Triggers in L2 acquisition: The case of Spanish N-N compounds
-
Juana M. Liceras [1] ; Lourdes Díaz [2]
-
[1] University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
Canadá
-
[2] Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Barcelona, España
-
- Localización: Studia linguistica: A journal of general linguistics, ISSN 0039-3193, Vol. 54, Nº 2, 2000, págs. 197-211
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
-
Resumen
Spanish has left-headed compounds which are not as productive as their left-headed counterparts in other languages. This presence or absence of productivity has been attributed to a binary parameter according to which N-N compounding, as opposed to nominal constructions in which the head noun takes a complement as in ‘the destruction of the city’, would be the superset or marked option. Furthermore, the idiosyncratic nature of Spanish N-N compounding has been attributed to the make-up of Spanish Nouns. Specifically, it has been proposed that Spanish Nouns have a ‘word marker’ which triggers L1 acquisition of these constructions. Based on the results of two picture tests intended to elicit actual command of N-N compounding strategies, as well as word order patterns and gender marking patterns, we argue that: 1) N-N compounding is not a marked construction; 2) adult L2 acquisition of Spanish N-N compounds is triggered by head directionality (a processing trigger) rather than by the ‘word marker’ (a representational trigger) which is supposed to trigger L1 acquisition of these compounds.
