Lexical semantics in advanced second language French: the acquisition of genericity
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[1] University of Quebec
University of Quebec
Canadá
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- Localización: Lingua: International review of general linguistics, ISSN 0024-3841, Nº 234, 2020
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
The study considered the genericity of count nouns among L1 Arabic adult learners advanced in L2 French. The experimental task was a context-based acceptability judgment test on the interpretation of five nominal forms in NP-level and sentence-level generic contexts: definite, indefinite and bare singulars in addition to definite and bare plurals. The results revealed that the L2 learners did not perform to a nativelike degree. Additionally, their response pattern demonstrated that they did not differentiate between the two types of genericity in French, expressing both by definite singulars and definite plurals as in L1 Arabic. They tended to interpret indefinite singulars in characterizing sentences existentially, due to non-facilitative influence of L1 Arabic. The learners correctly excluded bare singulars and plurals as they are existential in the L1 and ungrammatical in this usage in French. The study concluded that the learners’ knowledge of genericity in L2 French was not monolithic, mixing nativelike and transferred expressions.
