L1 influence in the L2 acquisition of isiXhosa verb placement by English and Afrikaans adolescents
Date
2009
Authors
Lombard, Shona
Conradie, Simone
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Open Journal Systems
Abstract
This paper reports on an investigation into the possibility of first language (L1) transfer in the initial
stages of the second language (L2) acquisition of isiXhosa by adolescent L1 speakers of Afrikaans and
English, respectively. Four hypotheses about the initial state of L2 acquisition are (i) the Full Transfer
hypothesis (Schwartz and Sprouse 1994, 1996; White 1989, 2003), (ii) the Minimal Trees hypothesis
(Vainikka and Young-Scholten 1994, 1996), (iii) the Initial Hypothesis of Syntax (Platzack 1996) and
(iv) the No Transfer hypothesis (Clahsen and Muysken 1986). A study was conducted to test the
different predictions made by these hypotheses regarding verb placement by beginner learners of
isiXhosa; data were collected by means of both a sentence completion and a grammaticality judgement
task. It is argued that the results of the study are only compatible with the Full Transfer hypothesis.
The implications of the results of this investigation for L2 teaching in a multilingual environment are
also briefly discussed.
Description
The original publication is available at http://spilplus.journals.ac.za/pub
Keywords
second language acquisition, transfer, isiXhosa, verb placement
Citation
Lombard, S. & Conradie, S. 2009. L1 influence in the L2 acquisition of isiXhosa verb placement by English and Afrikaans adolescents. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics PLUS, 38, 167-181, doi: 10.5842/38-0-59.