This thesis studies the problem of language learnability in relation to two different but related sets of structures in Spanish, both involving multifunctional clitic pronouns. The first of these is the reflexive clitic se which is used in impersonal and inchoative constructions. The second is the dative clitic le which appears in certain clitic doubling constructions. In both cases the structures exhibit subtle properties which cannot be readily inferred from the input. / In the first place, this study provides a syntactic analysis of the structures related to each of these clitics. Regarding the first of these, the reflexive se, it is suggested that it can be generated in at least two functional positions: as the head of AgrO in impersonal constructions, and as the head of Inner Aspect in the case of inchoatives. In the impersonal construction the theme argument NP moves to check case and &phis; features with se in AgrO, thus triggering agreement on the verb. In the case of the inchoative, the NP moves into the specifier of AgrS. Thus, the NP in the impersonal construction is an object with some subject-like properties, which derive from agreement with the verb. The NP in the inchoative construction is a subject. / Regarding the dative clitic le, it is generated as the head of Inner Aspect. The NP which is stranded after a preposition incorporates into the verb must move to Inner Aspect to check case and &phis; features with le. As a result, the NP is interpreted as affected. The process of incorporation in Spanish is subject to several constraints which fall out naturally from this account. / In the second place, the problem of learnability is investigated empirically in relation to second language acquisition (SLA) with two empirical studies which look at the grammar of speakers who appear to have reached an end state in their second language. The tasks used in these studies were designed to test the speakers' knowledge of the properties related to the two multifunctional clitics. The subjects included two groups of near-native Spanish speakers, that is, speakers who can pass or almost pass for native speakers, but who learned Spanish as a second language after puberty. One group was made up of English speakers, the other of French speakers. The reason for choosing near-natives is that data from learners who appear to have reached a very high level of proficiency are crucial in determining whether adult learners can in fact acquire a grammar which is indistinguishable from a native speaker grammar. It has been suggested [Bley-Vroman, 1990] that L2 learning is fundamentally different from L1 acquisition and that, as a result, the final state L2 grammar differs in important ways from native speaker grammars. This thesis argues against this position. Results show that L2 learners are able to acquire subtle properties not evident in the input. This suggests that L2 acquisition is constrained by Universal Grammar in the same way as L1 acquisition is.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.36554 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Bruhn de Garavito, Joyce L. S. |
| Contributors | White, Lydia (advisor), Travis, Lisa (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Linguistics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001747726, proquestno: NQ64524, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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