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In:Generative SLA in the Age of Minimalism: Features, interfaces, and beyond
Edited by Tania Leal, Elena Shimanskaya and Casilde A. Isabelli
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 67] 2022
► pp. 41–66

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Explaining the difficulty with L2 acquisition of scope interpretation by speakers of a scope-rigid language

 | The University of Tokyo, Tokyo
Published online: 17 August 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.67.02kim
Abstract
This study explores the L2 acquisition of quantifier scope in English, a notably difficult property to acquire by speakers of a scope-rigid language like Japanese. This study examines the knowledge of universal quantifiers in English that Japanese Learners of English (JLEs) have, focusing on the distributivity and collectivity of the quantifiers. Results of a picture-based acceptability judgment task showed that JLEs had problems with scope judgments and interpreted every NP as a distributive/collective quantifier akin to all NPPL in the grammar of English native speakers. Thus, this study implies that issues with the L2 acquisition of scope ambiguity are rooted in a problem with the reassembly of quantificational features of universal quantifiers, in accord with Lardiere (2008, 2009).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Syntax of scope
    • 2.1English
    • 2.2Japanese
  • 3.Scope interpretation in L2 acquisition
    • 3.1Previous studies
    • 3.2Hypotheses
  • 4.Experiment
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Task
    • 4.3Predictions
  • 5.Results
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1JLEs’ knowledge on quantifiers and their scope
    • 6.2Evaluating the hypotheses
    • 6.3Implications
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
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