The role of functional categories in L2 Spanish: persistence of L1 CP values in IL

• Laurie A. Massery ^[1] ; Claudio Fuentes ^[2]
  1. [1] Randolph–Macon College

     Randolph–Macon College

     Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] Oregon State University

     Oregon State University

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone linguistics, ISSN-e 2199-3386, ISSN 1939-0238, Vol. 5, Nº. 2, 2012, págs. 297-324
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • English irrealis modality is usually captured by syntactic structures that often exclude overt complementizers that and for and includeindicative or infinitival morphology. The Spanish equivalents to English structures of irrealis modality, however, typically require the overt subordinate marker que (‘that’) followed by a [+finite] subordinate verb. These syntactic differences between English and Spanish produce asymmetrical surface structures caused by functional categories (FCs). The primary goal of this study is to examine the role of FCs, and more specifically, complementizers (CPs), in the syntactic development of L1 English speakers with L2 Spanish. The results of our data suggest that L1 CP properties (i.e. CP = Ø) persisted in learners’ interlanguage (IL) systems, following the work of Schwartz & Sprouse (1996). As a result, learners at all levels of instruction intuitively perceived English-like [-overt] CP structures as more grammatical than their [+overt] CP counterparts, even at advanced levels of acquisition.