Hong Gang Jin

Abstract

Previous investigations of the role of syntactic typology in L2 acquisition have led to two controversial, contradictory findings. One set of studies has claimed that the process of L2 acquisition is characterized by an early universal topic‐comment stage, the other set has found that L2 learners transfer topic‐prominent (TP) features from an L1 to an L2 at an early stage. The present study investigated whether TP is a universal developmental stage or a transferable typology by analyzing the behavior of adult native speakers of a subject‐prominent (SP) language learning a TP language. A total of 46 native speakers of English learning Chinese as a second language participated in the study. Three production tasks were used to measure learners' overall performance on Chinese topic structures such as null elements, specificity marking, and double nominative constructions. This study resulted in three important findings. First, the study did not find a universal TP stage. Rather, English L2 learners displayed a process of systematically transferring English SP features to Chinese before their proficiency reached a level at which concept of topic emerged. Second, learners' TP/SP typological interaction and realization of Chinese as a TP language revealed a process of typological transfer. Third, the study also established that not only TP but also SP are transferable typologies.