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The Role of Linguistic Context in the Acquisition of the Pluperfect

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The Role of Linguistic Context in the Acquisition of the Pluperfect Bronisława Zielonka The Role of Linguistic Context in the Acquisition of the Pluperfect Polish Learners of Swedish as a Foreign Language Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego Gdańsk 2005 Reviewers Hans Strand and Kristina Svartholm Page layout Kamil Smoliński This publication was financed by the University of Gdańsk and Stockholm University © Copyright by Bronisława Zielonka © Copyright by Uniwersytet Gdański Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego ISBN 83-7326-296-6 Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego 81-824 Sopot ul. Armii Krajowej 119/121 tel./fax (58) 550-91-37 http:// wyd.bg.univ.gda.pl e-mail: [email protected] Abstract Zielonka, Bronisława 2005. The role of linguistic context in the acquisition of the pluperfect. Polish learners of Swedish as a foreign language. 228 pp. This work consists of two parts: a theoretical section and an experimental one. In the theoretical part, some general and some language-specific theories of tense, aspect and aktionsart are presented, and the temporal systems of Swedish and Polish are compared. The theoretical part is not a mere review of the literature on the subject. The comparison of the descriptions of aspect and aktionsart by Slavic researchers with the universal theory of Smith (1991, 1997) and with the description of ak- tionsart in Swedish in Teleman et al. (1999) has resulted in some important ob- servations as to the nature of the long-lasting dispute about the differences be- tween aspect and aktionsart. The experimental part is a cross-sectional study on the role of the linguistic context on the acquisition of the pluperfect by Polish learners of Swedish as a for- eign language. The informants were university students studying Swedish as a foreign language. The language samples were collected by means of two types of tests: gap-filling and translation from Polish. Twelve linguistic factors, each divided into two subgroups, were hypothesised to have affected the correct use of the pluperfect. The hypotheses as to which of the subgroups may inhibit and which may facilitate the correct use of the plu- perfect are all grounded in linguistic theories, i.e. presented in the form of lin- guistically-based discussions as to what kind of effect (facilitative or inhibiting) each of the linguistic factors may have had, and why. The effect of those factors upon the correct use of the pluperfect has been test- ed by means of a stepwise multiple regression which measured the simultaneous effect of each factor upon the correct use of the pluperfect. This method has con- firmed the facilitative effect of the following six linguistic factors: intrasentential indication of topic time (subordinate clause), unbounded verb indicating topic time, agentive meaning of the target verb, specifying subordinate clause, statal pluperfect and location of the time of action of the pluperfect clause outside the temporal frame of the narrative plot. Keywords: aspect, aktionsart, tense, topic time, pluperfect, time of action, lin- guistic context, linguistic factors inhibiting/facilitating acquisition, sequence of acquisition, statal pluperfect, actional pluperfect © 2005 Bronisława Zielonka ISBN 83-7326-296-6 Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, Gdańsk 2005 Contents Abstract . 3 Acknowledgements . 9 1 Introduction . 11 2 Theory . 17 2.1 Tense and aspect . 17 2.1.1 General theories of tense . 18 2.1.1.1 The perfect in general theories of tense . 22 2.1.1.2 The pluperfect in general theories of tense . 27 2.1.2 General theories of aspect . 30 2.1.3 Tense and aspect in Swedish . 31 2.1.4 Tense and aspect in Polish . 38 2.2 Aktionsart . 44 2.2.1 General theories of aktionsart . 44 2.2.2 Aktionsart in Swedish . 47 2.2.3 Aktionsart in Polish . 50 2.2.4 Aktionsart or aspect? . 51 2.3 The source of difficulty . 61 2.3.1 Comparison of Swedish and Polish tense systems . 61 2.3.2 Some general observations on the acquisition of the Swedish tense system . 67 2.3.3 The main source of difficulty . 68 3 Review of previous research on acquisition of temporality in L1 and L2 . 72 3.1 Acquisition of temporality in L1 . 72 3.2 Acquisition of temporality in L2 . 76 4 The design of the study . 86 4.1 General theoretical background and research questions . 86 4.2 Informants . 88 4.3 Linguistic material . 90 4.4 Statistical methods . 99 4.4.1 The method of scoring . 100 4.4.2 Rank order list . 102 4.4.3 Stepwise multiple regression . 103 5 Results of stepwise multiple regression . 109 6 Contents 6 Analysis of the effect of non-linguistic factors . 113 6.1 The factor type of task: (V3) . 113 6.1.1 Hypothesis . 114 6.1.2 Results and discussion . 115 6.2 The factor type of response: (V4), (V5), (V6) . 115 6.2.1 Hypothesis . 116 6.2.2 Results and discussion . 118 6.3 The effect of non-linguistic factors: summary of results . 120 7 Analysis of the effect of linguistic factors upon variable use of the pluperfect . 121 7.1 Factors connected with the type of verbal indication of topic time . 122 7.1.1 Location of the verb indicating topic time with reference to the target verb: (V8) and (V15) . 122 7.1.1.1 Hypothesis . 125 7.1.1.2 Results and discussion . 129 7.1.2 Bounded vs. unbounded meaning of the verb indicatin topic time: (V13) . 130 7.1.2.1 Hypothesis . 131 7.1.2.2 Classification problems . 135 7.1.2.3 Results . 137 7.1.3 Multiple vs. single indication of topic time: (V11) . 137 7.1.3.1 Hypothesis . 140 7.1.3.2 Results and discussion . 141 7.1.4 Non-reported speech vs. reported speech: (V7) . 141 7.1.4.1 Hypothesis . 142 7.1.4.2 Results and discussion . 145 7.2 Factors referring to the semantics of the target verb . 145 7.2.1 Bounded vs. unbounded and resultative vs. non-resultative meaning of the target verb: (V12), (V18) . 146 7.2.1.1 Hypothesis . 147 7.2.1.2 Classification problems . 150 7.2.1.3 Results and discussion . 151 7.2.2 Agentive vs. non-agentive meaning of the target verb: (V16) . 153 7.2.2.1 Hypothesis . 153 7.2.2.2 Results . 154 7.3 Miscellaneous factors . 154 7.3.1 Function of the subordinate clauses in the text: specifying vs. constituting: (V9) . 155 7.3.1.1 Hypothesis . 156 7.3.1.2 Results . 158 7.3.2 Location of the time of action of pluperfect clauses: outside vs. within the temporal frame of the narrative plot (V10) . 158 Contents 7 7.3.2.1 Hypothesis . 159 7.3.2.2 Results . 161 7.3.3 Type of semantic relation between the clause containing the target verb and the clause containing the verb indicating topic time (or some other clause): causal vs. non-causal (V14) . 161 7.3.3.1 Hypothesis . 162 7.3.3.2 Results and discussion . 163 7.3.4 Type of pluperfect: actional vs. statal: (V17) . 164 7.3.4.1 Hypothesis . 169 7.3.4.2 The method of classification and classification problems . 170 7.3.4.3 Results and discussion . 171 7.3.5 The effect of linguistic factors upon the correct use of the pluperfect: summary of results . 174 8 Final discussion . 177 8.1 Answers to the research questions . 177 8.1.1 Is the correct use of the pluperfect affected by the linguistic context? . 177 8.1.2 Which linguistic factors may account for variable application of the pluperfect? . 178 8.1.3 Why may particular linguistic factors account for different degrees of difficulty in the application of the pluperfect rule? . 182 8.2 Interpretation of the results in terms of theories of language acquisition . 186 8.3 Assessment of the study . 189 8.3.1 Linguistic material . 189 8.3.2 Method of scoring . 191 8.4 Guidelines for future research . 192 Bibliography . 195 Appendix 1. 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