Tense and Aspect in Italian Interlanguage

Zuzana Toth

Published by De Gruyter 2020

Tense and Aspect in Italian Interlanguage

Zuzana Toth

Volume 45 in the series Sprache im Kontext / Language in Context

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110626490

Overview
Contents

About this book

The expression of time is fundamental in communication and languages have developed a variety of means to encode temporal relations. When learning a new language, learners are often faced with the challenging task of discovering a new system of temporal relations.
The present study investigates the development of tense and aspect marking in the interlanguage of L3 Italian learners enrolled in university language courses. It examines how the tense-aspect system develops in the interlanguage and how the acquisition process is shaped by factors such as the lexical aspectual value of the predicates and discourse grounding. The data indicate that both lexical aspect and discourse grounding influence the distribution of verbal morphology in the interlanguage. Semantically congruent pairings of lexical aspect, verbal morphology and discourse grounding are used more frequently and appropriately than less prototypical combinations. The acquisition process is also influenced by the learner’s L1, which was mostly German in the context of the present study.
The study can be used as a guide for curricular decisions in language teaching, and for projecting further research on the development of tense-aspect marking in multilingual learners.

Author information

Zuzana Toth, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
1 Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Key concepts of language acquisition research Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
3 Tense, aspect and grounding Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
4 The acquisition of tense and aspect in Romance languages Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
5 The acquisition of tense and aspect in Italian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
6 Methodology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
7 Results of the obligatory occasion analysis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
8 Results of the frequency analysis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	168
9 The effect of lexical aspect on the distribution of past tense morphology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
10 Discussion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Academics (language teaching and learning, bilingualism and multilingualism, second language acquisition, Romance languages)
Pages
- Front matter: 12
- Main content: 266
Illustrations
- Coloured Illustrations: 8
- Tables: 85
Keywords: Tense; Aspect; Aspect Hypothesis; Discourse Hypothesis

eBook

Published: November 23, 2020
ISBN: 9783110626490

Hardcover

Published: November 23, 2020
ISBN: 9783110624960