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Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Gegenstand der Dissertation ist die Untersuchung interlingualer lexikalischer Prozesse von Worterkennung und-zugriff bei ungarndeutschen Bilingualen, die Englisch als Fremdsprache erlernen, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Rolle von Kognaten. Ziel der Studie ist es, die Prozesse lexikalischer Aktivierung in einem polyglotten System zu beschreiben und sowohl die mentalen Lexika, als auch die Verknüpfung und gegenseitige Aktivierung (z. B. durch 'direct word association' oder durch 'concept mediation') zu modellieren. Drei abhängige Variablen werden in einer quantitativen und qualitativen Analyse empirischer Daten untersucht: Genauigkeit, Antwortzeitlatenzen und phonologische Interferenz. Die Resultate der Experimente werden im Rahmen eines multilingualen Netzwerkmodells interpretiert. / The dissertation examines aspects of the interlingual lexical processes of word recognition and word retrieval in Hungarian-German bilinguals learning English as a foreign language, with particular respect to the role of cognates. The purpose of the study is to describe the process of lexical activaton in a polyglot system and to model the mental lexicons and the ways entries in the lexicons are connected and activated (e.g. activation through direct word association or through concept mediation). Three dependent variables are studied in quantitative and qualitative analysis of empirical data taken from experiments: rate of accurate responses, response latencies and phonological interference. The results of the experiments are interpreted in the framework of a multiple language network model.

<p>English prepositions cause problems for learners of English. The way prepositions are taught has impact on how students learn. Using corpora in teaching makes it possible for teachers and pupils to explore language together and is a good alternative to filling in missing prepositions on worksheets. Sometimes linguistic errors are caused by mother tongue interference. Little research has been made earlier with a Swedish contrastive approach to prepositions but a great deal of literature concern language transfer and mother tongue interference. This essay is written on the assumption that Swedish as a first language interferes with English and causes prepositional mistakes.</p><p>Two classes of ninth graders participated in my investigation. I wanted to find out if students performed better when they had given answers to choose from or when they had to produce the preposition themselves. My study proved that pupils had a better knowledge of prepositions perceptively than productively. It also proved that learners resorted to Swedish when they did not know the correct answer. Many learners fail to recognise prepositions as parts of multiword expressions. By teaching students how to notice grammatical collocations and lexical chunks we can help them to achieve acceptable levels of language proficiency and accuracy.</p>

This thesis investigates the syntax-discourse interface in adult, end state second language (L2) acquisition. Specifically, it examines topic constructions in Spanish and English, namely Clitic Left Dislocation (CLLD) and Contrastive Left Dislocation (CLD), which exhibit both syntactic and discourse level properties. In both cases, topics occur at the left periphery of clauses and reintroduce a subset of a known set previously mentioned in discourse. Sensitivity to specificity is available in Spanish but not in English. The interpretation of the topicalized element as either generic or specific depends on the presence or absence of the clitic. Data from a bidirectional study are reported in order to investigate the issue of L1 transfer as well as the question of whether acquiring a new property is easier than losing a property. / Three current theories of acquisition are examined, namely, the Full Transfer/Full Access model (FT/FA), Failed Functional Features Hypothesis/Representational Deficit Hypothesis (FFFH/RDH), and Optionality theory. The theories are considered with respect to their predictions about L2 ultimate attainment and the syntax-discourse interface. / Participants were 15 end state speakers of L2 Spanish/L1 English and 15 end state speakers of L2 English/L1 Spanish were tested. Three tasks were administered for each study (Sentence Completion Task, oral Sentence Selection Task, and oral Acceptability Task) targeting topic constructions and associated interpretive properties in the respective target languages. Results for the L2 Spanish study indicate that while the syntactic properties of CLLD were acquired, the interpretive properties of specificity were fossilized (i.e. clitic was overgeneralized). Results for the L2 English study also showed that the syntactic properties were acquired but the specificity distinction of the L1 was transferred into the L2. Results demonstrate that problems with specificity occur in both directions as predicted by the theory of Optionality. In both cases, the optionality found at the interpretive level was L1-based. Namely, non-target L1 forms co-existed with the L2 forms.

This thesis sets out to test the Full Transfer Full Access hypothesis (FTFA), which claims (i) that second language (L2) learners start out with the parameter settings instantiated in their first language (L1) grammars ('full transfer') and (ii) that they can subsequently reset parameters to the target L2 settings where these differ from the L1 settings, provided the required (triggering) positive evidence is available in the L2 input ('full access'). / Three studies on the L2 acquisition of two verb movement parameters, the V2 parameter and the Split-IP parameter (SIP), are reported. The first study investigates 'full access', testing whether English-speaking learners of Afrikaans, who started acquiring the L2 in early childhood and are thus child L2 learners, can reset the two parameters. The second study investigates 'full transfer' and 'full access' by testing whether English-speaking and German-speaking learners start out with different settings of the two parameters and whether the English-speaking learners can reset the parameters. All participants in this study are adult L2 learners, which facilitates a comparison of child L2 acquisition (first study) with adult L2 acquisition. The third study investigates whether Afrikaans-speaking learners of French can acquire knowledge of the ungrammaticality of certain construction types that are allowed in their L1 but not in the L2 (although the languages share the same parameter setting), despite the fact that there seems to be no positive evidence to this effect in the L2 input. It is argued that, taken together, the studies provide evidence in support of the FTFA. / The original contribution of this thesis lies in (i) investigating both verb movement parameters (instead of only one), (ii) providing a thorough discussion of the relevant syntactic properties of Afrikaans, (iii) investigating the L2 acquisition of Afrikaans, and (iv) addressing the question of how learners go about acquiring a parameter setting ([+SIP]) in cases where both the L1 and the L2 share the parameter setting but the L1 exhibits a superset of the properties exhibited by the L2.

This thesis investigates the second language acquisition of Japanese relative clauses (RCs) by native speakers of English or Korean. Researchers have argued that Universal Grammar (UG) can be accessed in adult second language (L2) acquisition. The Full Transfer Full Access (FTFA) Hypothesis (Schwartz and Sprouse 1994, 1996) claims that after initial transfer from L1, learners reset their parameter values and are able to acquire L2 properties that are different from their L1. Japanese and English relativization: while Japanese relativization does not involve movement in the syntax (Kuno 1973, Saito 1985, etc.), English relativization involves obligatory operator movement and is subject to movement constraints like Subjacency. Because of Subjacency, certain RC structures are prohibited in English. In Japanese, on the other hand, a zero pronominal, pro, is base-generated in the gap position of an RC and coindexed with the relative head noun, and thus long distance relativization is possible. I argue that the presence or absence of pro is also a parametric difference between Japanese and English; pro is present in Japanese, but not in English. In order for English speakers to acquire Japanese RCs, they need to reset the values of these two parameters. / Experimental studies were conducted with high-intermediate and advanced learners of Japanese (15 English speakers and 18 Korean speakers). Tests examined the learners' knowledge of the two grammatical properties in Japanese---namely, the lack of wh-movement and the presence of pro. Korean is different from English but similar to Japanese with respect to the parameters in question. Following FTFA, it is hypothesized that English-speaking learners initially transfer their L1 values, and that eventually they are able to switch parameters to the L2 values by accessing UG. The results of several tasks (including interpretation tasks and judgment tasks) confirm this hypothesis; while Korean speakers generally performed well irrespective of proficiency levels, English-speaking intermediate learners transferred their L1 values, failing to accept grammatical Japanese sentences that are not possible in English. English-speaking advanced learners, on the other hand, performed better than intermediate learners, and exhibited evidence that they had acquired the two properties of Japanese, supporting FTFA.

Through an investigation of the acquisition of feature geometric representations in first and second language acquisition, this dissertation demonstrates how the Feature Geometry theory contained in Universal Grammar actively guides and constrains the acquisition of segmental representations by children. In addition, it demonstrates how the mature feature geometry in a speaker's mental grammar restricts the range of nonnative phonemic contrasts that he or she will be sensitive to in the input and, hence, able to acquire as an L2 learner. / Three related areas of research are explored and integrated in this work: first, a theoretical study explores the feature-geometric representation of sonorant and non-sonorant laterals, based on their behavior in a variety of phonological processes cross-linguistically, and suggests that [lateral] is not a phonological feature, but rather that laterality is a phonetic property that derives from a specific feature-geometric representation; second, an experimental study investigates the acquisition of phonemic contrasts by English children and demonstrates that segmental representations are acquired in a uniform order that is consistent with properties of Feature Geometry; finally, a series of experimental studies examines the perception and acquisition of the English /l-r/, /b-v/, /p-f/, /f-v/ and /s-theta/ contrasts by native speakers of Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and Korean. / The findings from each of these studies are synthesized to obtain a comprehensive picture of how segmental representations are acquired and how this L1 knowledge impinges on the acquisition of L2 phonemes: it is argued that the monotonic acquisition of feature-geometric structure by young children restricts their sensitivity to particular non-native contrasts, and the continued operation of this existing feature geometry in adult speech perception constrains which non-native contrasts adult learners will be sensitive to in the L2 input and, therefore, capable of acquiring; the circumstances in which the native grammar facilitates perception of non-native contrasts and in which acquisition is possible are also discussed.