DEVELOPMENTAL SEQUENCES

- NEGATION
- QUESTIONS

By SUPRAPTO
2091040020
NEGATION
The acquisition of negative sentences by L2 learners follows
a path that looks nearly identical to the stages of L1
language acquisition.

The difference is that L2 learners from different language

backgrounds behave somewhat differently within those
stages.
There are 4 (Four) stages of
forming negative sentences.
Stage 1
“No or not “ is typically placed before the verb or the
element being negated.

Example.
-No bicycle.
-No have any sand.
-I no like it.
Stage 2
“No and not” may alternate with don’t.
Example.
-He don’t like it.
I- don’t can sing.
Stage 3
Negative element is placed after auxiliary verbs like are,
is, and can.
Example:
-You can not go there.
-He was not happy.
-She don’t like rice

Stage 4
Using auxiliary verbs with ‘not’ that agree with
tense, person, and number.

Example:
-It doesn’t work.
-We didn’t have supper.
-I didn’t went there.
QUESTIONS
The developmental sequence for questions by L2 learners is similar in most
respects to L1 language acquisition
The developmental sequence for questions, while very similar across learners,
also appears to be affected to some degrees by L1 influence.

There are 6 stages of forming questions (see examples on p. 79):

Developmental stages for question formation (adapted from Pienemann,
johnston, and Brindley 1988)
stage 1 – single words or sentence fragments
Example:
-A dog?
- Four children?

stage 2 – declarative word order (no fronting and no

inversion)
Example:
-The boys throw the shoes?
-It’s monster in the right corner?
Stage 3 – fronting (wh- fronting but no inversion; do-fronting)
Example:
-What the dog are playing?
-Is the picture has two planets on top?
Stage 4 – inversion in wh- + copula and ‘yes/no’ questions. Auxiliary other than
do in yes/no question.
Example:
-Where is the sun?
-Is there a fish in the water?

Stage 5 – inversion in wh- questions. Inverted wh-question with”do” and other

than “do”
Example:
-How do you say [proche]?
-what’s the boy doing?
Stage 6 – complex questions (tag questions; negative questions;
embedded questions)
Example:
-It’s better, isn’t it?
-Why can’t you go?
-Can you tell me what the date is today?
Let us identify which stage of second language question
development each question fits into?
1. “Does a dog is black and white?”
Stage 3
2. “The dog has a little spot black?”

Stage 2
3. “ Did the dog catch the shoe?
Stage 4

4. “How many spots does the dog have?”

Stage 5
5.” He is a doctor, isn’t he?”
Stage 6
6. “ Watch TV?”

Stage 1
THANK YOU