Abstract
<p>The present study presents an Optimality Theoretic account of syllable codas in French by the learners whose first and second languages are Persian and English respectively. Additionally, it investigates transfer at the L3 initial state, testing between the three hypotheses of Full Transfer/ Full Access (Schwartz &amp; Sprouse, as cited in Özçelik, 2009) i.e., the main L1 transfer effect, L2 Status Factor (Bardel &amp; Falk, 2007, 2011) i.e., the main L2 transfer effect, and Cumulative Enhancement Model (Flynn et al., 2004) i.e., all previously known languages’ positive or neutral transfer effect. As a matter of fact, OT is also used to see whether it supports what is obtained through transfer effects or not. To do so, two groups of Persian native speakers, but with differing English proficiencies (lower-intermediate and upper-intermediate) that were at the initial state of acquiring L3 French were asked to complete two tests, namely oral judgment test and production test. The analysis of the data was done through the mixed between-within subjects ANOVA. Results of the transfer effect provided a major role for the “L2 status factor”, while casting doubt on the tenability of several aspects of the CEM and provided no support for the FT/FA hypothesis. Regarding OT, the following constraint hierarchies were obtained for OJT and PT respectively: MAX-IO&gt;&gt; DEP-IO&gt;&gt;COMPLEX&gt;&gt; INDENT-IO and DEP-IO&gt;&gt; MAX-IO&gt;&gt; INDENT-IO&gt;&gt; COMPLEX. In fact, these rankings, especially the latter one, advocated the L2 constraint hierarchy and this was in accordance with the results of cross-linguistic effect, providing a major role for the L2 status factor.</p>
Highlights
The use of multiple languages by an individual or a speech community made a growing interest in the burgeoning field of generative third language (L3) acquisition
Regarding OT, the transfer of L2 constraint hierarchy into L3 that was apparent especially in the PT indicated a major role for L2 transfer effect, supporting L2 status factor hypothesis
With respect to the Cumulative Enhancement Model (CEM), it is noteworthy to point that it disregards the possibility of negative transfer from the L2 in the case that L1 is the source of transfer due to its appropriateness to the L3 (Rothman & Amaro, 2010)
Summary
The use of multiple languages by an individual or a speech community made a growing interest in the burgeoning field of generative third language (L3) acquisition In this relation, researchers consider the interplay between the L1, the L2 and the L3, and the sources of transfer from the previously known languages. Using OT to assess whether the Minimal Sonority Distance Parameter Setting (MSD) can account for learners’ error patterns in syllable structure, a study was conducted by Hancin-Bhatt & Bhatt (1997) on Japanese and Spanish speakers enrolled in English programs in the beginning and intermediate levels. In order to assess an optimality theoretic account of syllable codas in Thai, a study was carried out by Hancin-Bhatt (2000) on eleven native speakers of Thai with L2 English. Learners still used their native ranking in parsing English syllables especially at the earliest stages of acquisition and the constraint re-rankings occurred in an ordered fashion
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