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On L2 Grammar and Processing: the Case of Oblique Relative Clauses and the Null-Prep Phenomenon

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On L2 Grammar and Processing: the Case of Oblique Relative Clauses and the Null-Prep Phenomenon ON L2 GRAMMAR AND PROCESSING: THE CASE OF OBLIQUE RELATIVE CLAUSES AND THE NULL-PREP PHENOMENON BY SILVIA PERPIÑÁN-HINAREJOS 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, 2010 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Silvia A. Montrul, Chair Assistant Professor Karlos Arregi, University of Chicago Professor Elabbas Benmamoun Assistant Professor Tania Ionin ABSTRACT This dissertation investigates the acquisition of oblique relative clauses in L2 Spanish by English and Moroccan Arabic speakers in order to understand the role of previous linguistic knowledge and its interaction with Universal Grammar on the one hand, and the relationship between grammatical knowledge and its use in real-time, on the other hand. Three types of tasks were employed: an oral production task, an on-line self-paced grammaticality judgment task, and an on-line self-paced reading comprehension task. Results indicated that the acquisition of oblique relative clauses in Spanish is a problematic area for second language learners of intermediate proficiency in the language, regardless of their native language. In particular, this study has showed that, even when the learners’ native language shares the main properties of the L2, i.e., fronting of the obligatory preposition (Pied-Piping), there is still room for divergence, especially in production and timed grammatical intuitions. On the other hand, reaction time data have shown that L2 learners can and do converge at the level of sentence processing, showing exactly the same real-time effects for oblique relative clauses that native speakers had. Processing results demonstrated that native and non-native speakers alike are able to apply universal processing principles such as the Minimal Chain Principle (De Vincenzi, 1991) even when the L2 learners still have incomplete grammatical representations, a result that contradicts some of the predictions of the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (Clahsen & Felser, 2006). Results further suggest that the L2 processing and comprehension domains may be able to access some type of information that it is not yet available to other grammatical modules, probably because transfer of certain L1 properties occurs asymmetrically across linguistic domains. ii In addition, this study also explored the Null-Prep phenomenon in L2 Spanish, and proposed that Null-Prep is an interlanguage stage, fully available and accounted within UG, which intermediate L2 as well as first language learners go through in the development of pied-piping oblique relative clauses. It is hypothesized that this intermediate stage is the result of optionality of the obligatory preposition in the derivation, when it is not crucial for the meaning of the sentence, and when the DP is going to be in an A-bar position, so it can get default case. This optionality can be predicted by the Bottleneck Hypothesis (Slabakova, 2009c) if we consider that these prepositions are some sort of functional morphology. This study contributes to the field of SLA and L2 processing in various ways. First, it demonstrates that the grammatical representations may be dissociated from grammatical processing in the sense that L2 learners, unlike native speakers, can present unexpected asymmetries such as a convergent processing but divergent grammatical intuitions or production. This conclusion is only possible under the assumption of a modular language system. Finally, it contributes to the general debate of generative SLA since in argues for a fully UG-constrained interlanguage grammar. iii ACK OWLEDGME TS Very few people are fortunate enough to thank everybody who has helped them achieve something in life. The fact that dissertations can have an acknowledgments section is an opportunity too good to miss. To begin with, I would like to thank my adviser, Silvina Montrul, for believing in me and giving me confidence to be part of this profession. Over the last years, she has seen me grow (and I have seen her shine), and a large part of that academic growth is her responsibility. Silvina treats her graduate students as junior colleagues, encouraging them to go to the “real” world (participating in research projects, going to conferences, submitting articles, etc), and prepares them and shows them how to be an effective scholar. She sets a model professionally and personally, for her productivity, her organization, and for how good she is as a mother. Silvina is really an accomplished woman. When I took her seminar on Universal Grammar and Second Language Acquisition where we read the always inspiring work of Lydia White, I knew that this field was for me. Gracias, Silvina. Karlos Arregi has been like a second adviser to me, setting an example as a caring, down-to- earth, remarkable syntactician. I wish I had a little of his never ending patience and his immense intelligence. Eskerrik asko, Karlos, hemen zure falta sumatzen dugu. Also, it fills me with pride and honor to have had on my committee Tania Ionin and Abbas Benmamoun, extraordinary linguists both. I thank them for their comments, fine observations, .MNOOOOPا ,and constructive criticism. Спасибо This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of many other people. I sincerely thank all the participants that completed the experiments. I am in debt to the people of iv Tetouan, in particular to the language school Dar Loughat, to Nizar and Zineb; and to the Instituto Cervantes in Tetouan, to Roberto Ortí. Also, to Mohamed Ali El Fahssi, for taking care of me while I was in Morocco. Xavier Llorà helped me a great deal with the technical problems that Linger can present. Miquel Simonet and Marcos Rohena-Madrazo directed me to the most appropriate statistical methods, but yes, I still don’t use R… I don’t forget about other linguists that gave me the foundations of all I know. José María Brucart opened the door of generative linguistics for me. He showed me how intuitions are a necessary but not sufficient condition to becoming a linguist. Thanks also to Maria Lluïsa Hernanz, whose intelligence and savoir faire influenced me a great deal. Both of them were crucial in my decision to come to the United States to continue my studies. I keep wonderful memories of my years at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, because it all started there. I thank all my professors at the Departament de Filologia Hispànica for conveying their passion for linguistics to me. I also want to thank my friends and classmates at the UAB for the clever conversations, encouragement, and good friendship; special thanks to Guillem Usandizaga. At the University of Illinois, I would like to thank those professors who have had a particular impact on my academic development. José Ignacio Hualde, whom I greatly value, is the best linguist on Iberian and Romance languages I know, yet, so modest. Besides, he is fun and a fair and good person. I will miss him. I suffered very much in James Yoon’s syntax classes, but also, I learned a lot. I am glad to have had the benefit of Elena Delgado’s advice during these years. Special thanks go to John and Julie Wilcox, for their generosity, their support, their mentoring and for letting me be part of their family. I am greatly in debt to them. Also, I am grateful for the support that several institutions have provided. Thanks to the Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese Department for all these years of financial support and the v excellent opportunities it has offered me. I am proud to have been part of the SIP family. I also thank the Institut Ramon Llull, the Dissertation Completion Fellowship that the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics awarded me, the Darlene Wolf Award, and the Cognitive Science/Artificial Intelligence Award, as well as the support I received over the years for travelling to conferences. Urbana-Champaign is a magic place, everybody complains about it (I never did!), but everybody misses it when they leave. Here I have been genuinely happy, and not only because I met Jordi. In these long dissertation years, I have missed very much my good friends María Capdevila and Susana Vidal. They left Champaign because life had better plans for them than staying here, and I am happy to see that life is treating them well, though I still miss them. I also want to thank Izaskun Indacoechea because she has been a great friend and a strong moral support this last dissertation year. It fills me with happiness to think that I will keep seeing my good linguist friends Miquel Simonet, Celeste Rodríguez-Louro, Antonio Reyes-Rodríguez, Lisa Pierce, and Antje Muntendam in future conference venues. There are several other people that have been essential for my well-being and therefore for the completion of my Ph.D. My friends in Spain, because they still miss me, and that means a lot to me. And of course, my family, who deserves all my gratitude because they are the ones who had suffered most greatly my absence during all these years, and I have suffered theirs. Mis hermanos Abel, Raúl y David, a los que quiero y admiro, y porque me siento muy unida a ellos. Els meus nebots, perquè encara viuen fascinats amb la idea de tenir una tieta als Estats Units. Y muy especialmente quiero agradecer a mis padres, Abel y Araceli, porque son personas extraordinarias que han conseguido superar todas las adversidades que la vida les ha puesto vi delante. Sin su amor incondicional, este proceso hubiera sido mucho más difícil. Os quiero mucho y os echo muchísimo de menos. Finally, I want to thank Jordi Olivar, my companion and love, because I owe him so much. He has helped me get the best out of myself, he has made me be a better person, and we both know that this dissertation would not be a reality without his support, his love, his patience, and his mano izquierda.
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