Cross-linguistic Influence at Syntax-pragmatics Interface: A Case of OPC in Persian

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

University of Tehran

Abstract

Recent research in the area of Second Language Acquisition has proposed that bilinguals and L2 learners show syntactic indeterminacy when syntactic properties interface with other cognitive domains. Most of the research in this area has focused on the pragmatic use of syntactic properties while the investigation of compliance with a grammatical rule at syntax-related interfaces has not received due attention. In this study, the compliance of 67 Persian native speakers and 52 Persian speaking L2 learners of English with the Overt Pronoun Constraint (OPC, henceforth) a proposed UG principle, at the syntax-pragmatics interface is investigated. Both groups of participants demonstrated violations of the OPC at the syntax-pragmatics interface. It is argued that the results of this study both confirm and complement Sorace and Filiaci’s (2006) Interface Hypothesis while showing that difficulties at interface contexts are more a result of interface complexities than cross-linguistic influence.

Keywords

References

Chomsky, N. (1981). Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.
Cook, V., & Newson, M. (2007). Chomsky’s universal grammar: An introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
Gurel, A. (2003). Is the overt pronoun constraint universal? Evidence from L2 Turkish. In J. Liceras et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th generative approaches to second language acquisition conference (pp. 130-139). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Hacohen, A., & Schaeffer, J. (2005). Subject realization in early Hebrew/English bilingual acquisition: The role of crosslinguistic influence. Unpublished manuscript, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Haegeman, L. (1991). Introduction to government and binding theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
Haznedar, B. (2010). Transfer at the syntax-pragmatics interface: Pronominal subjects in bilingual Turkish. Second Language Research, 26 (3), 355-378.
Hawkins, R. (2008). The nativist perspective on second language acquisition. Lingua, 118, 465-477.
Iverson, M., & Rothman, J. (2008). The syntax-semantics interface in L2 acquisition: Genericity and inflected infinitive complements in non-native Portuguese. In J. B. de Garavito & E. Valenzuela (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 10th Hispanic linguistics symposium (pp.­78-92). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Kanno, K. (1997). The acquisition of null and overt pronominals in Japanese by English speakers. Second Language Research, 13, 265-287.
Kanno, K. (1998). The stability of UG principles in second language acquisition. Linguistics, 36, 1125-1146.
Lapidus, N., & Otheguy, R. (2005). Contact induced change? Overt nonspecific ellos in Spanish in New York. In L. Sayahi & M. Westmoreland (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the second workshop on Hispanic sociolinguistics (pp. 67-75). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Lozano, C. (2008). The acquisition of syntax and discourse: Pronominals and word order in English and Greek learners of Spanish. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG.
Montalbetti, M. (1984). After binding: On the interpretation of pronouns. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, MIT-Massachusetts.
Montrul, S. (2004). Subject and object expression in Spanish Heritage speakers: A case of morphosyntactic convergence.  Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7, 125-142.
Ouhalla, J. (1999). Introducing transformational grammar: From principles and parameters to minimalism. London: Edward Arnold.
Paradis, J., & Navarro, S. (2003) Subject realization and cross-linguistic interference in the bilingual acquisition of Spanish and English: What is the role of input? Journal of Child Language, 30, 1-23.
Perez-Leroux, A. & Glass, W. (1999). Null anaphora in Spanish second language acquisition: Probabilistic versus generative approaches. Second Language Research, 15, 220-249.
Rothman, J. (2007, June). When syntax interfaces with pragmatics: The L2 distribution of subject pronouns. Paper presented at a peer-reviewed professional meeting on Linguistic Interfaces, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Rothman, J., & Iverson, M. (2007). The syntax of null subjects in L2 Spanish: Comparing two L2 populations under different exposure. Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics, 20, 185-214.
Serratrice, L., Sorace, A., & Paoli, S. (2004). Crosslinguistic influence at the syntax–pragmatics interface: Subjects and objects in English–Italian bilingual and monolingual acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7 (3), 183-205.
Sheen, R. (2000). A response to Kanno’s “The stability of UG principles in second-language acquisition: Evidence from Japanese”. Linguistics, 38 (4), 799-816.
Sorace, A. (2000). Syntactic optionality in non-native grammars. Second Language Research, 6, 93-102.
Sorace, A. (2003). Near-Nativeness. In C. Doughty & M. Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 130-153).  Oxford: Blackwell.
Sorace, A. (2004).  Native language attrition and developmental instability at the syntax-discourse interface: Data, interpretations and methods. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7, 143-145.
Sorace, A. (2005). Syntactic optionality at interfaces. In L. Cornips & K. Corrigan (Eds.), Syntax and variation: Reconciling the biological and the social (pp. 46-111). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Sorace, A. & Filiaci, F. (2006). Anaphora resolution in near-native speakers of Italian. Second Language Research, 22 (3), 339-368.
Tsimpli, I. & Sorace, A. (2006). Differentiating interfaces: L2 performance in syntax-semantics and syntax-discourse phenomena. Proceedings of the Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, 30 (2), 653-664.
Tsimpli, I., Sorace, A., Heycock, C., & Filiaci, F. (2004). First language attrition and syntactic subjects: A study of Greek and Italian near-native speakers of English. International Journal of Bilingualism, 8 (3), 257-277.
White, L. (2003). Second language acquisition and universal grammar. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics