27 gener, 2022
Autors:
Panagiota Margaza & Anna Gavarró
Títol:
The Distribution of Subjects in L2 Spanish by Greek LearnersEditorial: Frontiers in Psychology, Language Sciences
Col·lecció: Frontiers in PsychologyData de publicació: 20 gener 2022
Text completOur study examines the expression and position of subjects in L2 acquisition, two phenomena that are studied within the framework of the Interface Hypothesis (IH). The first version of the IH predicts that interface properties involving syntax and another cognitive domain may not be fully acquirable in a second language (Sorace and Filiaci, 2006; also Sorace, 2011). The second version of the IH predicts that formal properties involving the syntax-semantics interface are unproblematic to acquire in L2 grammars compared to the vulnerable properties integrating syntax with the higher level of pragmatics (Tsimpli and Sorace, 2006). We test these IH versions in L2 Spanish as acquired by L1 Greek speakers, a language combination understudied in the literature. Both languages share the null subject parameter, but still the IHs predict incomplete command at the syntax-pragmatics interface. Two acceptability judgment tasks were designed for Spanish: the first task tested null/overt subjects in referential contexts and the second task tested preverbal/postverbal subjects in informational contexts. Participants were L1 Greek intermediate and advanced learners of Spanish and native speakers of Spanish (15 subjects in each group). In the first task, both experimental groups showed target-like distribution of null/overt subjects in most non-contrastive and contrastive contexts, except for the advanced group in unambiguous referential contexts. In the second task, the respective groups accepted felicitous preverbal subjects with unergative verbs, but diverged from native-like distribution of postverbal subjects with unaccusative verbs in neutral contexts. The L2 groups showed a high preference for unfelicitous preverbal subjects with both intransitive verbs in informational contexts, contrary to the subject inversion patterns of the control group. The results obtained were not consistent with the IH predictions, and other factors such as the type of subject, verb class and context played a role in L2 performance.
Títols de la col·lecció / Also in this series:
28 juliol, 2026
Autors:
Gavarró, Anna
Títol:
Language Acquisition Device and Parameter SettingEditorial: Nesi, H., Milin, P. (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 3e. Vol 9.
Col·lecció: International Encyclopedia of Language and LinguisticsData de publicació: 2026
Pàgines: 6ISBN13: 9780323955041
Més informació
Text completIn the context of poverty of stimulus and a modular theory of the mind, the role of linguistics is not only to characterize
mental grammars, but also to explain how children develop them, given the variation attested in the languages of the world.
The language acquisition device is proposed as an inborn system, that guides the child in building mental grammars.
Parameters were posited as an economical way of encoding language variation. Building a learning model of parameter
setting has proven to be a herculean task given the feasibility condition imposed on them by the cognitive limitations of
humans. Empirical studies, on the other hand, provide evidence that parameter setting is achieved earlier than previously
thought, at least for morphosyntactic parameter.
21 gener, 2025
Autors:
Salmons, Muntané-Sanchez, & Gavarró
Títol:
An analysis of descriptions by Catalan-speaking individuals with aphasiaEditorial: Aphasiology
Data de publicació: 20-11-2024
Més informacióBackground
Description tasks are used to evaluate and investigate the production abilities of people with language impairments such as aphasia.
Aims
The goal of the present study is to investigate the production abilities of Catalan-speaking individuals with aphasia (IWA), as well as a smaller sample of individuals with cognitive impairment (IWCI), in comparison with those of healthy controls. A second goal is to evaluate whether the scoring system of the Catalan version of the CAT (CAT-CAT) is helpful to discriminate different patterns of language impairment.
Methods and procedure
In the study, 109 control subjects, 20 IWA and 4 IWCI were asked to orally describe a picture from the CAT-CAT. The scoring method consisted in a closed-rating system that evaluates productivity, discourse efficiency, fluency, grammatical complexity and grammaticality.
Results
The results show that the overall scores of the control subjects were significantly higher than those of the experimental groups; the difference between the two experimental groups was not significant. Yet, the group of IWA showed greater intersubject variability than the group of IWCI. Also, the IWA were consistently worse in fluency, grammaticality and grammatical complexity than the IWCI, which indicated a different pattern of performance between the two groups.
Conclusions
Our findings therefore show that the oral picture description of the CAT-CAT is sensitive to the language impairment of subjects with aphasia and cognitive impairment. Moreover, the rating system put forward allows us to uncover different patterns of language impairment, since it includes variables to evaluate separately content and discourse efficiency on the one hand, and grammatical features on the other hand.
