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Article published In: EUROSLA Yearbook: Volume 14 (2014)
Edited by Leah Roberts, Ineke Vedder and Jan H. Hulstijn
[EUROSLA Yearbook 14] 2014
► pp. 201–224

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Word order and case in the comprehension of L2 German by L1 English speakers

 | Vienna University of Economics and Business
Published online: 5 August 2014
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https://doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.14.08ran
This paper replicates and extends experiments by Grüter (2006) and Grüter & Conradie (2006) to explore some of the learnability implications of Full Transfer at the initial state of L2A. L1 English-speaking learners’ comprehension of L2 German questions and relative clauses is tested on the basis of a picture interpretation task. Patterns of (mis)interpretation of the German clauses suggest that lower-intermediate proficiency learners still access the L1 syntax in order to parse L2 input. This is taken to indicate that learners are influenced by L1 word order patterns in assigning thematic roles in L2 clauses. This is discussed in light of approaches to L2 parsing and processing which attribute different roles to L1 influence.
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