The null-prep phenomenon in second language acquisition.
Item
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Title
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The null-prep phenomenon in second language acquisition.
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Identifier
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AAI9029952
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identifier
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9029952
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Creator
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Klein, Elaine Cohen.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Janet Dean Fodor
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Date
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1990
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Language, Linguistics
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Abstract
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In the process of acquiring pied-piping or preposition stranding, adult L2 learners of English often omit the required preposition. This study explores this "null-prep phenomenon" to test a Universal Grammar (UG) framework as an explanation for the acquisition of L2 grammars. Specifically, the purpose of investigating null-prep is to examine the claim that adult learners, like children learning their first language, are guided by UG principles and parameters. According to this hypothesis, adult learners begin L2 acquisition by going back to the unmarked or initial state (S{dollar}\sb{lcub}\rm o{rcub}{dollar}), or begin at the L1 value and reset their parameters to the L2 setting.;An experimental study of 196 adult learners of English, representing 18 different L1s, shows null-prep to be robust. In a grammaticality judgement and correction task, many subjects who demonstrate accurate knowledge of subcategorization for verbs requiring a preposition in a declarative sentence, leave out the preposition in the corresponding relative clause and/or question, regardless of the L1.;A cross-linguistic study also shows null-prep to exist in some of the world's languages. These languages require a preposition or postposition in the declarative, but (may) omit it in the related relative clause, though not in questions. In a linguistic analysis of null-prep, three parameters are posited to account for the construction and its related forms across languages. It is argued that null-prep does not represent the unmarked setting of these parameters.;The study concludes that null-prep in L2 questions is a violation of UG core principles, and represents a challenge to markedness-based accounts of L2 acquisition as they are currently formulated. Second language learners are not beginning the acquisition of piping or stranding by going back to the UG initial state, nor do they seem to be starting from the parameter settings of their L1s. It is argued that UG can only be partially responsible for the null-prep phenomenon and that adult learning strategies may help to account for its occurrence in the L2 grammar.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
