Academic literature on the topic 'Theory of interlanguage'

The subject of this essay is a comparison of essays written by the same learners at two different points in time - i.e. while they were in the first and in the third grades of the Swedish secondary school. The essay includes a presentation of the raw data that have been used. The theoretical background is a general survey of some of the abundant literature relating to Second Language Acquisition and Error Analysis, and a large part of it deals with interlanguage theories. The analytical part of the work presents the results of the study, including a grammatical classification of the totality of the errors encountered as well as a presentation of the results for the whole of each class and for each individual learner. Finally, some of the theories are related to the results of the analysis and some conclusions are drawn. A part of the work consisted in the gathering of essays written by learners (exclusively with Swedish as their mother tongue) of the same class in a real school context, first to make a quantitative study of their errors, and second to make a comparison between their essays written at two different points in time. The aim was to find out if there had been an evolution, and to what extent the evolution had taken place. The hypothesis formulated at the beginning of this essay is that learners, in general, should make fewer errors after two years have passed. The results are that errors concerning Verbs (especially Concord), as well as miscellaneous spelling errors, were the most frequent ones, and this is true for both grades. As the total number of errors is lower for the third grade than for the first, and since the learners' production is larger in the third grade than in the first, the hypothesis can be considered to be true, though a larger study should be conducted to see if a general pattern can be found.

Nesta Tese, investigamos as consoantes geminadas no italiano a partir da produção dessas em dados coletados de falantes italianos e de aprendizes brasileiros, alunos das disciplinas de graduação oferecidas pelo Setor de Italiano do Instituto de Letras da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. A questão geral que norteia nossa análise acústica e fonológica é verificar se falantes brasileiros, aprendizes de italiano, adquirem essas consoantes. As geminadas são caracterizadas foneticamente como consoantes longas (Ridouane, 2010) e, fonologicamente, como portadoras de mora (McCarthy & Prince, 1986; Hayes, 1989; Morén, 1999). No italiano, esses segmentos têm função distintiva (Dardano & Trifone, 1999) quando se encontram no interior de palavras, mas não quando emergem na frase, entre palavras. Neste ambiente, a geminação consonântica é provocada pela gramática, em respeito a condições de boa formação prosódica. Com base nessas considerações, analisamos dados de realização de geminadas, especificamente coletados e analisados por meio do software PRAAT, versão 5.1.42 (Boersma & Weenink, 2010). A análise da duração das consoantes nos dados dos italianos e dos brasileiros nos possibilitou visualizar que: (1) o contexto prosódico interfere na duração dos segmentos; (2) embora o contexto prosódico interfira na duração, o contraste é preservado nos dados dos participantes italianos; (3) a princípio, os aprendizes relacionam a duração da consoante à distribuição do acento primário, mas, com o progresso no curso de italiano, os aprendizes passam a produzir, além das consoantes geminadas em ambiente tônico, geminadas em ambiente átono, embora não categoricamente. Construímos nossa análise com base nos pressupostos da Teoria da Otimidade (Prince & Smolensky, 1993/ 2004). Seguindo as predições da Teoria Mórica (Hayes, 1989) e a proposta de Morén (1999), mostramos, com base na literatura e em nossos resultados, que a aquisição de geminadas pelos aprendizes brasileiros depende do ranking alto da restrição de fidelidade MAXLINK-MORA[CON], ativa na gramática dos participantes italianos. As geminadas que ramificam sílabas tônicas são encontradas inclusive nos dados dos aprendizes brasileiros matriculados nos níveis iniciais do curso de italiano. Neste caso, o que garante sua produção é o ranking alto de WSP, que associa peso silábico a acento, em interação com as restrições de marcação FTBIN, que requer pés binários, *LONGV, que marca violação a candidatos com vogal longa, juntamente com a restrição EDGEMOST-R, que milita a favor do alinhamento do acento com a margem direita da palavra. A quantidade consonântica provocada pela gramática em favor da formação de pés harmônicos (como ocorre no caso da geminação na frase) corresponde à situação de mora por coerção (Morén, 1999). Nossa análise mostra que, nos dados dos aprendizes, a mora das consoantes geminadas que travam sílabas acentuadas é mantida pelo alto ranking das restrições de marcação que militam a favor de pés bem-formados e da limitação do acento primário à janela de três sílabas. Em relação à geminação na frase, apesar da relação entre acento e geminação, o fenômeno é opcional nos dados de um dos falantes italianos. Supomos que a posição de NOCODA/ (adaptada de Flack, 2009), sem ranking estrito em relação a WSP, justifique sua opcionalidade, apresentada também nos dados dos aprendizes brasileiros. Nossos resultados nos levam a crer que a opcionalidade de outputs com Raddoppiamento Sintattico (Nespor & Vogel, 1986) e a aquisição não categórica de geminadas lexicais indiquem que o algoritmo de aprendizagem seja gradual (Boersma, 1997; Boersma & Hayes, 2000).
In this dissertation, we investigate the geminate consonants of Italian using production data collected from Italian speakers and Brazilian learners who take undergraduate courses at the Italian Section of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). The general question that guided our acoustic and phonological analysis is whether Brazilian speakers who are learners of Italian acquire such consonants. Geminates are characterized phonetically as long consonants (Ridouane, 2010) and, phonologically, they are mora-bearing (McCarthy & Prince, 1986; Hayes, 1989; Morén, 1999). In Italian, these segments are distinctive (Dardano & Trifone, 1999) in word-internal position, but not when they emerge at the phrase level, between words. In this environment, consonant germination is created by grammar, enforcing prosodic well-formedness conditions. Based on these facts, we have analyzed production data for geminates. Specifically, the data were collected and analyzed with PRAAT (version 5.1.42) software (Boersma & Weenink, 2010). The analysis of consonant length in the Italian and Brazilian data showed that: (1) prosodic context interferes with the length of segments; (2) even though prosodic context interferes with length, contrast is preserved in the data from Italian participants; (3) initially, learners tend to associate consonant length with the placement of primary stress; however, as they advance through the course, learners start to produce, in addition to geminate consonants in stressed environments, geminates in unstressed environments, though not categorically. We have developed our analysis based on the principles of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky, 1993/2004). Following the predictions of Moraic Theory (Hayes, 1989) and the proposal of Morén (1999), we show, based on the relevant literature and our own results, that the acquisition of geminates by Brazilian learners depends on a high ranking of the MAXLINK-MORA[CON] faithfulness constraint, which is active in the grammar of Italian participants. Geminates that cause branching in stressed syllables can be found even in the data from Brazilian learners enrolled in beginner-level Italian courses. In this case, what ensures their production is the high ranking of WSP, which associates syllable weight with stress, and interacts with markedness constraints FTBIN, related to foot binarity, *LONGV, which assigns a violation to candidates with long vowels, as well as EDGEMOST-R, which militates in favor of alignment of the stress with the right margin of the word. The consonant quantity enforced by the grammar in favor of the creation of harmonic feet (as in the case of phrase gemination) corresponds to the scenario of coerced moraicity (Morén, 1999). Our analysis shows that, in the data of learners, the moras of geminate consonants at the end of stressed syllables are preserved due to the high ranking of markedness constraints that militate in favor of well-formed feet and to the limitation of primary stress to the three-syllable window. Concerning phrase gemination, in spite of the relationship between stress and gemination, such a phenomenon was optional in the data from one of the Italian speakers. We assume that the position of NOCODA/ (adapted from Flack, 2009), without a strict ranking with respect to WSP, justifies its optionality, which also appears in the data of Brazilian learners. Our results lead us to believe that the optionality of outputs with Raddoppiamento Sintattico (Nespor & Vogel, 1986) and the non-categorical acquisition of lexical geminates indicate that the learning algorithm is gradual (Boersma, 1997; Boersma & Hayes, 2001).

Orientador: Elza Taeko Doi
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
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Resumo: Esta pesquisa envolve a análise da interlíngua referente ao uso real das partículas gramaticais wa e ga na produção de textos escritos pelos alunos de língua japonesa como LE. Elegeram-se essas partículas, pois se observou que a maioria dos alunos tinha dificuldades em utilizar corretamente a partícula wa, marcadora de tópico, trocando-a comumente pela partícula ga, de caso nominativo, ou vice-versa. O principal objetivo desta pesquisa é, então, o de identificar e sistematizar o uso dessas partículas utilizadas pelos alunos, e verificar as tendências na aprendizagem das mesmas, além das hipóteses levantadas por eles, concernentes a esse uso, como estratégias de aprendizagem e de comunicação. Para isso, adotou-se a abordagem dos Estudos da Aquisição-Aprendizagem de LE/L2, envolvendo a Análise de Erros. No entanto, diferentemente do que propõe essa abordagem em termos estritos, realizou-se a análise tanto de "erros" quanto de "acertos", para se poder compreender melhor o processo de aprendizagem e a competência (extra-)linguística dos alunos num dado momento de aprendizagem. Como procedimento de análise, adotaram-se os métodos quantitativo e qualitativo. Na análise quantitativa, verificou-se que os alunos tendem a atribuir, de maneira geral, apenas uma função a cada partícula, ou seja, trata-se do processo de simplificação das regras gramaticais. Verificou-se, também, que os alunos do nível básico consideraram ga como marcadora de sujeito gramatical, enquanto que os alunos do nível intermediário apreenderam ga como marcadora de objeto direto. Essa atribuição de diferentes funções à partícula ga é uma das provas de que a interlíngua é flexível, dinâmica e se encontra em processo de transformação no qual os aprendizes levantam hipóteses sobre as regras gramaticais, socioculturais, pragmáticas da língua-alvo, testando-as, reformando-as e negociando o sentido. Revelou-se, também, que, de modo geral, eles utilizam wa e ga adequadamente no nível da frase. Por outro lado, os resultados da análise qualitativa, realizada à luz da dimensão do texto, desvendaram que eles não levaram em consideração a gramática do texto/discurso, preocupando-se simplesmente com a natureza sintática e morfológica do sintagma acoplado por wa ou ga. Uma vez que a escolha entre wa e ga depende, também, do fluxo do texto/discurso e da intenção do emissor, ga já não se limita apenas a "partícula de caso", mas é também discursiva e pragmaticamente utilizada para expressar efeitos significativos no texto/discurso, tal como wa. Ou seja, wa e ga são as "partículas de negociação discursivo-pragmática" na comunicação. Portanto, dos professores, espera-se uma reavaliação da partícula ga, definida nas gramáticas do japonês como mera indicadora de caso. No ensino-aprendizagem de LE/L2, além da gramática da língua proposta pelos teóricos, o conhecimento da "gramática da interlíngua" torna-se imprescindível, pois é esta última que se configura como alicerce da gramática pedagógica voltada aos aprendizes não-nativos. Sem consciência, não ocorre a aquisição, ou seja, o papel dos professores deve ser considerado como "desestabilizador" e "conscientizador" no ensino de LE/L2.
Abstract: This study involves the analysis of the interlanguage corresponding to the actual use of grammatical particles wa and ga in the production of texts written by students of Japanese as a Foreign Language (FL). Such particles were selected due to the observation that most students presented difficulties in using correctly wa, a topic marker, and commonly replaced it with ga, a marker of the nominative case, or vice versa. The main objective of this research is, thus, to identify and systematize the use of these particles by the students and verify the trends in the learning of such particles, and the hypotheses raised by the students concerning their use, both as communicative and learning strategies. With that in mind, the approach adopted was found in the Studies in FL/L2 (Second Language) Acquisition/Learning and involves Error Analysis. However, differently from what that approach proposes originally, analysis was conducted not only of the "wrong" choices, but also of "right" ones, so that one could reach a better understanding of the learning process and of the students' (extra-)linguistic competence at a given moment of their learning. Both the qualitative and quantitative methods were used as analysis procedure. In the quantitative analysis, it was found that students tend to attribute, in general, a single function to each particle, that is, the process of grammatical rule simplification is manifested. It was also found that basic level students consider ga a marker of the grammatical subject, while intermediate level students perceived ga as a direct object marker. Such attribution of different functions to the particle ga is evidence that interlanguage is flexible and dynamic, and involves a transformation process, in which learners raise hypotheses about grammatical, sociocultural and pragmatic rules of the target-language, test them and review them while negotiating meaning. It was also revealed that, in general, students use wa and ga adequately at sentence level. On the other hand, the results of the qualitative analysis, approached in the dimension of the text, reveal that they did not take into consideration the text/discourse grammar, only being concerned with the morphosyntactic nature of the syntagma adjoined to wa or ga. Since the choice between wa and ga also depends on the flow of the text/discourse and on the speaker's/writer's intention, ga is not limited only to the role of "case-indicative particle", but is also discursively and pragmatically used to express meaningful effects in the text/discourse, like wa is. In other words, wa and ga are the "particles for discursive-pragmatic negotiation" in communication. Therefore, one expects of teachers a reassessment of the particle ga, defined in Japanese grammars merely as indicative of case. In the teaching-learning of FL/L2, besides the grammar of the language proposed by theorists, knowledge of the "interlanguage grammar" becomes indispensable, for it is the latter that can be characterized as the foundation of the pedagogic grammar for non-native learners. Without awareness there is no acquisition, thus, the role of the FL/L2 teacher should be one of "destabilizer" and "awareness promoter".
Doutorado
Lingua Estrangeira
Doutor em Linguística Aplicada

The thesis deals with second language acquisition (SLA) of Czech in Russian and English students. It presents the main theories of SLA (generative and cognitive approaches) and compares them to the results of author's research into L2 acquisition of Czech morphology and syntax in speakers of two typologically and structurally different mothertongues. It shows that language transfer plays an important role in SLA and that some of the generative assumptions about SLA that are claimed to apply universally cannot be proven for Czech.

Language adaptation of foreigners is always accompanied by a number of problems connected to the acquisition and the use of the language which becomes the primary communicative tool in the new environment. Ignoring and underestimating these problems typical of a particular language community can result in a failure to master the target language and consequently in the unsuccessful integration in the new society. This thesis is aimed at specific problems in the area of morphosyntax and phonetics, characteristic of Russian-speaking students of Czech. At the same time, it warns about the danger of overestimating positive transfer from Russian and emphasizes the necessity of using special didactic approach in teaching this group of foreign-language speakers. The analysis of the chosen language phenomena is based on the data from the Database of the voice recordings of spoken Czech by native speakers of Russian and the Database of language mistakes in Czech made by speakers whose native language is another Slavic language, which were created, among others, for the purpose of this thesis. The attention is specifically focused on the use of the reflexive se/si, forms of the auxiliary verb to be in the past tense, short forms of personal pronouns in spoken and written production of Russian-speaking...