L2 Learners and the Apparent Problem of Morphology: Evidence from L2 Japanese

Abstract

A long- standing observation within second language acquisition (SLA) research is that target language (TL) morphology presents problems for non-native speakers. Second-language (L2) classrooms, textbooks and teachers often devote a significant amount of time, attention and energy to instruction in these domains, and yet L2 learners often show evidence of protracted optionality with respect to L2 morphology (see e.g. Lardiere 2009; Slabakova 2008; White 2003 for discussion and evidence). There are at least two possible reasons for this: learners receive insufficient input or exposure to target language morphology, or they lack the ability to represent the features that govern morphology in their interlanguage grammars. Much of the research that has investigated the acquisition and representation of L2 morphology has focused on the second possibility, and has investigated the type of morphology found in European languages, such as gender (see e.g. Hawkins and Chan 1997; Lardiere 1998; Tsimpli and Dimitrakopoulou 2007; White et al. 2004). The study in this chapter investigates the acquisition of Japanese case morphology, which is a different type of acquisition problem than those explored in previous studies.