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The WOSLAC project: Word Order in Second Language Acquisition Corpora

http://www.uam.es/woslac

Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) “Learner Corpus Colloquium”

3 April 2006

Amaya Mendikoetxea amaya.mendikoetxea@uam.es

Cristóbal Lozano clozan2@yahoo.com Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

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SUMMARY The main purpose of this project is to determine the lexicon-syntax and

syntax-discourse properties which constrain word order in the interlanguage of L2 learners of English (with L1 Spanish) and L2 learners of Spanish (with L1 English).

In particular, we wish to examine the validity of the Unaccusative Hypothesis at the lexicon-syntax interface and the role of discourse functions such as topic and focus at the syntax-discourse interface in L2 Spanish and L2 English.

Our initial hypotheses are the following: (1) The Unaccusative Hypothesis plays a role in word order in L2 learners’ interlanguage; (2) Lexicon-syntax properties are acquired before syntax-discourse properties, i.e., properties at the lexicon-syntax interface are present in the initial stages of grammatical development, while properties at syntax-discourse interface are persistently difficult to acquire and generate deficits even at advanced levels of proficiency; (3) Interlanguages have structures that cannot be explained with reference to L1 or L2, but rather reflect universal properties of languages.

To test these hypotheses, a corpus will be compiled and appropriate searching tools will be developed. The data obtained will be analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively.

The interpretation of the data will be done within a comparative framework which will help determine the role of L1 in L2 acquisition in the grammar areas of the study.

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MAIN PURPOSE

To determine the lexicon-syntax and syntax-discourse properties which constrain word order in the interlanguage of L2 learners L2 English (with L1 Spanish) L2 Spanish (with L1 English).

To examine the validity of: the Unaccusative Hypothesis at the lexicon-syntax

interface and the role of discourse functions such as topic and focus

at the syntax-discourse interface in L2 Spanish and English.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

(1) The Unaccusative Hypothesis plays a role in word order in L2 learners’ interlanguage;

(2) Lexicon-syntax > syntax-discourse: Lexicon-syntax properties are acquired before syntax-

discourse properties, i.e., properties at the lexicon-syntax interface are present

in the initial stages of grammatical development, while properties at syntax-discourse interface are persistently difficult to acquire and generate deficits even at advanced levels of proficiency;

(3) Interlanguages have structures that cannot be explained with reference to L1 or L2, but rather reflect universal properties of languages.

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DATA

2 written corpora: L1 Spanish – L2 English L2 English – L1 Spanish

Data analysis: qualitatively and quantitatively (descriptive and inferential statistics, SPSS).

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L2 English – L1 Spanish

260 academic essays in electronic format Range: 500 words up to 2,000 words (300.000 words)

1st and 3rd year Spanish students in an academic writing course on a degree in English Philology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Basic procedure for gathering the data : Learner Profile Essay Profile Oxford Quick Placement Test

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Software: UAM Corpus Tool

Software for text annotation: UAM CorpusTool It allows an analyst to select a text from the corpus, and

annotate it in various ways. It can highlight a segment (e.g., an it-cleft) and then

assign features to that segment. The tool produces an XML-encoded version of the text

file, including the features assigned to the segments. It can then automatically detect instances of the

pattern.

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L2 Spanish – L1 English (online)

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Comparative framework which will help determine the role of L1 in L2 acquisition in the grammar areas of the study. L1 properties L2 properties Universal properties

We look at: Properties operating at the lexicon-syntax interface

(unergatives vs. unaccusatives). Properties operating at the syntax-discourse (topic vs.

focus).

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Cont´d

→Underlying idea: formal and functional features interact in the structures under consideration.

Formal and functional approaches are, therefore, essential for the understanding of SLA data.

At the same time, SLA data from nonnative grammars can be potentially significant for the understanding of linguistic phenomena in native grammars.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: INTERFACES

Chomsky’s (1995, 2001, and so on) Minimalist Program Emphasis on interface conditions.

→A well designed language faculty would involve nothing else other than interface conditions.

“a theory of language that takes a linguistic expression to be nothing other than a formal object that satisfies the interface conditions in the optimal way.” (Chomsky 1995: 171).

(1) LEXICON COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEM Syntax

PF LF SM systems C-I systems

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Features of the language sample to be studied 1. Non-canonical word order clause patterns which do not conform to the S(ubject) V(erb)

O(bject) order.

(a) Inverted subjects Into the room came a tiny old lady. The came voices all shouting together Not before in our history have so many strong influences united to produce so large

a disaster. As infections increased in women, so did infections in their babies.

b) Dislocation in the left-periphery (fronting) The paper Terry buys everyday (not a book!) Why he said that I will never now

c) Right-dislocation The teacher made clearer the standards which students should be aiming for. It’s a pity that he cannot speak Russian.

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(cont´d)

2. Variation in word order & special constructions a) passive constructions

The paper is bought (by Terry) everyday. b) There-constructions

There came a tiny old lady into the room. c) Ditransitive constructions

a. I’ll give Mary the book b. I’ll give the book to Mary

(d) Object Placement in Phrasal Verbs a. He picked up the telephone b. He picked the telephone up

(e) Clefts a. It was his voice that held me. b. What held me was his voice

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FIRST WOSLAC STUDY

Postverbal subjectsL1 Spa – L2 EngICLE corpusInterfaces

Lexicon-syntax Syntax-discourse

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Word order in native English

Very restricted: canonical word order SV. Four girls sang Four girls arrived

Lexicon-syntax interface (Levin & Rappaport-Hovav, etc): Unaccusative Hypothesis (Burzio 1986, etc)

*There sang four girls at the opera. [unergative verb] There arrived four girls at the station. [unaccusative verb]

Syntax-discourse interface (Biber et al, Birner, etc): Postverbal material tends to be focus (new info)

We have complimentary soft drinks and coffee. Also complimentary is red and white wine.

Syntax-Phonological Form (PF) interface (Arnold et al, etc) Heavy material is sentence-final (Principle of End-Weight, Quirk):

That money is important is obvious. It is obvious that money is important.

Postverbal subjects which are focus, long and complex tend to occur postverbally in those structures which allow them.

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Previous L2 findings Production of postverbal subjects in L2 English (Rutherford 1989,

Oshita 2004): L1 Spanish – L2 English:

…it arrived the day of his departure… And then at last comes the great day. In every country exist criminals …after a few minutes arrive the girlfriend with his family too.

Only with unaccusative verbs (never with unergatives). Unaccusatives: arrive, happen, exist, come, appear, live… Explanation: syntax-lexicon interface (Unaccusative Hypothesis)

Previous studies focused on ERRORS, thus emphasising the differences between native and non-native structures.Our study emphasises the similarities between native and non-native structures licesing conditions are the same.

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Hypotheses

VS order in L1 Spa – L2 Eng…

GENERAL HYPOTHESIS: Conditions licensing VS in L2 Eng are the same as those in

Native Eng, DESPITE differences in grammaticalisation.

H1: Lexicon-syntax interface: Postverbal subjects with unaccs (never with unergs)

H2: Syntax-PF interface: Postverbal subjects: heavy (NOT light)

H3: Syntax-Discourse interface: Postverbal subjects: focus (NOT topic)

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Method

Learner corpus: L1 Spa – L2 Eng ICLE Spanish subcorpus (Granger et al. 2002) UAM corpus [2nd edition of ICLE]

Problem: proficiency level??

WordSmith v. 4.0 (Scott 2004)

Excel, SPSS v. 12.0

Concordance queries can be performed automatically with WordSmith, BUT there is a lot of manual work (filtering out unusable data, coding data in Excel, analysing data in SPSS, etc).

Corpus Number of essays Number of words ICLE Spanish 251 200,376 UAM 85 63,836 TOTAL 336 264,212

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Data analysis

Based on Levin (1993) and Levin & Rappaport-Hovav (1995): Unergatives: cough, cry, shout, speak, walk, dance…

[TOTAL: 41] Unaccusatives: exist, live, appear, emerge, happen, arrive…

[TOTAL: 34]

WordSmith: query searches: For every lemma (e.g., APPEAR, ARISE), we searched for:

All possible native forms: • appear, appears, appearing, appeared• arise, arises, arising, arose, arisen

All posible overregularised and overgeneralised learner forms:• arised, arosed,arisened, arosened (“So arised the Sain Inquisition”)

All possible forms with probable L1 transfer of spelling:• apear, apears, apearing, apeared

All other possible misspelled forms:• appeard, apeard

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Data analysis (cont’d) CONCORDANCES: RAW OUTPUT

Thousands of concordances, BUT approx. ¾ were unusable. Filtering criteria had to be applied manually.

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Data coding/analysis: EXCEL

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Data analysis: preliminary descriptive stats - EXCEL

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Data analysis – inferential stats: SPSS

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GENERAL HYPOTHESIS: Result: types of VS structures produced

Locative inversion: In the main plot appear the main characters: Volpone and Mosca.

There-insertion: There exist positive means of earning money.

AdvP-insertion: … and here emerges the problem.

* it-insertion: *In the name of religion it had occurred many important events…

* XP-insertion: *In 1760 occurs the restoration of Charles II in England.

* Ø-insertion: …*because exist the science technology and the industrialisation.

GRAMM.

UNGRAM.

Grammatical 36.2%

Ungrammatical 63.8%

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H1: Results: VS and unaccusativityTable 1: Proportion of postverbal subjects produced

Verb type # postverbal Subjects (VS)

# usable concordances

Rate

Unergative 0 181 0/181 (0%) Unaccusative 58 820 58/820 (7.1%)

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H2: Result: VS and weight

HEAVY

Against this society drama emerged an opposition headed by Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw.

…so came the decline of the theatre.

Then come the necessity to earn more.

LIGHT

So arised the Saint Inquisition…

…and from there began a fire.

Still today … exists the bloody fights.

Syntactic weight has to be measured manually according to some theoretical criteria

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H2: Result: SV and weight

HEAVY

…the cases of men mistreated do not appear in the media…

…a disintegration of culture, tradition and society would begin…

…the utopian societies created by the early socialists appeared.

LIGHT

…but they may appear everywhere.

…since the day eventually came…

…these people should exist, …

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H3: Result: VS and discourse

FOCUS

…there also exists a wide variety of optional channels which have to be paid.

So arised the Saint Inquisition.

In 1880 it begun the experiments whose result was the appearance of the television some years later.

TOPIC

…our modern world, dominated by science and technology and industrialisation …because exist the science technology and the industrialisation.

Discourse status (topic/focus) has to be measured manually by establishing theoretical criteria and then by checking the context (or even the essay) manually

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H3: Result: SV and discourse

TOPIC

I use the Internet … I find windows … if they press on any of these windows … these windows cannot appear because a child could enter easily…

…the world of drugs: mafias … problems with mafias finished … dangerous people making money … no reason why these people should exist.

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Summary/Conclusion

Lexicon-syntax Vunacc NPsubjSyntax-discourse FOCUSSyntax-PF HEAVY

NPsubj VunaccSyntax-discourse TOPICSyntax-PF LIGHT

V S

S V

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Thank you!

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Heavy/Light scale -------

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Data analysis (cont’d)-------- CONCORDANCES: 6 BASIC FILTERING CRITERIA:

The verb must be intransitive (unergative or unaccusative). In the screen of the television one or two “rombos” should appear. [unac] Leontes cries and the statue talks. [unerg] This government’s movement has created several opinions. [trans]

The verb must be finite, with(out) aux. …also it exists the psychological agresssions… [finite no aux] … the cases of men mistreated do not appear in the media. [finite aux] This contradiction could disappear [finite modal] There’s no reason for it to exist. [for clause + to inf] Poor people cross borders to escape from poverty. [to-inf clause] …let time pass… [‘let’ constructions] …make everyone’s life go ahead [causative + infinitive] Returning to the title of this paper,… [gerundive clauses] …they go away in order to escape to France. [‘in order to’ clauses] …women have to live with the agressor [have to/ought to/able to] …prudence was beginning to disappear. [verbal/aspectual periphrases] Before entering the argumentation,… [small clauses] …instead of following… [complement of P] …likely to happen… [complement of A] The tests to enter the army are quite difficult now. [complement of N]

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9. Data analysis (cont’d)--------

The verb must be in the active voice. This contradiction could disappear. [active unaccusative] This situation has already been happened. [passivised unaccusative]

The subject must be an NP. …it arose [diverse social ranks, the rich and the poor that depended on the

property they had]. [inverted NP subject] …it only remains [to add that nowadays we live in a world…] [extraposition] It happened [that the countries which make the weapons are…] [extraposition]

The sentence can be either grammatical or ungrammatical in native English.

This contradiction could disappear. [gram] …it won’t exist nothing of what people don’t get bored or tired. [ungram]

The subject can appear either postverbally (VS) or preverbally (SV). …the real problem appears when they have to look for their first job. [SV] So arised the Saint Inquisition. [VS]

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10. Data analysis (cont’d) --------- OTHER FILTERING CRITERIA Target V + V (verbal coordination)

Families without father exist and work well. Coordinator + target V

…we can manage to obtain it and live in a better world. Interrogatives (only if V is the target)

How could they live? Does exist then a manipulation of television?

Formulaic & Set expressions in English As sometimes happens… …fall victim to… …the world we live in.

Set expressions transferred from the L1 …it happens the same. …they fall into account that they have treated very badly Mr Hardcastle.

Phrasal verbs: …a scientist come up with an intention…

Quotes (literary or other): “To what purpose, April, do you return again? “Feminism has to evolved or die”, Friedan said in 1982…

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11. Data analysis (cont’d)------- OTHER FILTERING CRITERIA (CONT’D) Transitive alternants (unacs):

Rosamond lived a very comfortable life. …once you have passed this stage. …the University of Pennsylvania developed the electronic calculator.

Causativizations (unacs): …how parents grew their children. But this idea could rise the question of…

Verbs that do not belong to the proposed semantic criteria by Levin & Rappaport-Hovav:

…social classes appear to be broken. [≠appearance] …we come to know about his personality… [≠inherently directed motion]

Subject relative clauses: …those fantastic relatives that still survive. ..events of this kind which occurred in Spain.

Free relative clauses: …trying to imagine what will remain… Hastings realizes what is happening…

Predicative complements: Theatres remained closed. …men appear completely subordinated to the women’s desires.

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Result: Type of VS structures ------

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Result: VS and specific unaccusative verbs-----

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Length of postverbal subject-----

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Word order in native Spanish

Lexicon-syntax interface:

Syntax-discourse interface:

UNERGATIVES: SVA: Qué pasó?

B: Un hombre gritó [SV]

UNACCUSATIVES: SVA: Qué pasó?

B: Llegó un hombre [VS]

UNERGATIVESA: Quién gritó?

B: Gritó un hombre [VS]

UNACCUSATIVESA: Quién llegó?

B: Llegó un hombre [VS]

Theoretical evidence: Zubizarreta 1998, Casielles-Suárez 2004, Domínguez 2004 Empirical evidence: Hertel 2000, 2003, Lozano 2003, 2006

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Result: VS and (in)definiteness

DEFINITE

…because later could appear the real evidence and the real guilty.

…and usually appears the noble young man that either waste or has wasted his fortune.

In the main plot appear the main characters: Volpone and Mosca.

INDEFINITE

…some decades ago, it appeared a new invent: the television.

The play was very well performed and also appeared new elements in the stage.

…it has appeared some cases of women that have killed their husbands…

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-0,5

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

Ingl int alto Ingl avanz Nativos esp

Med

ia d

el ju

icio

de

acep

tabi

lidad

Inerg Neut !VS

Inerg Neut SV

10. Resultados: léxico-sintaxis

¿Qué pasó?

Inacusativos (VS): Llegó un hombre Inergativos (SV): Un hombre gritó

-0,5

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

Ingl int alto Ingl avanz Nativos esp

Med

ia d

el ju

icio

de

acep

tabi

lidad

Inac Neut VS

Inac Neut !SV

sign.s. sig sig sign.s.

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-0,5

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

Ingl int alto Ingl avanz Nativos esp

Med

ia d

el ju

icio

de

acep

tabi

lidad

Inerg Foc VS

Inerg Foc !SV

-0,5

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

Ingl int alto Ingl avanz Nativos esp

Med

ia d

el ju

icio

de

acep

tabi

lidad

Inac Foc VS

Inac Foc !SV

11. Resultados: sintaxis-discurso

¿Quién llegó / gritó?

Inacusativos (VS): Llegó un hombre Inergativos (SV): Gritó un hombre

sig sign.s.n.s. n.s.sig

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Figure 1: Unaccusative verbs in neutral contexts (word order by group)

1,521,44

1,81

1,34

0,91 0,9 0,98

0,29

-0,5

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

Gk Upp Int Gk Low adv Gk Upp adv Natives

Mea

n ac

cept

abilit

y ra

te

Unac Neut VS

Unac Neut #SV

Figure 1: Unergative verbs in neutral contexts (word order by group)

0,87 0,84 0,9

-0,45

1,41 1,471,64 1,61

-0,5

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

Gk Upp Int Gk Low adv Gk Upp adv Natives

Mea

n ac

cept

abilit

y ra

te

Unerg Neut #VS

Unerg Neut SV

Figure 1: Unaccusative verbs in focused subject contexts (word order by group)

1,32 1,381,54 1,52

1,32

0,91 0,94

-0,28-0,5

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

Gk Upp Int Gk Low adv Gk Upp adv Natives

Mea

n ac

cept

abilit

y ra

te

Unac Foc VS

Unac Foc #SV

Figure 1: Unergative verbs in focused subject contexts (word order by group)

0,97 0,93

1,121,25

1,431,26 1,32

0,17

-0,5

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

Gk Upp Int Gk Low adv Gk Upp adv Natives

Mea

n ac

cept

abilit

y ra

te

Unerg Foc VS

Unerg Foc #SV