Telicity in the second language / Roumyana Slabakova.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Slabakova, Roumyana.

Series:

Language acquisition & language disorders ; v. 26.

Language acquisition & language disorders ; v. 26

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Second language acquisition.

Grammar, Comparative and general--Aspect.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (248 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia, PA : John Benjamins Pub. Co., c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The author combines a syntax-theoretical treatment of telicity marking and an empirical study of the second language acquisition of English telicity marking by native speakers of Bulgarian, a Slavic language. It is argued that Vendler's lexical classes of verbs (states, activities, accomplishments and achievements) can be represented in four phrase structure templates, where lexical properties of the verb and of the object compositionally determine telicity. A parameterized distinction between English and Slavic aspect is proposed. The book addresses two major acquisition issues: (1) what is the nature of the initial hypothesis Bulgarian learners of English entertain regarding telicity marking (i.e., is there native language transfer)? (2) are adult learners capable of resetting the telicity marking parameter? Both L1 transfer and parameter resetting are experimentally supported. In addition, the study investigates the L2 acquisition of a cluster of complex predicate constructions, purportedly related to the telicity parameter in the grammatical competence and in child language acquisition of English.

Contents:

Telicity in the Second Language

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Dedication

Table of contents

Acknowledgements

Aspect and theories of second language acquisition

Semantic and syntactic treatments of telicity

English and Slavic telicity: A syntactic account

First and second language acquisition of aspect

An experimental study of the L2 acquisition of telicity

Discussion, implications, and conclusion

Appendix

References

Index

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LANGUAGE DISORDERS (LALD).

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-229) and index.

ISBN:

9786612162510

9781282162518

1282162519

9789027298201

9027298203

OCLC:

50648490