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Article published In: French liaison in second language acquisition / La liaison en français langue étrangère: Issues, methods and perspectives / Thèmes, méthodes et perspectives
Edited by Martin Howard and Malin Ågren
[Language, Interaction and Acquisition 10:1] 2019
► pp. 71–95

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The development of obligatory liaison in early L2 learners of French

 | Lund University, Sweden
Published online: 16 May 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.17024.spl
Abstract
Studies on the acquisition of French liaison have primarily focused on monolingual children or adult second language (L2) learners in a university context. To bridge the gap between these two populations, the present article focuses on child L2 (cL2) learners – a particularly interesting group, since they are L2 learners who, unlike adults, do not have access to writing. How does liaison develop in cL2 French? Is the development more similar to L1 or L2 acquisition? These questions are explored through longitudinal data from cL2 learners (age of onset: 3;0–3;5, n = 3), with monolingual (n = 2) and bilingual (n = 3) L1 controls. The cL2 data present certain similarities with adult L2 learners, but also with L1 controls. However, productions vary greatly within the L2 group: whereas one of the three learners shows clear development over time, behaving similarly to the L1 children at the end of the observation period, another learner hardly produces any liaisons at all.
Résumé
Les études portant sur l’acquisition de la liaison sont majoritairement consacrées à des données d’enfants monolingues ou d’apprenants L2 adultes dans un contexte universitaire. Pour combler le déficit de connaissances dans l’intervalle entre ces deux populations, la présente étude se concentre sur le développement de la liaison chez les apprenants L2 enfants – un groupe particulièrement intéressant puisqu’il s’agit d’apprenants L2 qui, contrairement aux adultes, n’ont pas accès à l’écrit. Comment se développe la liaison chez les apprenants L2 enfants ? Leur développement, ressemble-t-il plus à celui des enfants en L1 ou à celui des adultes en L2 ? Ces questions seront explorées à travers l’étude de données longitudinales d’apprenants L2 enfants (âge de début d’acquisition : 3;0–3;4, n = 3). Des données d’enfants L1 monolingues (n = 2) et bilingues simultanés (n = 3) servent de contrôle. Les données des apprenants L2 enfants présentent quelques similarités avec celles des apprenants L2 adultes mais aussi avec celles des enfants L1. Cependant, il y a une grande variation au sein du groupe d’apprenants enfants : les productions de l’une des trois enfants indiquent un développement net pendant la période d’observation, à la fin comparable aux enfants L1, tandis qu’une autre enfant ne produit pratiquement pas de liaison même au dernier enregistrement.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous studies on the acquisition of liaison
    • 2.1L1 acquisition of liaison
    • 2.2Second language acquisition of liaison
    • 2.3Comparing L1 and L2 acquisition
    • 2.4Aim and research questions
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Material
    • 3.3Analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Results for monolingual and bilingual controls
    • 4.2Results for the cL2 learners
      • 4.2.1Naomi (AoA: 3;4)
      • 4.2.2Isa (AoA: 3;5)
      • 4.2.3Fia (AoA: 3;0)
      • 4.2.4A possible developmental path
    • 4.3Comparing the cL2 learners and the controls
    • 4.4Comparison with previous studies
  • 5.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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