Cross-Linguistic Influence in the Acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese As a Third Language
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CROSS-LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE IN THE ACQUISITION OF BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE AS A THIRD LANGUAGE BY HELADE SCUTTI SANTOS DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Spanish in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Silvina Montrul, Chair Associate Professor Tania Ionin Assistant Professor Jonathan MacDonald Assistant Professor Rebecca Foote Abstract This dissertation investigates the acquisition of properties of the dative alternation in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) by L1 Spanish/L2 English and L1 English/L2 Spanish speakers who are learning Portuguese as a third language (L3). This work contributes to a better understanding of which factors determine cross-linguistic influence in the multilingual mind and what the role of previously acquired languages is in the acquisition of any language beyond the L2. The three languages of the multilingual participants have dative alternation, although it presents different properties in each language. English verbs with two internal arguments can alternate between a prepositional object construction (POC), which consists of a V DP PP, as in Mary bought a gift for John; and a double object construction (DOC), which consists of a V DP DP, as in Mary bought John a gift. DOCs are also present in Spanish (Demonte 1995, Masullo 1992, Bruhn de Garavito 2000, Cuervo 2003) and Portuguese (Torres Morais 2006, Torres Morais & Salles 2010). In these languages DOCs consist of structures with dative clitics and/or DPs marked for dative case by the dative case marker a, as in María le compró un regalo a Juan ‘María DAT CL bought a gift DAT case marker Juan.’ DOCs can alternate with POCs in Spanish and Portuguese as well, but there are cross-linguistic differences not only in grammatical encoding but also in productivity of DOCs in English, Spanish and BP. First, this study provides an analysis of properties of the dative alternation in BP based on empirical data collected from BP native speakers in two different studies. Results of two written acceptability judgment tasks and an oral picture description task ii have shown that 1st person dative clitics with the role of goal are still productive in written and oral discourses. Third person dative clitics and datives with the roles of benefactive and source are accepted in written and formal register but are not produced in oral and colloquial discourse by BP native speakers. Possessor datives are no longer available in the BP grammar. This indicates that BP is losing the 3rd person dative clitic and the possibility of expressing 1st and 2nd person indirect objects with dative clitics when they are not core arguments of the verb. Second, a written grammaticality judgment task, a written acceptability judgment task and an oral picture description task were used to test L3 BP learners’ knowledge of the dative alternation in BP and transfer from either Spanish or English. The L3 learners’ intuitions and oral production in BP were compared to their perception of distance between Spanish and Portuguese and English and Portuguese. Perception of language distance was assessed using a language distance questionnaire. Results demonstrate that the L3 BP learners have acquired properties of the dative alternation in BP but still made errors and over-accepted ungrammatical constructions in BP. Negative and positive transfer from both Spanish and English was attested. A comparison between the results of the linguistic tasks and the answers to the language distance questionnaire indicates that amount of transfer is not related to perception of language distance. Based on the results of the present study, it is proposed that multilingual speakers transfer from the steady-state system of any previously learned language and language transfer may have positive as well as negative effects. It is also hypothesized that whether and which previously acquired linguistic systems will be activated in the multilingual mind and will be more likely to influence the acquisition and use of the L3 iii depends on a dynamic process. Different factors can interact and determine processes of language transfer, including but not limited to order of acquisition, language proximity and level of proficiency in the L2 and the L3. iv Acknowledgments I would like to start by thanking my advisor, Silvina Montrul, not only for her help with my research project but also for teaching me so much about what it takes to be a productive and successful scholar. Since my first semester in graduate school she believed in me and gave me valuable opportunities to participate in more than one of her research projects. These opportunities were key for my growth as a researcher because I was able to see the whole development of a research project, since its idealization until the publication of the results. I want to thank Jonathan MacDonald and Abbas Benmamoun as well for their valuable help with the syntactic descriptions and analyses that are in the first part of this dissertation. This was definitely the most laborious part of my research because I am not a syntactician but still decided to venture into the field of Syntax. Also, a very special thanks to Tania Ionin who was like a co-adviser to me. From her I learned a lot about experimental methodology and data analysis. Furthermore, the idea for my dissertation research was born in one of her courses and her thoughtful comments and suggestions helped me to convert a final paper in a broader research project. There are at least two other professors in SIP who gave me academic, professional and emotional support throughout graduate school: Melissa Bowles and Ann Abbot. I am also very grateful to all the participants who completed my experiments and to the people who helped me contact them, including Melissa França, Maurício Pimentel and Max Pendergraph. Without their help this dissertation wouldn’t have been possible. I can’t forget mentioning all the institutions that have provided me with essential v financial support. Their support allowed me to spend more time on my research and gave me the necessary resources to collect the data I needed. Thanks to the Spanish Italian and Portuguese Department, to the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, to the Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies, to the School of Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics and to the Graduate College of the University of Illinois for the fellowships and grants they awarded me. I don’t forget all the friends I have made in Champaign-Urbana; especially those who started graduate school with me. It has been a long journey, but it has certainly been much easier because we could share our experiences and feelings. My family in Brazil also deserves all my gratitude, because although they miss us a lot, they were always supportive and loving. Finally, I would like to thank my children Clarice and Antonio and my husband Fernando, for being the most wonderful family that anybody could have. I feel so fortunate to have had a daughter while I was doing my PhD, because since she was born she doesn’t stop reminding me that life is much more than studying and doing research. I am also very fortunate to have had a patient son, who waited until after the defense to be born. However, none of this would have even started if Fernando didn’t exist in my life. He has been the most wonderful, supportive and loyal partner and I couldn’t have come this far if he was not on my side. I am also deeply thankful to him for having actively discussed my data with me and for having helped me with preliminary numerical analyses. vi Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2: The syntax of the dative alternation in English, Spanish and Portuguese ..................................................................................................................... 9 2.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 9 2.2. Different approaches to the English dative alternation ..................................... 12 2.3. The dative alternation in Spanish ...................................................................... 16 2.4. Dative alternation in Portuguese ....................................................................... 25 2.4.1. European Portuguese (EP) ........................................................................ 25 2.4.2. Brazilian Portuguese (BP) .......................................................................... 28 Chapter 3: Experimental investigation of the dative alternation in BP .................. 37 3.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 37 3.2. Study 1 .............................................................................................................. 40 3.2.1. Participants ................................................................................................. 40 3.2.2. Task ............................................................................................................ 41 3.2.3. Results and brief discussion ....................................................................... 44 3.3. Study 2 .............................................................................................................. 51 3.3.1. Participants ................................................................................................