L1-L2 convergence in clausal packaging in Japanese and English

Summary, in English

This study investigates L1-L2 convergence among bilinguals at an intermediate (CEFR-B2) level of L2 proficiency, focusing on the clausal packaging of Manner and Path of motion. Previous research has shown that Japanese speakers use multi-clause and English speakers single-clause constructions (Allen et al., 2003; Kita & Özyürek, 2003). We compared descriptions of motion from monolingual English and Japanese speakers to L1 and L2 descriptions from Japanese speakers of English as a second (ESL) and foreign (EFL) language. Contrary to previous research, results showed no significant difference between the monolinguals, who predominately used single-clause constructions packaging Manner and Path. However, bilinguals used significantly more multi-clause constructions in both their L1 and L2, with no effects of residence in the L2 community. Following Pavlenko (2011a), findings are interpreted as evidence for L1-L2 convergence. We discuss potential bidirectional cross-linguistic influences underpinning the L1-L2 convergence and implications for the restructuring of bilingual grammars.

• Författare: Amanda Brown; Marianne Gullberg
• Avdelning/ar: Allmän språkvetenskap; Language Acquisition; Humanistlaboratoriet; eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration
• Publiceringsår: 2013
• Språk: Engelska
• Sidor: 477-494
• Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie: Bilingualism: Language and Cognition
• Volym: 16
• Issue: 3
• Fulltext: - 412 kB; Download statistics
• Länkar: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1366728912000491
• Dokumenttyp: Artikel i tidskrift
• Förlag: Cambridge University Press
• Ämne: General Language Studies and Linguistics
• Nyckelord: bilingualism; convergence; motion events; clause; Japanese; English
• Status: Published
• Projekt: Thinking in Time: Cognition, Communication and Learning
• Forskningsgrupp: Language Acquisition
• ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt: ISSN: 1366-7289