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Lexical Aspect and Lexical Saliency in Acquisition of Past Tense- Aspect Morphology Among Ibibio Esl Learners

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Lexical Aspect and Lexical Saliency in Acquisition of Past Tense- Aspect Morphology Among Ibibio Esl Learners LEXICAL ASPECT AND LEXICAL SALIENCY IN ACQUISITION OF PAST TENSE- ASPECT MORPHOLOGY AMONG IBIBIO ESL LEARNERS BY WILLIE UDO WILLIE (Under the Direction of Lioba Moshi) ABSTRACT In the last two decades researchers in L2 acquisition research have tested a number of hypotheses that make well defined predictions about the developmental processes involved in L2 acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. Such hypotheses include the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis and the Cognitive Saliency Hypothesis. Lexical Aspect Hypothesis predicts that the lexical semantics of the verbal predicates determines the pattern of acquisition of verbal morphology at the early stages of interlanguage development (Andersen and Shirai 1995; Ayoun and Salaberry 2008; Bardovi-Harlig 2000) while the Cognitive Saliency Hypothesis predicts that the perceptual saliency of the verbal predicates determines the pattern of acquisition of verbal morphology (Salaberry 2000; Hawkins and Lizska 2003). Our aim was to test the joint effects of these two hypotheses in the interlanguage of Ibibio learners of English as a second language (ESL). Ibibio is a language spoken in the southeastern part of Nigeria by about five million speakers. We argue that two distinct but related cognitive processes are involved in the development of inflectional endings in a second language: the lexical-based learning which is operative at the lower levels of proficiency and the rule-based learning which is operative at the higher levels of proficiency. We elicited written narratives from 171 participants organized into six groups sampled from the primary schools, the secondary schools and the universities using three sets of picture stories with each set for each level of education. The participants were asked to narrate the stories depicted in the pictures stories. The results of the data analyses showed that lexical aspect had highly significant effects on acquisition of the past tense-aspect morphology with a chi-square statistics of ( x2 = 196.92, df = 6, N = 1664, p = <.0001) indicating a strong dependency of acquisition of the past tense morphology on lexical aspect. Also, there was significant effects of lexical saliency on acquisition of the past tense with a chi-square statistics of ( x2 = 23.54, df = 2, N = 1664, p = <.0001) indicating a strong dependency of acquisition of the past tense on lexical saliency. However, the effect of lexical aspect was more prominent among the learners at the higher levels of proficiency while the reverse was the case for the effects of lexical saliency. Positive effects of instruction and effects of L1 were also reported. INDEX WORDS: Lexical Aspect; Viewpoint Aspect; Tense-Aspect Morphology; Aspect Hypothesis; Cognitive Saliency Hypothesis; Ibibio ESL Learners; Second Language Acquisition; Tutored Learners. LEXICAL ASPECT AND LEXICAL SALIENCY IN ACQUISITION OF PAST TENSE- ASPECT MORPHOLOGY AMONG IBIBIO ESL LEARNERS By WILLIE UDO WILLIE B.A. in Linguistics, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria, 1997 M.A. in Linguistics, Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey, 2007. A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2011 © 2011 Willie Udo Willie ALL Rights Reserved LEXICAL ASPECT AND LEXICAL SALIENCY IN ACQUISITION OF PAST TENSE- ASPECT MORPHOLOGY AMONG IBIBIO ESL LEARNERS By WILLIE UDO WILLIE Major Professor: Lioba Moshi Committee Members: Akinloye Ojo Chad Howe Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2011. DEDICATION TO GOD ALMIGHTY FOR HIS BOUNDLESS GRACE TOWARD ME AND MY FAMILY. And To my children Aniekan Brian Willie and Mfonisoabasi Joseph Willie for keeping the faith with me and allowing me to derive strength from them during my studies. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I want to thank God almighty for his grace and mercy toward me and my family throughout this long period of studies especially for resurrecting me from the death during the first three months of my studies in Rutgers University in New Jersey when I was seriously ill. I strongly believe that he has a mission for me and I promise to always make myself available preparatory for the fulfillment of that mission. I owe a lot of gratitude to people of goodwill who have supported me throughout the period of this journey. First, I want to use this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to my major professor and the Chair of my PhD advisory committee Prof. Lioba Moshi for giving me the courage to begin this program right from when we first met in 2008. I deeply appreciate her hard work, and scholarly critique of my dissertation work. Her tireless contributions have not only tremendously improved the quality of this study but have also changed my outlook on academic writing and second language acquisition studies. Thank you Prof. Moshi. I’ll always appreciate your work. The same degree of gratitude is extended the other members of my dissertation committee; Dr Akinloye Ojo and Dr Chad Howe for their support and encouragement. I like to thank the University of Georgia Program in Linguistics under the directorship of Prof. Jared Klein for granting me the teaching assistantship award throughout the period of my studies. This teaching assistantship award has not only supported my studies financially but has also exposed me to the classroom teaching and learning culture in the United States thereby providing me with the much needed classroom experience. I will remain always grateful to Prof. Don McCraery who encouraged me to begin the program though I did not have any financial support at the outset. I greatly appreciate the support of other Professors in the department for their quality academic instruction. These include Dr Keith Langston (Phonology), Dr Mi-Ran Kim v (Phonetics), Dr. Chad Howe (Sociolinguistics), Dr. Don McCraery (Lexicography, Second Language Acquisition, Error Analysis), Dr Victoria Hasko (Bilingualism), Dr. Linda Haklau (Research in Second Language Acquisition), Dr. Alexander William (Syntax), and Dr. Jared Klein (Historical Linguistics). I deeply appreciate the Linguistics Office Manager Ms Loretta Wheatley and my friends Ken Knight, Heather Mello, Jackie Shiu-Ju Young, Susan Frank, Radia Benzehra. Thank you all for your support and friendship. This acknowledgement would not be complete without a special salute to my home department; The Department of Linguistics, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria for their support and encouragement during this unexpectedly long period of my studies. Of particular importance are Prof. E. Urua, Prof. Okon Essien and Dr Imelda Udo who have shown unwavering support for me and other colleagues especially those who dared to travel abroad for their studies. Other faculty and staff of the department deserve my gratitude as well. They include Dr Okokon Akpan, Mfon E. Udoinyang, Alhaji M. Nya, and Mrs. Golden Ibiang. The faculty and staff at The Department of Linguistics at Rutgers University deserve my utmost appreciation. These include Professor Akinlabi Akinbiyi, Professor Mark Baker, Professor Ken Safir, Professor Veneeta Dayal and Professor Rogers. Finally, my deepest thanks go to my family; my wife, Mrs. Idongesit Willie and my two sons Aniekan Brian Willie and Mfonisoabasi Joseph Willie. I am indebted to my children for enduring the long years of my studies. I cannot forget my parents, Mrs. Eno U Willie and Chief Brian Charles Udo Willie who have stuck with me through thick and thin to make sure that I stood on their shoulders and reach out for higher achievements in life. A very special thank you goes to my siblings especially Emmanuel U Willie who volunteered his time during the data collection process for this study. Others include Bibiana U Willie, Ime U Willie, Kufre U Willie, vi Udeme U Willie and Eno U Willie. Also, I owe profound gratitude to my friends Mrs. Sylvia Schell and her husband Geoffrey Schell, Dr Akinloye Ojo and his wife, Mr Uyoatta Ben, Dr Ndem U Ndem and his wife, Mr. Archibald (Kokoette) Mbat and his wife, Mr. Henry E. Udoh and family, Pastor Sam Mayor and his wife, Pastor Steve Cole and his wife Sister Cole, Mr. Enefiok Umana and his wife, Mr. Innocent Uto and his wife Helen Uto, Ms. Miriam Mills, Carlos Fasola, Simeon Esset, Udeme Esset and Owoidighe Esset for their support and encouragement. Each one of you has been a special blessing and support for me in a special way. Thank you and God bless all of you. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………….v LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………………….xii LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………………......xiv CHAPTERS 1 INTRODUCTTION…………………..…………………………………………………………1 1.1 Introduction…………………………...…………………………………………………….1 1.2 Research Background………………...…………………………………………...………..2 1.3 Statement of the Research Problem……………………...…………...…………………….4 1.4 Objectives of the Study………………......…………………………………………………5 1.5 Significance of the Study……………………………………...…………………………....6 1.6 Research Questions………………………………………...……………………………….7 1.7 Background on Ibibio People and Language………………...……………………………..9 1.8 The Ibibio Linguistic Time………………………………….…………………………….12 1.9 Domestication of Nigerian English………………………...……………………..……….35 1.10 Organization of the Study……………………….....…………………………………….39 2 Literature Review………………………………………………………………………………40 2.1 Introduction……………………………..………………………………………………..40 2.2 Tense and Aspect……...………………………………………………………………….41 2.3 English Tense-aspect System…………………...………………………………………...61
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