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CRISTOBAL.pdf
APUNTES

4º ADQUISICIÓN DEL INGLÉS COMO SEGUNDA LENGUA I

Grado en Estudios Ingleses

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

Universidad de Granada

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Cristobal
Adquisition of Subject Verb Inversion
- There is a general problem in all L1s.
- Languages compound by: words, syntax, phonetics and pragmatics/semantics.
- Syntax: two variables:
o Phological form: Sensory-Motor System.
o Logical form: Conceptual-Intelectual system.
- Concept imposes type of syntax.
- In Spanish, post-verbal subjects can alternate freely. In English, post-verbal subjects are restricted.
- Lexicon Syntax Interface (UNNACUSATIVE HYPOTHESIS): the SV inversion is only possible with
unnacusative verbs; those are verbs of existence, appearance, change of location…
- Syntax Discourse Interface (End-Focus): post-verbal subjects provide new information; they are
named “focus”, pre-verbal subject links information.

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- Syntax Phonology Interface (End Weight): heavy subjects are postponed; the complex elements
go to the end in order to reduce the processing burden.
- Locative inversion: XP VS – opening loco/temporal adverb.
- Existential inversion: There VS – for unnacusative verbs, movement verbs…
- Pronouns are not expected.
- The verb must be, the subject must be heavy and the information must be new.
- Syntactic encoding: possible structure XP VS / There VS. impossible structure: it insertion and 0
insertion.

Study: Lozano and Mendikoetxea

1. Learners who are users of English use lots of post-verbal structures.
2. Same result, different perspectives.
3. Aim: understand inversion.
4. Interface Hypothesis: when learners have to acquire a constrained word order, takes more time.
5. Hypothesis: Lexicon Syntax, Syntax Discourse, Syntax Phonology.
6. Learner corpora: 264 words, controlled corpus.
7. Unnacusativity – Unnergative verbs 100% SV / Unnacusative verbs 90% SV 10% VS.

ACQUISITION OF MORPHOLOGY
- Morphology is a field that studies the internal structures and the processes of word formation.
- Two morphological processes:
o Derivational Morphology: create lexemes out of existing lexemes (changes category).
o Inflectional morphology: do not create new lexemes but provide grammatical properties.

Brown:
• Children: Adam, Sarah and Eve, up to age 4; 0
• Method: 2 hours of speech were recorded monthly.
• Similar order (=route) of acquisition for all English-speaking children but different rate (=speed).
• Order of acquisition cannot be explained by frequency in the input (example: “the” is the most
frequent word in English, but it is learnt relatively late).

DULAY & BURT (1974)

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The method used was the Bilingual Syntax Measure (BSM).

The question portrays is “Why is he so fat?”,
The expected answer is “Because he eats a lot” (acquisition of -s).
Because he eat a lot” (no acquisition of -s)
CONCLUSION
• ‘the sequences of acquisition… for Spanish and Chinese children are virtually the same’
• But some slight variability could be observed, the profile of the degree of difficulty was similar for
both groups.

Bailey, Madden & Krashen (1974)

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Q#1: is there a “natural order” for the acquisition of morphemes in adult L2 acquisition?

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Q#2: is the adult L2 English order similar to the child L1 English order?
Q#3: what is the influence of your L1 in the acquisition of L2 English morphology?
Subjects: 2 groups of adults:
• 33 L1 Spanish – L2 English.
• 40 L1 (Greek, Italian, Persian, Turkish…) – L2 English.
Result #1:
If we take the results of both groups together, we find similarities in the developmental order between
child L1 English and adult L2 English acquisition.
Conclusion #1:
Order of acquisition in L2 English morphology is not completely different to order of acquisition in L1
English → similar route, different rate.

English L1 English L2
Progressive -ing Progressive -ing
Prep in, on Contracted copula
Plural -s Plural -s
Irregular past went Article a(n), the
Possessive -s Contracted AUX
Uncontracted copula am, are… Irregular past went
Article a(n), the 3rd person -s
Regular past -ed Possessive -s
3rd person -s

Result #2:
• Similar developmental order of both groups, despite different L1s.
• Similarities: relatively easy to acquire
o Progressive -ing
o Contractible copula (he’s hungry)
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o Plural -s
• Similarities: relatively difficult to acquire
o Possessive –‘s
o 3rd person singular -s
• Differences:
o Articles a, the
o Past irregular went
Conclusion #2:
L1 plays a small role in the acquisition of L2 English.

Pica (1983)
• Research question:
o Will learning context have an effect on the observed order?
• 3 groups:

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o Instructed (EFL classroom learners)
o Naturalistic (L2 English learners)
o Mixed context (a combination of the two)
Conclusions:
• The classroom appears to help learners to produce less errors with certain morphemes that are
taught (e.g., plural – s and 3rd singular -s) …
• … BUT the order is similar for all groups.
• ‘different conditions of exposure to English L2 do not significantly alter the accuracy order in which
grammatical morphemes are produced’.

Tono (2000)
• L1 Japanese-L2 English corpus (JEFLL corpus) at different proficiency levels.
o (all prof. levels collapsed in the chart below).
• Strong L1 influence in the production of certain morphemes (e.g., articles were particularly difficult
but possessive genitive –‘s was relatively easy)

Murakami (2013)
• L2 Eng with different L1s (Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, German and French).
• CLC: Cambridge Learner Corpus (written Cambridge ESOL exams at B2 levels).
• Spanish group follows the standard order reported above (-ing > plural > articles > past regular -
ed > 3rd singular -s > possessive –‘s), except for the last two morphemes (possessive and 3rd
singular) where the order is inverted.
• Japanese group: L1 effects → low scores for articles (cf. Tono 200)
• Murakami concludes that there is ‘clear L1influence’.
Murakami, A. (2013). Cross-linguistic influence on the accuracy order of L2 English grammatical
morphemes. In S. Granger, G. Gilquin, & F. Meunier (eds.), Twenty Years of Learner Corpus Research:
Looking back, Moving ahead (pp. 325-334). Louvain: Presses universitaires de Louvain.

Morpheme order in secondary schools (Andalusia):

Lozano & Diaz-Negrillo (2019)

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• Research questions:
o Will Spanish secondary school EFL learners follow the same order?
o In particular, which type of errors do they make? (not explored today)
• Learners
o COREFL corpus (Corpus of English as a Second Language)
o L1 Spanish – L2 English, classroom, A1 → B2 levels.
• Method:
o Story description “Frog where are you?”
o Written composition is analysed for morphemes.

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Results:
• ‘Easy’ morphemes: progressive -ing, plural -s.
• ‘Difficult’ morpheme: 3rd singular -s
• Past irregular > Past regular -ed
• Be copula > be auxiliary
But…

• Differences between beginners and intermediates.

• Only intermediates show the typical order.
• Conclusion: there is an order, but it varies according to proficiency level.

Goldschneider & DeKeyser (2001)

They conducted a meta-analysis of
- 11studie conducted during from 1973 to 1996
- From learners of different L1s
- Tested with different methods in naturalistic L2 environments
Goldschneider, J. M., & DeKeyser, R. M. (2001). Explaining the “natural order of L2 morpheme
acquisition” in English: A meta- analysis of multiple determinants. Language Learning, 51 (1), 1-50
Conclusion:
Natural Order Hypothesis
• A remarkably consistent sequence of acquisition:
progressive -ing Auxiliary be Regular past -ed
plural -s Articles irregular past 3rd singular -s
Copula be Possessive –‘s
This is so independently of:
➢ The learners’ mother tongue (L1), age and learning environment (classroom/naturalistic).
➢ The testing method and the measuring instrument.
➢ Similar sequencing in child L1 English.
➢ Learners follow their own built-in syllabus → NATURAL ORDER HYPOTHESIS.

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But…
➢ Some L1 differences exist for certain morphemes (e.g. articles).
➢ Different theoretical explanations: nativism (natural order), perceptual saliency, grammatical
factors, etc.
➢ For overviews: Hawkins & Lozano 2006; Known 2005; Goldschneider & DeKeyser 2001.

Conclusion – Fact about SLA

Natural Order Hypothesis (based on the Morpheme order studies):
“learners follow
Built-in syllabus
“Teaching must take into account the learners’ built-in syllabus, which may not correspond to the textbook
syllabus”.

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e.g., teach what you are required to teach, but do not expect to teach 3rd singular -s in early stages and
your learners to acquire it straight away.
Regular vs. irregular past in English

• Why do learners of English regularise irregular forms?

o “writed” (instead of “wrote”)
L1 English acquisition:

• By their late two’s normally developing children overregularize in some cases:

o My teacher holded the baby rabbits and we patted them.
o I finded Renee.
o The dinosaur was eaten by the alligator and the alligator goed kerplunk.
• Also observed in L2 acquisition.
U-shaped learning of irregular morphology

• U-shaped learning in L1 and L2 acquisition → dual mechanism

• Associative memory mechanisms vs. rule-based mechanisms.

ACQUISITION OF WORD-ORDER
Development of syntax:
Negation and questions
The question now is…

• Do L2 learners acquire syntax little by little in stages? Or do they acquire each syntactic structure
in “one go”?
• Do L1 children do the same?
Can you think of the way learners of English express negation?
What about interrogative sentences? Do learners get the rules right from the outset (Aux + S + V + O)?
What would you say the stages of development are?
L1 Acquisition of Negation L2. Acquisition of Negation
No(t) + sentence No(t) + sentence
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No(t) + V No(t) + V
AUX + not + V: Don’t, can’t (analysed: tense, Aren’t, isn’t, can’t
person) Don’t + V (unanalysed)
AUX + not + V: doesn’t, didn’t, won’t, isn’t Don’t, doesn’t, didn’t. (analysed)

L1 Acquisition of Questions L2 Acquisition of Questions

- Intonation, sentence fragments.
- No inversion with yes-no questions.
- Fronting: wh-word at the beginning.
- Fronting: more wh- at the beginning.
- Fronting: verb at the beginning, no
inversion.
- Inversion in main clause.
- Inversion in subordinate clause
- Intonation with sentence fragments.
- Intonation with declaratives, no inversion.
- Fronting: wh- fronting, no inversion.
- Fronting: verb (to do, to be) at the
beginning, no inversion.
- Inversion in main clause.
- Inversion in subordinate clause.
- No inversion in subordinate clauses.
- Tag questions.

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CONCLUSION:
• Similar developmental stages despite their L1s, route is the same but rate differs.
• Developmental stages: learner goes gradually through developmental stages. Teaching has to
focus on the last stage but they have to consider the stages. It is impossible to produce stage 4
being in stage 1.
• German Word Order: all learners follow the same sequence, they move through the same route
just differing the rates. The learner can be in more than one stage. They will move stage when
they’re cognitively ready.
A2 LEVEL, age 15.
1. Can you give me a ice cream?
2. You buyed the bag?
3. You play with me?
4. What name is the dog?
5. I can get down to the park?
C1 LEVEL, age 20.
1. Can you give me some ice cream, please?
2. Did you go out last night?
3. Do you want to play me with this kit?
4. What’s the name of your dog?
5. Can someone push me?

CONCLUSION
FACT ABOUT SLA
Developmental stages: “In their L2 acquisition of grammar,
learners go gradually through series of developmental
stages, similarly to L1 acquisition”.
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Acquisition-informed teaching and assessment:

“Teaching must necessarily focus on the last stage (=correct grammar),
but teachers may consider which developmental stages their learners are in.”
“Assessment should consider the developmental stage as learners cannot
produce stage 4 structures when they are in stage 1.”

LT implications

CONCLUSION

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WORD ORDER IN NATIVE GERMAN
So, do we have stages in the acquisition of other L2s, e.g. in L2 German?
VERB SECOND:

• S – V – Adv – O
Johan kaufte heute ein Buch.
‘Johan bought today a book’.
• ADV – V – S – O: Inversion with initial adverb.
Heute kaufte Johan ein Buch.
‘Today bought John a book’.
VERB FINAL: Verb separation with auxiliaries.
Johan hat heute ein Buch gekauft.
‘Johan had today a book bought’.
ALL VERBS FINAL: Subordinate clause.
Sie weisst, das [Johan heute ein Buch gekauft hat]
‘She said that [John today a book bought had]’
QUESTION: How do learners of German acquire these complex rules?
L2 ACQUISITION OF GERMAN WORD ORDER
There was a project in Germany called ZISA involving L1 Spanish, Italian, Portugal as L2 German.
The results were: emergence of word order in stages
Stage 0: one word, formulas:
• Kinder
Stage 1: SVO strategy:
• Die Kinder spielen mit ball.
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• The chidren play with the ball.

Stage 2: Adverb preposing (but no verb second) strategy:
• Da Kinder spielen. No articles yet, it would be ‘die’
• There children play.
Stage 3: Verb separation strategy:
• Alle Kinder muss die Pause machen.
• All children must the pause make.

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Stage 4: Inversion with initial adverb strategy:
• Dann hat sie, wieder die Knoch gebrinat.
• Then has she again the bone brought.
Stage 5: Verb-final in subordinate strategy:
• Er sagte das ern ach Hause kommt.
• He said that he to house comes.
CONCLUSION: (Pienemann et al)
- This is “probably one of the most robust empirical findings in SLA research, because the same
sequence has been found with a considerable number of further informants in studies carried out
independently of each other.” (page 22.2)
- All learners move through the same route (=stages), though their rate (=speed) may vary.
- But, at a given time, learners may be more than one stage.
- Learners move to the next stage when they are cognitive ready (=when they have overcome
certain cognitive limitations). MOST IMPORTANT THING.

PIENEMANN (1988) → Teachability Hypothesis

RESEARCH QUESTION

• Does teaching permit ‘skipping’ a stage in the natural sequence of delevopment of German word
order?
We move on stages in our own way, in our own pace.
SUBJECTS
• L1 English – L2 German (University students in Australia)
• They all were at the stage 2, but two groups:
o Group 1 was taught stage 3.
o Group 12 was taught stage 4.
RESULTS (see graph)
• Group 1: moved to stage 3. S2 → S3 (taught)
• Group 2: either remained in stage 2 or moved to stage 3. S2 → S3 S4 (taught)
IMPLICATIONS FOR LT
• Learners cannot be taught what they are not developmentally ready to learn → developmentally
ready to learn.
• Teach what is teachable.
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“Teaching does not permit ‘s kipping’ stages but can speed up the acquisition process”.
• So… be patient, wait for your learners to be ready to acquire.

L2 syntax: 2 types of competence:

Formulaic vs. rule-based
The question now is… when it comes to syntax, learners produce fully developed and grammatical
structures (“What’s your name? How old are you? Where do you live?”, etc).
Does it mean that they have really acquired the rules for such structures?
Formulaic language: Prefabricated “chunks”
L2 learners sometimes appear to have learned a construction… but have they? Hakuta (1974) L1
Japanese – L2 English biling child in USA, early stages:
• First month in USA:

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o Do you know?
o How do you do it?
o Do you have coffee?
o Do you want this one?
• Second month in USA:
o What do you doing, this boy? (what is this boy doing?)
o What do you do it, this Froggie? What is this Froggie doing=?)
o What do you doing? (What are you doing?)
o What do you drinking, her? (What is she drinking?)
From formulas to rules:
Ex 1: Sequence of syntactic acquisition: chunks → Ex 2: U-sahped learning: feet → foots → feet
errors → correct
ROTE-LEARNT COMPETENCE (stages 1, 2) (Gráfica)
“CHUNKS”:
• What’s your name?
• Where do you live?
• Do you like this? IMPLICATION FOR ELT:
FRONTING:
Wh- fronting, no inversion: Instruction should ensure the development of
• Where the little children are? both role-learnt competence and rule-based
• What the dog are playing? competence.
Verb at the beginning, no inversion:
• Does in this picture there is four
astronauts?
RULE-BASED COMPETENCE (stages 3, 4):
Inversion in main clause:
• Where is the sun?
• Is there a fish in the water?
Inversion in subordinate clause:
• Can you tell me what is the date today?
No inversion is subordinate:
• Can you tell me what the date is today?

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CONCLUSION: SLA & LT

- Clear and solid findings from SLA which could be implemented in LT.
- Learners follow certain ‘orders’ and progress’ through their own scheduled stages… BUT teaching
grammar is about teaching the final (=grammatical) stage because you cannot teach stage 1 or
stage 2, since there are ungrammatical.
- Often: Teaching ≠ Acquisition.
- Communication ‘gap’ between SLA & TL:
o Many reasonS for this (discussion time).
- Basic recommendation:
o The notion of “teaching” should imply awareness of the “learning” of what is being taught.
o So, if you teach X, do not assume that X must be acquired/learnt immediately. Bear this in
mind when assessing.
o Construct your own SLA-informed LT.

EXERCISE

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STUDENT A

1. Do you need something? Stage 3.

2. Why did you bring this bomb? Stage 3.
3. Where do I put the money, boss? Stage 3.
4. Hey, short stuff, what time is it? Stage 3.
5. Why are you crying little boy? Stage 3.
6. Hey mom” it looks like your ugly skirt!
7. What did you find on the terrorist, agent 007? Stage 3.
8. Can I have a coke please? Stage 3.
9. Do you (have) a big uncomfortable car, Mrs? stage 3.
10. Where’s gate number 5? Stage 3.
11. Dad, are you sure you can bring his alone? Stage 4 (subordinate clause)

STUDENT B

1. Everything is okay? Stage 1 (declarative + intonation)

2. It’s normal to have guns in your countries? Stage 1.
3. What’s the mission for today boss? Stage 3.
4. When do you go to Quebec City? Stage 3.
5. Are you loss little baby? Stage 3.
6. It’s that your socks? Stage 1 (chunking, taken from French)
7. It’s you on this passports? Stage 1.
8. It’s that good? Stage 1.
9. It’s that good? Stage 1.
10. Do you pay cash or on the credit card? Stage 3.
11. Where’s the gate 5? Stage 3.
12. Do you pass a go(od) time at the logan airport? Stage 3.

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Theoretical departure point: Interfaces

We need 4 basic ingredients in Language:

• Words (lexicon)
• How to combine words (syntax)
• How to say those words (phonetics, phonology)
• What those word (combinations) mean (semantic, pragmatics)
LEXICON

COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEM
Syntax
Phonological form (PF) Logical Form (LF)

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Sensory-Motor Conceptual-Intentional
(SM) systems (CI) systems
PHONOLOGY SEMANTICS, PRAGMATICS
Word Order in native Spanish: Apparently “free”
Postverbal subjects can (apparently) alternate “freely” with all verb classes – BUT THERE ARE
CONSTRAINTS (next slide).
a. Una mujer ha telefoneado una mujer al presidente. (transitive)
b. Una mujer ha gritado una mujer. (unergative)
c. Una mujer ha llegado una mujer. (unaccusative)

Word Order in Spanish vs. Order: RULES

1. Lexicon-syntax interface: Unaccusative Hypothesis
a. Qué ha ocurrido?
b. Una mujer ha llegado / Ha llegado una mujer → Unaccusatives: VS
Una mujer ha gritado / Ha gritado una mujer → Unergatives: SV
2. Syntax-discourse interface: Postverbal subjects in Spanish are interpreted as focus (=new info)
irrespective of the verb
a. Quién ha llegado? → Focused subject: VS
b. Una mujer ha llegado / Ha llegado una mujer → Focused subject: VS
3. Syntax-Phonological Form (PF) interface: Heavy subjects show a tendency to be postponed → a
universal language processing mechanism: placing complex elements at the end of a sentence
reduces the processing burden:
Una mujer que llevaba un vestido de lentejuelas rojas gritó/llegó → Doesn’t sound too well.
Gritó/llegó una mujer que llevaba un vestido de lentejuelas rojas → Heavy subject: VS

Word order in native English

➔ Fixed SV(O) order
VS: restricted use of postverbal subjects with a subset of unaccusatives:

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XP V S: ‘Locative’ inversion
(Inversion structures with an opening loco/temporal adverbial)
a. [On one long wall] hung a row of Van Goghs.
b. [Then] came the turning point of the match.
c. [Within the general waste type shown in these figures] exists a wide variation.
[Biber et al. 1999: 912-3]

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There V S: Existential constructions
a. Somewhere deep inside [there] arose a desperate hope that he would embrace her.
b. In all such relations [there] exist a set of mutual obligations in the instrumental and economic
fields.
c. [There] came a roar of pure delight.
[Biber et al. 1999: 945]

Previous L2 findings
• Zobl (2009), Oshita (2001, 2004), Rutherford (2009), etc.
• L1 Spanish/Italian/Arabic/Japanese – L2 English:
o *…it arrived the day of his departure → L1 Spanish.
o *And then at last comes the great day → L1 Spanish.
o *In every country exist criminals → L1 Spanish.
o *…it happened a tragic event →L1 Italian.
o *…after a few minutes arrive the girlfriend with his family too → L1 Arabic.
o *Sometimes comes a good regular wave → L1 Japanese.
▪ XP – V – S only with one type of INTRASITIVE VERBS: only with unaccusatives, never
with unergatives → Reason → Unaccusative Hypothesis.
• UNACCUSATIVES (change of location, existence, appearance): arrive,
happen, exist, come, appear, live…
• UNERGATIVES: cry, speak, sing, walk…
RESEARCH QUESTIONS (RQs)
➔ RQ1: What are the conditions governing the production of VS structures in L2 English by L1 Spanish
learners?
➔ RQ2: Do learners of English (L1 Spanish) produce inverted subjects (VS) under the same conditions
as English natives do, regardless of problems to do with syntactic encoding (grammaticality)?

Aim of corpus study

Aim (among others):
• To understand inversion in L2 English → postverbal subjects in intransitive XP – V – S structures.
• To test the interface Hypothesis (Sorace 2011)
o Failure to acquire a fully native-like L2 grammar can be attributed to difficulties experienced by L2
learners at integrating material at the syntax-disc interface.

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Hypotheses
3 interface conditions constrain the appearance of subjects in postverbal position, both in native
English and in L2 English.
H1 (UNACCUSATIVITY): Lexicon-syntax interface:
Postverbal subjects appear with unaccusatives only (never with unergatives)
➔ (XP) V Snp
o It will not exist a machine or something able to imitate the human imagination.
o Syntactic encoding of XP V S
▪ There-insertion.
▪ PP-locative inversion.
➔ Snp V
o Violence does exist.

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H2 (END WEIGHT): Syntax-Phonology interface:
Postverbal subjects are phonologically heavy (but preverbal subjects are light)
➔ SV: typically LIGHT (Pronoun, D + N)
➔ VS: typically HEAVY (postmodification)
➔ (XP) Vunac Sheavy: It will not exist a machine or something able to imitate the human imagination
o Heavy (long): 81% L1 Spa-L2 Eng // 81% Eng natives.
➔ Slight Vunac: Violence does exist.
o Light (short): 67% L1 Spa-L2 Eng // 68% Eng natives
H3 (END FOCUS): Syntax-Discourse interface:
Postverbal subjects are focus (but preverbal subjects are topic)

Learner corpora
• L1 Spa – L2 Eng (2 corpora: ICLE + WriCLE)
• Engl natives (LOCNESS: Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays)

Syntactic encoding of XP V S
STRUCTURALLY POSSIBLE:
• There-insertion
o Natives: There exists a demand for this work to be done…
o Learners: There exist positive means of earning money.
• PP locative inversion
o Natives: [no production in the corpus]
o Learners: In the main plot appear the main characters: Volpone and Mosca.
STRUCTURALLY IMPOSIBLE:
• *it insertion
o Learners: *in the name of religion it had occurred some important events.
• *Ø insertion
o Learners: … *because exist the science technology and the industrialisation.

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*it – V – S >> PPLOC – V – S > there – V – S > Ø – V – S

41 % 16% 10% 9%

Corpus findings: summary

SV/VS constrained at 3 interfaces:
V S 1. Lexicon-syntax
Unacc Focus Heavy 2. Syntax-discourse
3. Syntax-phonology

S V - L2ers obey constraints at 3 interfaces as Eng natives.

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
Topic Light Unacc - But they show deficit w/ syntactic encoding of XP V S

Follow-up study: Experiment

• Reason for the experiment:
o To (dis)confirm the corpus data experimentally.
• Research questions:
o Is inversion (XP – V – S) preferred with unaccusatives more than with unergatives?
o Which preverbal element (XP) do L2ers prefer with unaccusatives?
▪ *Ø – V – S: *exist the science technology and the industrialisation.
▪ *it – V – S: it had occurred some important events.
▪ There – V – S: There exist positive means of earning money.
▪ PP – V – S: In the main plot appear the main characters: Volpone and Mosca.
Unaccusatives
*it EXIST:
Nowadays, if you work as a policeman in Spain, you can easily get into difficult situations. But… I think
that it exist many more risky and dangerous jobs.
there APPEAR:
Spain was not a democratic country for many years, but when democracy arrived… there appeared a
great variety of new social problems.
*Ø BEGIN:
Some historians believe that 1940 is a very important year… because began a terrible war called the
“Second World War”.
PPloc COME:

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The house was very dirty. All the windows were closed, the rooms were dark… and from the kitchen came
a horrible smell of burning oil.
RESEARCH METHOD

• Reseach method: acceptability test (online)

• XP – V – S sentences, 50% with unaccusatives, 50% with unergatives.
• 4 top inversion unaccusatives extracted from the corpus:
o Exist, appear, begin, come
• 4 high frequency unergatives extracted from the corpus:
o Talk, work, play, speak
• 4 preverbal elements (XP) extracted from the corpus:
o *it, *Ø, there, PP
• Crucially, these sentences were structurally similar to those produced by L2ers in the corpus data:
we gave L2ers “their own poison” → *it,*Ø, there, PP + Vunac/unerg NPsubject/focus&heavy

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
Unergatives
*it TALK:
Yesterday we were at school doing an exam. The teacher told us to be silent… but it talked a boy who
complained about the exam questions.
RESULTS (experiment): inversion:
• Experimental results converge with those obtained in corpus study: XP – V – S is preferred with
unac > unerg at all prof levels.
• But only C2 group shows native-like behaviour.
Preverbal XP:
Structurally possible there/PP vs. Structurally imposible *it/*Zero

• All unac VS structures are initially treated similarly, independently of their grammaticality.
Final comparison:
Experimental vs. Corpus evidence: XP – V – S

• Exper: PP loc > there > *zero >*it

• Corpus: *it > PP loc > there > *zero

Conclusion
• L2 learners are sensitive to how the interfaces constrain postverbal subjects:
o Lexicon-Syntax: they produce VS only with unaccusatives.
o Syntax-Phonology: the subject in VS is heavy.
o Syntax-Discourse: the subject in VS is focus.
• BUT L2ers have problems encoding the preverbal element:
o Overuse of *it – V – S.
o Some use of *Ø – V – S.
o At very advanced levels, L2 learners can attain native-like knowledge by…
▪ Rejecting ungrammatical *it – V – S and *Ø – V – S.
▪ Accepting grammatical there – V – S and PPloc – V – S.

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