Article Semantics in L2 Acquisition: The Role of Specificity

Abstract

Studies of second-language (L2) acquisition have often addressed the issue of parameter-setting among L2 learners. Much work has been done on the setting of syntactic parameters in L2 acquisition-e.g., the verb-raising parameter (see White (1990/1991), among others), the V2-parameter (see Robertson and Sorace (1999), among others), and the Governing Category Parameter (GCP) (see Finer and Broselow (1986), among others). A major question addressed by these studies concerns L2 learners' ability to acquire parameter values that are not present in their first language (L1). In this article, we examine L2 learners' ability to acquire a new value for a semantic parameter-the Article Choice Parameter. To do this, we first establish the settings of this parameter. Examining the behavior of articles in English and Samoan, we argue that there is parametric variation in the lexical specifications of articles: We propose that articles cross-linguistically can encode the feature [+definite] or the feature [+specific]. We then investigate the role that these features play in the acquisition of English articles by adult speakers of article-less languages, Russian and Korean. We present elicitation and production data to show that L2 learners have access to both settings of the Article Choice Parameter. We show that access to the feature [+specific] cannot be accounted for by either L1 transfer or L2 input and argue that our findings present evidence for direct access to universal semantic distinctions in L2 acquisition.

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