The L2 acquisition of aspectual properties in Spanish

Abstract

AbstractThis study examines the L2 acquisition and LI attrition of preterite versus imperfect aspectual distinctions in Spanish among English-speaking L2 learners and long-term Spanish-speaking immigrants. Results from an acceptability judgment task and a truth value judgment task demonstrate significantly lower levels of target performance by both groups when compared to the control participants. The L2 learners outperform the native speakers undergoing attrition in some aspectual contexts, while in others both experimental groups show similar difficulties. To the extent that L2 learners and adult immigrants demonstrate comparable difficulties, L2 learners’ deficits cannot be directly related to impairment reasons. LI transfer of the semantic properties of tense heads offers a better explanation for the difficulties L2 learners often show in the aspectual domain.