Feature Matching Does Not Equal Convergence: Acquisition of L2 French Accusative Pronouns by L1 Spanish Speakers
Our study aims to determine whether formal similarity between two languages (operationalized via the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis) allows adult L2 learners of French (Spanish native speakers; NSs) to straightforwardly acquire third-person singular accusative clitics in their L2. Additionally, we ex...
Main Authors: | , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-08-01
|
Series: | Languages |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/6/3/144 |
id |
doaj-e67eb0f6d23e4cc8a7c4ba0fbc37065d |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-e67eb0f6d23e4cc8a7c4ba0fbc37065d2021-09-26T00:33:48ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2021-08-01614414410.3390/languages6030144Feature Matching Does Not Equal Convergence: Acquisition of L2 French Accusative Pronouns by L1 Spanish SpeakersElena Shimanskaya0Tania Leal1Department of World Languages and Literatures, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USADepartment of World Languages and Literatures, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USAOur study aims to determine whether formal similarity between two languages (operationalized via the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis) allows adult L2 learners of French (Spanish native speakers; NSs) to straightforwardly acquire third-person singular accusative clitics in their L2. Additionally, we examined the role of surface similarity, since French and Spanish overlap and diverge in several ways. In terms of formal similarity, third-person accusative clitic pronouns in Spanish are almost perfect analogues of their French counterparts. In terms of surface similarity, however, while the feminine accusative pronouns are identical (“la” [la]), the masculine ones differ in Spanish (“lo” [lo]) and French (“le” [lǝ]). Participants included French NSs (<i>n</i> = 26) and Spanish-speaking L2 French learners (<i>n</i> = 36). Results from an offline forced-choice picture selection task and an online self-paced reading task did not support the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis because learners showed considerable difficulty with the interpretation and processing of these pronouns, revealing that, unlike French NSs, their interpretations and processing are guided by the feature [±Human] and, to a lesser degree, by gender, which might be due to the surface-level similarity between feminine accusative clitic pronouns in both languages.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/6/3/144L2 acquisitionclitic pronounsfeature reassemblyFrenchSpanishaccusative |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Elena Shimanskaya Tania Leal |
spellingShingle |
Elena Shimanskaya Tania Leal Feature Matching Does Not Equal Convergence: Acquisition of L2 French Accusative Pronouns by L1 Spanish Speakers Languages L2 acquisition clitic pronouns feature reassembly French Spanish accusative |
author_facet |
Elena Shimanskaya Tania Leal |
author_sort |
Elena Shimanskaya |
title |
Feature Matching Does Not Equal Convergence: Acquisition of L2 French Accusative Pronouns by L1 Spanish Speakers |
title_short |
Feature Matching Does Not Equal Convergence: Acquisition of L2 French Accusative Pronouns by L1 Spanish Speakers |
title_full |
Feature Matching Does Not Equal Convergence: Acquisition of L2 French Accusative Pronouns by L1 Spanish Speakers |
title_fullStr |
Feature Matching Does Not Equal Convergence: Acquisition of L2 French Accusative Pronouns by L1 Spanish Speakers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Feature Matching Does Not Equal Convergence: Acquisition of L2 French Accusative Pronouns by L1 Spanish Speakers |
title_sort |
feature matching does not equal convergence: acquisition of l2 french accusative pronouns by l1 spanish speakers |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Languages |
issn |
2226-471X |
publishDate |
2021-08-01 |
description |
Our study aims to determine whether formal similarity between two languages (operationalized via the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis) allows adult L2 learners of French (Spanish native speakers; NSs) to straightforwardly acquire third-person singular accusative clitics in their L2. Additionally, we examined the role of surface similarity, since French and Spanish overlap and diverge in several ways. In terms of formal similarity, third-person accusative clitic pronouns in Spanish are almost perfect analogues of their French counterparts. In terms of surface similarity, however, while the feminine accusative pronouns are identical (“la” [la]), the masculine ones differ in Spanish (“lo” [lo]) and French (“le” [lǝ]). Participants included French NSs (<i>n</i> = 26) and Spanish-speaking L2 French learners (<i>n</i> = 36). Results from an offline forced-choice picture selection task and an online self-paced reading task did not support the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis because learners showed considerable difficulty with the interpretation and processing of these pronouns, revealing that, unlike French NSs, their interpretations and processing are guided by the feature [±Human] and, to a lesser degree, by gender, which might be due to the surface-level similarity between feminine accusative clitic pronouns in both languages. |
topic |
L2 acquisition clitic pronouns feature reassembly French Spanish accusative |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/6/3/144 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT elenashimanskaya featurematchingdoesnotequalconvergenceacquisitionofl2frenchaccusativepronounsbyl1spanishspeakers AT tanialeal featurematchingdoesnotequalconvergenceacquisitionofl2frenchaccusativepronounsbyl1spanishspeakers |
_version_ |
1717365834665426944 |