ABSTRACT

This study investigates the acquisition of genericity in L2 French and L3 English. While some exponents become generic by assembling morphological, syntactic and discursive cues, definite singular nominals additionally require the well-established kind restriction. It is a pragmatic and language-specific constraint. The participants are L1 Arabic adults advanced in L2 French, L1 Arabic-L2 French adults advanced in L3 English, French controls and English controls. An acceptability judgement interpretation task shows that the learners develop nativelike interpretation of well-established kind definite generics that cluster morphological, semantic and discourse cues. However, they interpret non-well-established nominals generically in violation of the pragmatic restriction. Thus, a deficit in pragmatic knowledge leads to the semantic misinterpretation of non-generic nominals in the L2/L3 interlanguage. The study suggests that language-specific pragmatic properties are subject to differential acquisition compared to other properties, even if they all belong to the same external interface. The deficit is due to L1 Arabic transfer. The study claims that pragmatic properties that determine interpretation outcomes are eventually acquirable. Finally, the outcome of L3 acquisition may be another instance of L2 acquisition at the advanced stages. The L2 and L3 ultimate attainment grammar is similar, in terms of knowledge of genericity.

摘要

本研究调查了第二层法语和第三层英语的通用性习得。虽然一些指数通过组合形态、句法和话语线索而变得通用，但确定的单数名词还需要完善的种类限制。这是一个实用且特定于语言的约束。参与者包括学习 L2 法语的 L1 阿拉伯语成人、学习 L3 英语的 L1 阿拉伯语-L2 法语成人、法语对照者和英语对照者。可接受性判断解释任务表明，学习者能够对形态、语义和话语线索聚集的成熟种类的明确泛型进行类似母语的解释。然而，他们对非完善的名词进行一般性解释，违反了实用限制。因此，语用知识的缺陷会导致 L2/L3 中介语中非通用名词的语义误解。该研究表明，与其他属性相比，特定于语言的语用属性在习得过程中存在差异，即使它们都属于同一外部接口。赤字是由于 L1 阿拉伯语传输造成的。该研究声称，决定解释结果的实用属性最终是可以获得的。最后，L3 习得的结果可能是 L2 习得高级阶段的另一个实例。L2 和 L3 终极成就语法在通用性知识方面是相似的。即使它们都属于同一个外部接口。赤字是由于 L1 阿拉伯语传输造成的。该研究声称，决定解释结果的实用属性最终是可以获得的。最后，L3 习得的结果可能是 L2 习得高级阶段的另一个实例。L2 和 L3 终极成就语法在通用性知识方面是相似的。即使它们都属于同一个外部接口。赤字是由于 L1 阿拉伯语传输造成的。该研究声称，决定解释结果的实用属性最终是可以获得的。最后，L3 习得的结果可能是 L2 习得高级阶段的另一个实例。L2 和 L3 终极成就语法在通用性知识方面是相似的。