Development of Relative Clause Constructions in English L2

Yumiko Yamaguchi ,Shoichiro Kawaguchi

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.5n.1p.83

Abstract

This study explores how relative clause (RC) constructions develop in the acquisition of English as a second language (L2). The acquisition of RC constructions has been the focus of much research in the field of language acquisition, but a majority of L2 studies in this area is experimental based on the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH) (Keenan & Comrie, 1977). In this study, the spontaneous speech production by a Japanese primary school child, learning English in a naturalistic environment, was audio-recorded regularly over two years, and the development of RC constructions was compared with the acquisition of other English morphological and syntactic structures as represented within Processability Theory (PT) (Pienemann, 1998; Pienemann, Di Biase, & Kawaguchi, 2005; Pienemann & Kesler, 2011). Although PT predicts that subordinate clauses are acquired at the highest stage in processability hierarchy, the results in this longitudinal study show that some types of RC constructions emerge at earlier stages in L2 English acquisition. The results also show that RC constructions in the Japanese child’s English L2 develop in the similar way to those reported in L1 studies (e.g., Diessel, 2004).

Highlights

In the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH), positions at the left end of the scale are easier to relativize than positions on the right
As for the relationship between the general English L2 development and the acquisition of relative clause (RC) constructions, the results show that infinitival and participial RC constructions emerged at early stages in the child’s English L2 acquisition, and more complex RCs emerged at Time 8, that is, around the time when the child acquired S-procedure for morphology and non-canonical alignment in question formation for syntax
This suggests that L2 learners start producing complex syntactic structures with RCs when they become able to achieve the information exchange between two different phrases, that is, noun phrases and verb phrases, and sentence formation involved with non-canonical alignment, as predicted in Processability Theory (PT)

Summary

Introduction

In the NPAH, positions at the left end of the scale are easier to relativize than positions on the right. A language that can relativize on indirect objects will be able to relativize on subject and object NPs, but possibly not on genitive NPs. The relativization types located to the left are considered to be less marked, and those to the right are regarded as more marked. PT predicts a universal hierarchy of processing procedures, which are required for producing linguistic structures, based on Levelt’s (1989) speech production model and Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) (e.g., Bresnan, 2001; Dalrymple, 2001). According to PT, learners, at any stage of development, are able to produce only those linguistic structures which the current stage of their language processors can handle.

Methods

Results

Conclusion