Journal article
The L2 Acquisition of French Interrogatives: Pragmatic Inferences in Clefted wh-Questions
Languages (Basel), Vol.6(165), p.165
10/01/2021
DOI: 10.3390/languages6040165
Abstract
The present study aims to elaborate on the understanding of the second language (L2) acquisition of French interrogatives by focusing on clefted (subject) wh-questions, structures that are largely absent in prior L2 literature. Our research question addresses how L2 learners of French understand two specific properties associated with these interrogatives: existence and exhaustivity. Using two rating tasks, we examined whether a total of 48 L2 learners converge towards the native norm for these properties, which occur at the syntax-discourse interface and may therefore be vulnerable to incomplete acquisition, following the Interface Hypothesis. Our findings suggest that L2 learners at the intermediate level acquire an understanding of the existential inference before an understanding of exhaustivity.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The L2 Acquisition of French Interrogatives: Pragmatic Inferences in Clefted wh-Questions
- Creators
- Emilie Destruel - Department of French and Italian, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USABryan Donaldson - Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Languages (Basel), Vol.6(165), p.165
- DOI
- 10.3390/languages6040165
- ISSN
- 2226-471X
- eISSN
- 2226-471X
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/01/2021
- Academic Unit
- Linguistics; French and Italian
- Record Identifier
- 9984222747402771
Metrics
12 Record Views