Abstract
La sílaba de tono alto (HTS por sus siglas en inglés), un elemento en forma de vocal que aparece entre la frase nominal sujeto y la frase verbal en oraciones declarativas, es sin duda un elemento muy controvertido de la gramática del yoruba, dado que los estudiosos de la lengua han expresado opiniones contradictorias acerca de su significado y función precisos. Este estudio examina la HTS desde el punto de vista de la adquisición de segunda lengua, con datos de producción oral recolectados de tres hablantes nativos de igbo (dos adultos y un niño), aprendices de yoruba como segunda lengua. Se descubrió que el elemento tiene la forma invariable o con tono alto (ó ) y que se coloca usualmente antes de los verbos, al parecer indicando tiempo y aspecto en su interlengua. El estudio concluye que, aunque la función sintáctica precisa de la HTS permanece en discusión, la evidencia recolectada a partir de hablantes nativos de igbo que adquieren el yoruba como segunda lengua apoya la hipótesis de que el elemento funciona como un marcador de tiempo y aspecto que indica acciones pasadas y presentes, como propone Awóbùlúyì (1992). Original recibido: 2015/02/27Dictamen enviado al autor: 2015/07/03Aceptado: 2015/07/08
Highlights
Language acquisition is a branch of psycholinguistics that has become increasingly relevant in the field of linguistics, as it has helped explain some knotty issues, like what happens to learners in the course of acquiring a language –either first or second, and the underlying competence displayed by second language (L2) learners in the process of L2 acquisition, which is usually triggered by the residual knowledge of the first language (Long 2003; Slabakova 2009)
The result of this study concerns the form and function assigned to the established v-shaped element (HTS) which occurs between the subject noun phrase (NP) and the verb in declarative sentences in Yorùbá in obligatory contexts,4 as supplied by the Ìgbò subjects
It is surprising that the Ìgbò subjects used the HTS in positions in which speakers of the above Yorùbá dialects normally use them, first, because they do not speak any of these dialects, and even more so, because the Ibadan dialect which they speak does not employ that form of the HTS in the underlying positions identified above
Summary
Language acquisition is a branch of psycholinguistics that has become increasingly relevant in the field of linguistics, as it has helped explain some knotty issues, like what happens to learners in the course of acquiring a language –either first or second, and the underlying competence displayed by second language (L2) learners in the process of L2 acquisition, which is usually triggered by the residual knowledge of the first language (Long 2003; Slabakova 2009) It is relevant in explaining the mental phenomenon involved in the preference of a particular lexical item over another in certain contexts by learners, and why learners
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