L1 influence in the L2 acquisition of isiXhosa verb placement by English and Afrikaans adolescents

  • Shona Lombard Department of General Linguistics, Stellenbosch University
  • Simone Conradie Department of General Linguistics, Stellenbosch University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5842/38-0-59

Abstract

This paper reports on an investigation into the possibility of first language (L1) transfer in the initialstages of the second language (L2) acquisition of isiXhosa by adolescent L1 speakers of Afrikaans andEnglish, respectively. Four hypotheses about the initial state of L2 acquisition are (i) the Full Transferhypothesis (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 thedifferent predictions made by these hypotheses regarding verb placement by beginner learners ofisiXhosa; data were collected by means of both a sentence completion and a grammaticality judgementtask. 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 arealso briefly discussed.Keywords: second language acquisition, transfer, isiXhosa, verb placement

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Published
2012-05-16
How to Cite
Lombard, S., & Conradie, S. (2012). L1 influence in the L2 acquisition of isiXhosa verb placement by English and Afrikaans adolescents. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 38. https://doi.org/10.5842/38-0-59
Issue
Vol. 38 (2009): Multilingualism and language policies in Africa | Mehrsprachigkeit und Sprachenpolitik in Afrika
Section
IV. Second language acquisition in multilingual contexts | Zweitspracherwerb unter Mehrsprachigkeitsbedingungen
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