Published: 2023-08-18

Acquisition of Structures at Syntax-Discourse Interface: Post-Verbal Subjects in L2 English

Liljana Mitkovska Logo ORCID , Eleni Bužarovska Logo ORCID , Natasha Stojanovska-Ilievska Logo ORCID

Abstract

The present study explores the acceptability of postverbal subjects by intermediate and advanced L2 English learners with L1 Macedonian, a pro-drop Slavic language with rich verbal morphology. The two languages differ regarding the distribution of subject-verb inversion (SVI): in Macedonian, it is a default pattern in thetic sentences, but English severely restricts SVI to specific contexts. To test the hypothesis that Macedonian learners encounter difficulties in acquisition of English SVI because of crosslinguistic influence, a grammaticality judgement and correction task was administered to two groups of Macedonian learners of
English and a control group of English native speakers. The results revealed that L2 learners find English VS sentences and VS + it-insertion examples more acceptable than the native speakers, but the performance of the advanced group is closer to the native speakers than to the intermediate learners. Both non-native groups accept more readily inappropriate English sentences that conform to typical L1 structures.

Download files

Citation rules

Mitkovska, L., Bužarovska, E., & Stojanovska-Ilievska, N. (2023). Acquisition of Structures at Syntax-Discourse Interface: Post-Verbal Subjects in L2 English. Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition, 9(2), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.31261/TAPSLA.13311

Cited by / Share

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2023)
Published: 2023-08-28


ISSN: 2450-5455
eISSN: 2451-2125
Ikona DOI 10.31261/tapsla

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

This website uses cookies for proper operation, in order to use the portal fully you must accept cookies.