D-linked and non-d-linked wh-questions in L2 French and L3 English

Abstract

Abstract This study considers L2 French and L3 English ultimate attainment among L1 Moroccan Arabic adult learners. It contrasts the acquisition of two types of wh-questions: discourse-linked and non-discourse-linked questions in root and embedded forms. The results of two acceptability judgment tasks indicate that the advanced learners in L2 French and L3 English are nativelike on d-linked wh-questions but less accurate on non-discourse-linked interrogatives. They successfully unlearn resumption as an L1 strategy to form discourse-linked questions. Therefore, contra the prediction of the Interface Hypothesis, discourse-linking is acquirable though it is a property of the syntax-discourse interface. It does not pose more learning difficulty than quantification (formal wh-feature) of narrow syntax. The study indicates that embedding and thereby the processing cognitive load are the deterministic variables, not the language domain of constructions.