Learner error in second language acquisi0on: the transfer of form or concept? Samantha Austen Centre for Language and Communica0on Research, Cardiff University, UK austensca1@cardiff.ac.uk 1 Is the present perfect? Problem Hypotheses •  Speakers of Italian and •  Difficulty in understanding speakers of English differ in and using the English tense their conceptualisa=on of select aspects of system by Italian learners temporality. on English. These conceptualisa=ons •  Errors in spoken and wri<en •  are transferred in second produc=on. language learning resul=ng in L1 interference and consequent errors in produc=on. 2 L1 transfer: 3 forms 3 Formal Transfer Target Form “I bought a new car yesterday” L1 equivalent “Ieri ho comprato una macchina nuova” L2 produc=on “I have bought a new car yesterday.” 4 Seman0c Transfer From Odlin (2005) Polish Speakers. Target form: “My brother and I went to the theatre yesterday” L1 equivalent: “Wczoraj bylis’my z bratem w teatrze” L2 Produc=on: “We were at the theatre with my brother yesterday.” Odlin T. (2005) Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. 25,3– 25.
5 Conceptual Transfer Target Form: “I have been wai=ng here for 10 minutes.” L1 equivalent: “AspeKo qui da 10 minu=” L2 Produc=on: “I wait here for 10 minutes” 6 The Study Descrip=on of Tense and Aspect in English and Italian •
Seman=c Maps (CroZ 2003) of Temporality were developed showing seman=c representa=ons of temporality in English and Italian. Croft, W. (2003) Typology and Universals.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Development of Tests •  Cloze tests produced based on areas of divergence highlighted by seman=c maps and Vendler (1967) verb class. to know (State verb -­‐ punctual – telic – dynamic) to camp (Ac;vity verb – punctual – telic +dynamic) Vendler, Z. (1967) Linguistics in Philosophy. London: Cornell
University Press.
7 .
Semantic Map 1: showing the functions of
the English Present Simple, Present
Progressive, Present Perfect and Present
Perfect Progressive.
English Present progressive
Core semantics: present, duration, limited duration,
possibly incomplete.
Ongoing process
The weather is changing
Change in state/situation
House prices are going up
Habit over a limited period
I’m taking Spanish lessons at the moment
Active cognition
I’m thinking about going.
Repetition of events of limited duration
At 1.30pm the baby is usually sleeping.
Active perception
I’m tasting the soup.
Repetition of single punctual event
She’s knocking on the door
Sporadic repetition over time
She’s always dropping things.
Persistent or continuous activity
At the moment the builders are working
hard because they want to finish the flats.
Temporary state
My back is aching/ Mary is sick*
Instantaneous use
(commentaries)
And he scores!
Performative use
I accept your terms.
Permanent states
I am English
English Present Simple:
Core semantics: present,
true at present time,
imperfective
Eternal truths.
Hydrogen is the lightest
element.
Temporary situations or happenings at time of
speaking.
Giulio is sleeping
Temporary situation up to present
I have been camping for a week.
Temporary habit up to the present
I have been eating a lot of chocolate lately.
Temporary activity up to the present
They have been widening the road.
Habitual use
She walks to work
everyday.
State up to the present time
I have known him since he was a boy.
Situation up to present time
I have lived here for years.
Habit leading up to the present
Kat has sung in a choir for years.
Recent past (transformative)
I have only just arrived, what has happened?
Recent past
Has the postman been yet?
Resultative past
The taxi has arrived.
Experiential past
I have been to South Africa.
English Present Perfect
Core semantics: Past time related to present time, result
Incomplete activity* contrast complete
Who has been eating my breakfast?
Temporary activity up to present with result.
I am tired because I have been running.
English Present Perfect Progressive
Core semantics: duration, temporary,
continues up to present or recent past,
incomplete, possible results
.
.
Semantic
Map 2
showing the
functions of the
Italian Presente
Semplice, Passato
Prossimo and
Perifrasi
Progressiva.
La perifrasi progressiva
Core semantics: focus on one moment of
situation in progress, incomplete
Italiano Presente Semplice:
Core semantics:. Present, close to or
simultaneous with present time,
imperfective
Ongoing process
Il tempo sta cambiando/ Al polo nord i ghiacci stanno
scogliendo
Change ins state/situation
I prezzi immobiliari stanno aumentando
Repetition of events of limited duration
Alle 13.30 al solito il bimbo dorme.
Sporadic repetition over
time
Rompe sempre tutto.
Temporary state
Mi fa male la scheina.
Instantaneous use (commentaries)
Inzaghi dribbla sulla destra, crossa al
centro...e segna!
Performative use
Accetto!
Permanent states
Sono inglese.
Eternal truths.
Acqua bolle a 100 gradi.
Habitual use
Ogni giorno prende il treno.
Habit over a limited period up to and after present
moment
Per ora faccio/sto facendo lezioni di spagnolo
Active cognition
Penso/ sto pensando di andarci.
Active perception
Odoro/sto odorando le rose.
Repetition of single punctual event
Bussa/ sta bussando
Persistent or continuous activity.
Per ora i muratori lavorano sodo che
vogliono finire il palazzo.
Temporary situations or happenings at moment of
speaking
Giulio dorme/sta dormendo
Temporary situation up to present
Dormo/sto dormendo dalla zia in questo periodo.
Temporary habit up to the present
Mangio/sto mangiando molto cioccolato per ora.
State up to the present time
Lo conosco da anni
Temporary activity up to the present
Allargono/Stanno allargando la strada.
Situation up to the present time.
Vivo qui da anni
Incomplete activity* contrast complete
Chi mi mangia/sta mangiando la colazione?
Habit leading up to the present
Le donne di qui hanno portato/ portano delle gonne
lungissime da sempre
Recent past (transformative)
Arrivo/Sono arrivato proprio ora; mi vuoi speigare cosa e`
successo?
Recent past (News)
Sai che e` successo? E` caduto un giovane
Experiential past
Sono stata in Francia
Resultative past
Giorgio e` arrivato
Italiano Perfetto Composto (Passato Prossimo)
Core semantics: Past time related to present time
(reference time), result
Temporary activity up to present with result.
Sono stanca perche` ho corso.
.
English Present progressive
Core semantics: present, duration, limited duration,
possibly incomplete.
Functions covered by Italian Presente Semplice
Habit over a limited period
I’m taking Spanish lessons at the moment
Functions covered by Italian Passato Prossimo
Functions covered by Italian Presente
(Perifrasi progressiva)
Repetition of events of limited duration
At 1.30pm the baby is usually sleeping.
Sporadic repetition over time
She’s always dropping things.
Temporary state
My back is aching/ Mary is sick*
Semantic Map 3. Semantic map of
English Present Simple, Present
Progressive, Present Perfect and
Present Perfect Progressive showing
those functions covered by the Italian
Presente Semplice, Passato Prossimo
and Perifrasi Progressiva. Potential
areas for investigation are highlighted
in grey.
Ongoing process
The weather is changing/ the polar icecaps are melting
Change ins state/situation
House prices are going up
Instantaneous use (commentaries)
And he scores!
Eternal truths.
Hydrogen is the lightest element.
Performative use
I accept your terms.
Permanent states
I am English
English Present Simple:
Core semantics: present,
true at present time,
imperfective
Active cognition
I’m thinking about going.
Active perception
I’m tasting the soup.
Repetition of single punctual event
Bussa/ sta bussando
Persistent or continuous activity
At the moment the builders are working
hard because they want to finish the flats.
Temporary situations or happenings at time of
speaking.
Giulio is sleeping
Temporary situation up to present
I have been camping for a week.
Temporary habit up to the present
I have been eating a lot of chocolate lately.
Habitual use
She walks to work everyday.
Temporary activity up to the present
They have been widening the road.
Incomplete activity* contrast complete
Who has been eating my breakfast?
State up to the present time
I have known him since he was a boy.
Situation up to present time
I have lived here for years.
Habit leading up to the present
Kat has sung in a choir for years.
Recent past (transformative)
I have only just arrived, what has happened?
Recent past
Has the postman been yet?
Resultative past
The taxi has arrived.
Experiential past
I have been to South Africa.
English Present Perfect
Core semantics: Past time related to present time, result
Temporary activity up to present with result.
I am tired because I have been running.
.
English Present Perfect Progressive
Core semantics: duration, temporary,
continues up to present or recent past,
incomplete, possible results
The Study Descrip=on of Tense and Aspect in English and Italian •
Seman=c Maps (CroZ 2003) of Temporality were developed showing seman=c representa=ons of temporality in English and Italian. Croft, W. (2003) Typology and Universals.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Development of Tests •  Cloze tests produced based on areas of divergence highlighted by seman=c maps and Vendler (1967) verb class. to know (State verb -­‐ punctual – telic – dynamic) to camp (Ac;vity verb – punctual – telic +dynamic) Vendler, Z. (1967) Linguistics in Philosophy. London: Cornell
University Press.
11 Crusoe Cloze Test and Verb Box Look at the story of Crusoe. Today another ship wrecked person has arrived on the island. He asks Crusoe about his situa;on. Put the verbs in Crusoe’s explana;on in the correct tense. “I......................(fall off) my ship and then I...................... (swim) to the island, I even......................(see) a shark. I.........................(be) on the island a week, I......................(eat) coconuts, I...................... (sleep) under a palm tree and I...................... (wait) for rescue. I...................... (not see) a ship so I...................... (write) SOS in the sand.” Look at the story of Crusoe. Decide if the verbs refer to past or present ac;ons and put them in the chart below. fall off his ship see a shark swim to the island
wait for rescue
sleep under the palm tree
eat coconuts
be on the island
write SOS
to not see a ship
Present Past 12 The story of Crusoe DAY 1 TODAY DAY 2-­‐7 13 Administra0on of Tests •  Cloze tests and picture s=muli administered to 7 pre-­‐intermediate Italian students of English. •  Par=cipants were given a semi-­‐structured targeted interviews about their responses. •  4 Na=ve English speakers were tested as controls 14 Results Concept Incidences of Transfer State leading up to and Conceptual x 3 con0nuing in the present. (1 x Seman=c which was reclassified e.g. I have known him for years as Conceptual) Temporary situa0on leading up Conceptual x 3 to the present moment e.g. I have been wai<ng Temporary habit up to the present moment e.g. We have been sleeping Conceptual x 4 Finished past ac0on with no present result e.g. I fell off my ship None. Support for Aspect Hypothesis Finished past ac0on with a present result e.g. It has started to rain Conceptual x 6 15 Evidence for Conceptual Transfer 1 state leading up to and con;nuing in the present Target Form: “I have known him for years” Par=cipant 1,7 : “I know him for years” E` un’azione che era vera nel passato ma e` vera anche nel presente Non la conosce al passato la conosce ancora 16 Evidence for Conceptual Transfer 2 finished past ac;on with a present result Target form: I have wri<en SOS in the sand/ I have recharged my phone Par=cipant 2,3,4,6: I wrote SOS/I recharged my phone. Poi ho messo, ho scriRo, perche` comunque lui non con;nua a scriverlo l’ha scriRo in quel momento e l’azione si e` conclusa Semmai con;nua ad esserci ma lui non con;nua a scriverlo ovviamente l’ha scriRo una volta e basta 17 Evidence for Conceptual Transfer 3 finished past ac;on with a present result Target Form: I haven’t seen a ship Par=cipant 4,7: I don’t see Il faRo che questa persona con;nua a non vedere rende la cosa al presente Io penso comunque non ha visto niente non sta vedendo 18 Conclusions •  Development of seman=c maps of temporality for English and Italian gives a base for believing that there could be differing conceptualisa=ons of select aspects of temporality. •  Some convincing examples of Conceptual Transfer were produced. •  The prototype in each category is eventually transferred. The prototype is the func=on closest to the core seman=cs of the category. (Housen 2002) •  L1 Transfer takes place as part of the acquisi=on process (Rocca 2002). It becomes less apparent with the eventual recoding of linguis=c prototypes towards na=ve use of the L2. (Giacalone-­‐Ramat 2002; Ellis 2006) Housen, A. -- Rocca, S.-- Giacalone – Ramat, A. In: Salaberry, R and Shirai, Y. (eds) The L2 Acquisition of Tense-Aspect Morphology.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company , (2002).
19 Ellis, N.C. (2006). Applied Linguistics. 27/2, 164 – 194.
Will the Future be Perfect? •  Seek further evidence for Conceptual Transfer with a wider sample. •  Develop a fully func=onal/cogni=ve descrip=on of temporality in English and Italian. •  Work on possible differences in inherent lexical aspect applying to verbs in English and Italian. Implicated in Conceptual Transfer (Shirai and Nishi 2003) 20 Shirai, Y. and Nishi, Y. (2003) In: Typology and Second Language Acquisition. Giacalone-Ramat, A. (Ed) Mouton de Gruyter: Berlin.
Second language acquisition is the only way an individual may escape from
the conceptual world of the native language. (Odlin 2005:7)
Thank you for coming! Any ques=ons/comments? Odlin, T. (2005) Crosslinguistic influence and conceptual transfer: What are the concepts? Annual Review of
21 Applied Linguistics. Vol 25. pp 3- 25.