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Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 31:1 (2018) ► pp.124–158

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The use of L3 English articles by Basque-Spanish bilinguals

 | The University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
 | The University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
Published online: 27 August 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.17015.gut
Abstract
In this paper we compare the data from a group of L1 Basque-Spanish bilingual learners of L3 English with a matching group of L1 Spanish learners of L2 English. The results show that the bilinguals omit articles and overuse ‘the’ more than the L1 Spanish group. The pattern of omissions by the bilinguals shows that one subgroup omitted heavily while the other produced only sporadic omissions. With respect to overuse, the bilinguals consistently overused ‘the’ in indefinite contexts, while ‘a’ overuse was practically absent. The results from the bilingual group pattern with findings from [−article] L1 learners, a pattern which would fit with an analysis of Basque as a language without articles (Manterola, J. (2012). Synchronic ubiquity of the Basque –a: a look from diachrony. In U. Etxeberria, R. Etxepare & M. Uribe-Etxebarria (Eds.), Noun phrases and nominalization in Basque: Syntax and semantics (pp. 179–205). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, (2015). Euskararen morfologia historikorako: artikuluak eta erakusleak [Towards a history of Basque morphology: articles and demonstratives]. PhD Thesis, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). The finding that the bilinguals do not transfer article semantics from Spanish, unlike the learners in the L1 Spanish group, suggests that recency may be determining the language of transfer in the bilingual learners tested.
Resumen
En este artículo comparamos la producción oral de artículos del inglés como lengua extranjera llevada a cabo por un grupo de bilingües euskara/español y un grupo de monolingües de español (edad 14 años). Los resultados muestran que los bilingües omiten los artículos y extienden el uso del artículo determinado ‘the’ (pero no ‘a’) a contextos indefinidos con más frecuencia que los monolingües. En cuanto a las omisiones, se pueden distinguir dos subgrupos dentro de los bilingües, donde uno omite más que el otro. La frecuencia de la sobre-extensión de ‘the’ se asemeja a la descrita en estudios con lenguas sin artículos, lo cual puede explicarse si resulta que el euskera es una lengua sin artículos (Manterola, J. (2012). Synchronic ubiquity of the Basque –a: a look from diachrony. In U. Etxeberria, R. Etxepare & M. Uribe-Etxebarria (Eds.), Noun phrases and nominalization in Basque: Syntax and semantics (pp. 179–205). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, (2015). Euskararen morfologia historikorako: artikuluak eta erakusleak [Towards a history of Basque morphology: articles and demonstratives]. PhD Thesis, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Los resultados también parecen indicar que los bilingües no transfieren los rasgos semánticos de los artículos del español, indicativo de un efecto de ‘recency’ más que a un efecto de similitud tipológica.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The acquisition of articles in non-native English
  • 3.The article system in Spanish and Basque
  • 4.Research questions
  • 5.Method
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Materials and procedure
    • 5.3Data coding
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Accuracy in the use of definites and indefinites
    • 6.2Error type distribution in definite and indefinite contexts
  • 7.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (75)
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