Abstract
Abstract The study examines the role played by English and Romance languages (L2s) when learning grammatical aspect in Italian as additional language (Ln). Swedish university students of Italian (n = 34), divided according to knowledge of a Romance L2 and English aspectual knowledge, completed an interpretation task of aspectual contrast in Italian. Eight native speakers served as a control group. The findings showed that knowledge of a Romance language as L2 and high English aspectual knowledge exerted a differential influence on learning aspect in Italian. This outcome is discussed in the light of a consistent form-meaning relationship between the L2s and Italian. Yet, with a mismatch between grammatical and lexical aspect, the learners’ judgments differed from the native speakers’ judgments. Thus, our findings also support the idea of the existence of differential learning paths sustained by the L2s when learning complex aspectual configurations.
Highlights
In the present study, we seek to contribute to the understanding of the role played by formerly learnt second languages (L2s) when learning grammatical aspect in Romance focusing on Italian as additional language1 (Ln)
We address the following two research questions: RQ1: Are there differences between learners of Italian as Ln, with and without knowledge of another Romance language as L2 and Italian native speakers regarding the interpretation of the semantic meanings entailed by tempo-aspectual morphology in relation to lexical aspect?
Research question 1 investigated whether there were differences between learners of Italian as Ln, with and without knowledge of another Romance language as L2 and Italian native speakers regarding the interpretation of the semantic meanings entailed by tempo-aspectual morphology in relation to lexical aspect
Summary
We seek to contribute to the understanding of the role played by formerly learnt second languages (L2s) when learning grammatical aspect in Romance focusing on Italian as additional language (Ln). A few studies have shown that there was transfer of knowledge from the L2s to the Ln in the realm of aspect (Diaubalick et al 2020; Eibensteiner 2019; Foote 2009; Salaberry 2005; Vallerossa 2021), these studies focused either on the role exerted by aspectual knowledge level in L2 English (Eibensteiner 2019), or by additional knowledge of a Romance language (Diaubalick et al 2020; Foote 2009; Salaberry 2005; Vallerossa 2021). There is no agreement on whether transfer of knowledge from the L2 to the Ln is an across-the-board phenomenon or if it is restricted to specific aspectual contexts, so called prototypical associations
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