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference
Edited by Marta Velnić, Anne Dahl and Kjersti Faldet Listhaug
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 70] 2024
► pp. 63–86

Chapter 3
Complements and adjuncts of one in L2 English noun drop

 | University of Western Ontario
This study examines the constraint against complements of the pro-form one in L2 English of Spanish native speakers. Complements (*The belief in Santa is greater than the one in Elvis) are disallowed, in contrast to adjuncts (The vase in the bedroom is nicer than the one in the kitchen). Spanish exhibits opposite tendencies in noun ellipsis: complements are productive but adjuncts are often restricted. Advanced Spanish learners performed as well as native speakers for most relevant properties but there was a tendency to accept complements to a greater extent than the English L1 speakers. However, 7/15 participants performed in a native-like manner, evidence that learners are capable of overcoming L1 effects in spite of the relative infrequency of relevant contexts.
Keywords: noun ellipsis, complements, adjuncts, L2 English
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The syntax of noun drop in Spanish and English: What learners have to acquire
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Materials
    • 3.3Procedures
  • 4.Group results
    • 4.1Production task
    • 4.2Felicity judgement task
    • 4.3Grammaticality judgement task
  • 5.Individual results for the contrast between complements and adjuncts of the pro-form ‘one’
  • 6.Discussion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 17 October 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.70.03bru
References (48)
References
Baker, C. L. (1978). Introduction to generative transformational syntax. Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Belletti, A., Bennati, E., & Sorace, A. (2007). Theoretical and developmental issues in the syntax of subjects: Evidence from near-native Italian. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 25, 657–689. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Belletti, A., & Leonini, C. (2004). Subject inversion in L2 Italian. In S. H. Foster-Cohen (Ed.), Eurosla Yearbook 4 (pp. 95–118). John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Bley-Vroman, R. (1983). The comparative fallacy in interlanguage studies: The case of systematicity. Language Learning, 33, 1–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Borgonovo, C., Bruhn de Garavito, J., & Prévost, P. (2015). Mood selection in relative clauses: Interfaces and variability. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 37(1), 33–69. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brucart, J. M., & Gràcia, L. (1986). I sintagme nominali senza testa. Rivista di Grammatica Generativa, 11, 3–32.Google Scholar
Bruhn de Garavito, J. (2018). Interfaces and nominal ellipsis in L2 Spanish. Paper presented at the Symposium in honour of Lydia White, McGill University.Google Scholar
Bruhn de Garavito, J., & Otálora, M. (2016). L2 knowledge of gender and number agreement in Spanish noun ellipsis. In A. Alba de la Fuente & E. Valenzuela (Eds.), Language acquisition beyond parameters. Papers in honor of Juana Liceras (pp. 99–124). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cuza, A., Guijarro-Fuentes, P., Pires, A., & Rothman, J. (2013). The syntax-semantics of bare and definite plural subjects in the L2 Spanish of English natives. International Journal of Bilingualism, 17(5), 634–652. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Demonte, V. (1989). Linking and case: The case of prepositional verbs. In C. Laeufer & T. A. Morgan (Eds.), Theoretical analyses in Romance linguistics: Selected papers from the nineteenth Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL XIX), the Ohio State University, 21–23 April, 1989 (pp. 415–456). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dixon, R. M. W. (2007). Clitics in English. English Studies, 88(5), 574–600. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eguren, L. (2010). Contrastive focus and nominal ellipsis in Spanish. Lingua, 120, 435–457. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goad, H., & White, L. (2008). Prosodic structure and the representation of L2 functional morphology: A nativist approach. Lingua, 118, 577–594. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2019). Prosodic effects on L2 grammars. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 9(6), 769–808. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goad, H., White, L., & Bruhn de Garavito, J. (2011). Prosodic transfer at different levels of structure: The L2 acquisition of Spanish plurals. In N. Danis, K. Mesh, & H. Sung (Eds.), BUCLD 35 Online Proceedings Supplement. Retrieved on 15 May 2024 from [URL]Google Scholar
Harris, J. W. (1991). The exponence of gender in Spanish. Linguistic Inquiry, 22(1), 27–62. [URL]Google Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Franceschina, F. (2004). Explaining the acquisition and nonacquisition of determiner-noun gender concord in French and Spanish. In J. Paradis & P. Prévost (Eds.), The acquisition of French in different contexts (pp. 175–205). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Hattori, H. (2006). Interpretation of English multiple wh-questions by Japanese speakers: A missing uninterpretable feature account. Second Language Research, 22(3), 269–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hulk, A., & Müller, N. (2000). Bilingual first language acquisition at the interface between syntax and pragmatics. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 3(3), 227–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., & Montrul, S. (2010). The role of L1-transfer in the interpretation of articles with definite plurals in L2 English. Language Learning, 60, 877–925. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jensen, I. N., Slabakova, R., Westergaard, M., & Lundquist, B. (2020). The Bottleneck Hypothesis in L2 acquisition: L1 Norwegian learners’ knowledge of syntax and morphology in L2 English. Second Language Research, 36(1), 3–29. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kester, E.-P., & Sleeman, P. (2002). N-ellipsis in Spanish. In H. Broekhuis & P. Fikkert (Eds.), Linguistics in the Netherlands 2002 (pp. 107–116). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kornfeld, L., & Saab, A. (2004). Nominal ellipsis and morphological structure in Spanish. In R. Bok-Bennema, R. B. Hollebrandse, B. Kampers-Manhe, & P. Sleeman (Eds.), Romance languages and linguistic theory 2002: Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’. Groningen, 28–30 November 2002 (pp. 183–198). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lakshmanan, U., & Selinker, L. (2001). Analysing interlanguage: How do we know what learners know? Second Language Research, 17, 393–420. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lardiere, D. (2000). Mapping features to forms in second language acquisition. In J. Archibald (Ed.), Second language acquisition and linguistic theory (pp. 102–129). Blackwell.Google Scholar
(2009). Some thoughts on the contrastive analysis of features in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 25(2), 173–227. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Llombart-Huesca, A. (2002). Anaphoric one and NP-ellipsis. Studia Linguistica, 56(1), 59–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lozano, C. (2006). Focus and split-intransitivity: The acquisition of word order alternations in non-native Spanish. Second Language Research, 22(2), 145–187. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Masullo, P. J., & Depiante, M. A. (2004). Variable vs. intrinsec features in Spanish nominal elipsis. Paper presented at the GLOW 2004, Thesaloniki, Greece.
Meisel, J. (1997). The acquisition of the syntax of negation in French and German: Contrasting first and second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 13, 227–263. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011). First and second language acquisition. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montalbetti, M. (1984). After binding: On the interpretation of pronouns (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). MIT.
Müller, N., & Hulk, A. (2001). Crosslinguistic influence in bilingual language acquisition: Italian and French as recipient languages. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 1–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nunes, J. (2009). Dummy prepositions and the licensing of null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese. In E. O. Aboh, E. van der Linden, J. Quer, & P. Sleeman (Eds.), Romance languages and linguistic theory. Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’ Amsterdam 2007 (pp. 243–266). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Panagiotidis, P. (2003). One, empty nouns, and theta assignment. Linguistic Inquiry, 34, 281–292. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Payne, J., Pullum, G. K., Scholz, B. C., & Berlage, E. (2013). Anaphoric one and its implications. Language, 89(4), 794–829. [URL]. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Prévost, P., & White, L. (2000). Missing surface inflection or impairment in second language acquisition? Evidence from tense and agreement. Second Language Research, 16(2), 103–133. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Raposo, E. (2002). Nominal gaps with prepositional modifiers in Spanish and Portuguese. In M. J. Arche, A. Fábregas, & A. M. Trombetta (Eds.), Cuadernos de Lingüística IX (pp. 127–144). Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2009). Pragmatic deficits with syntactic consequences? L2 pronominal subjects and the syntax-pragmatics interface. Journal of Pragmatics, 41, 951–973. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, B., & Sprouse, R. (1994). Word order and nominative case in nonnative language acquisition: A longitudinal study of L1 Turkish German interlanguage. In T. Hoekstra & B. Schwartz (Eds.), Language acquisition studies in generative grammar (pp. 317–368). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1996). L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model. Second Language Research, 12(1), 40–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2008). Meaning in the second language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010). Semantic theory and second language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 30, 231–247. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorace, A. (2011). Pinning down the concept of “interface” in bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 1(1), 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sportiche, D. (1998/2005). Partitions and atoms of clause dtructure. Subjects, agreement, case and clitics. Routledge.Google Scholar
Ticio, M. E. (2005). NP-ellipsis in Spanish. In D. Edington (Ed.), Selected proceedings of the 7th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 128–141). Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Torrego, E. (1986). On empty categories in nominals (Unpublished manuscript).Google Scholar