Chapter 4. Extending PT to split ergative marking and differential object marking

Abstract

This chapter proposes a developmental sequence for the L2 acquisition of two linguistic phenomena in Hindi, namely split ergativity and differential object marking. The proposal builds on the universal key mechanisms of Processability Theory, i.e., the transfer of grammatical information between constituents (i.e., so-called ‘feature unification’) and the linking of arguments and constituents to grammatical functions (so-called ‘a-to-f mappings’ or ‘c-to-f mappings’), which have been successful in explaining the acquisition of case markers cross-linguistically, i.e., in L2 German, L2 Russian, and L2 Serbian. In addition, the proposal will build on newer developments within PT, which give greater weight to semantic considerations, as evident from a study on differential object marking in L2 Spanish. The present chapter will argue for a development that starts with emerging mappings between prototypical semantic characteristics of thematic roles and case marking, and that evolves to eventual associations of these mappings with grammatical functions.