Adult Acquisition of Infinitives in Spanish by Nahuatl speakers
Alma P. Ramírez-Trujillo
The University of Western Ontario
aramire@uwo.ca
Within the generative framework, it has been proposed that when two languages are acquired simultaneously, two grammatical systems are developed. Nevertheless, crosslinguistic influence, that is, the influence of one language on another, may take place (Hulk and Müller 2000; Müller and Hulk 2001). In this paper I investigate the acquisition of Spanish infinitives by Nahuatl speakers (Spanish/Nahuatl bilingual speakers and speakers of Spanish as a second language whose first language is Nahuatl). I will discuss whether learners are able to ‘delearn’ some aspects of their native language in order to acquire a simplified form of a more complex structure that is already present in their first language.
Spanish, unlike Nahuatl, is a language with infinitives (see example 1); therefore, every verb has a non-conjugated form which is morphologically marked. On the other hand, Nahuatl is an agglutinative language with no infinitives but a root that works like a bound morpheme, that is, a morpheme that does not have meaning by itself if it is not accompanied by something else such as agreement or tense morphemes (see example 2).
1) Yo no quiero ir a la cama sin comer
I-pro neg want-1st inf-to go to the bed without inf-eat
‘I do not want to go to bed without eating’
2) a. Ni- k- neki ni- choca-s
1st p. Obj.Agr. want-pres 1st p. cry-fut
‘I want to cry’
b. *Yo lloro yo quiero (Nahuatl sentence is ungrammatical in Spanish
English)
Since in the Spanish infinitive constructions we have a conjugated verb accompanied by an infinitive verb, I propose that, in this type of structures, there is just one tense phrase (TP). However, in the case of Nahuatl, where we have two conjugated verbs together, we have a structure with two TP’s. As a consequence of this, Nahuatl speakers have to delearn one TP in order to produce the Spanish infinitive constructions. I will report on an experiment carried out in Mexico where speakers of Nahuatl (n=26) were asked to answer a grammaticality judgement task that compared phrases like the ones showed above in 2a and 2b, and a production task in which participants were asked to describe pictures that elicited infinitive constructions. I expect to contribute evidence to the validation of the hypothesis of crosslinguistic influence due to language contact.
Alma P. Ramírez-Trujillo
The University of Western Ontario
aramire@uwo.ca
Within the generative framework, it has been proposed that when two languages are acquired simultaneously, two grammatical systems are developed. Nevertheless, crosslinguistic influence, that is, the influence of one language on another, may take place (Hulk and Müller 2000; Müller and Hulk 2001). In this paper I investigate the acquisition of Spanish infinitives by Nahuatl speakers (Spanish/Nahuatl bilingual speakers and speakers of Spanish as a second language whose first language is Nahuatl). I will discuss whether learners are able to ‘delearn’ some aspects of their native language in order to acquire a simplified form of a more complex structure that is already present in their first language.
Spanish, unlike Nahuatl, is a language with infinitives (see example 1); therefore, every verb has a non-conjugated form which is morphologically marked. On the other hand, Nahuatl is an agglutinative language with no infinitives but a root that works like a bound morpheme, that is, a morpheme that does not have meaning by itself if it is not accompanied by something else such as agreement or tense morphemes (see example 2).
1) Yo no quiero ir a la cama sin comer
I-pro neg want-1st inf-to go to the bed without inf-eat
‘I do not want to go to bed without eating’
2) a. Ni- k- neki ni- choca-s
1st p. Obj.Agr. want-pres 1st p. cry-fut
‘I want to cry’
b. *Yo lloro yo quiero (Nahuatl sentence is ungrammatical in Spanish
English)
Since in the Spanish infinitive constructions we have a conjugated verb accompanied by an infinitive verb, I propose that, in this type of structures, there is just one tense phrase (TP). However, in the case of Nahuatl, where we have two conjugated verbs together, we have a structure with two TP’s. As a consequence of this, Nahuatl speakers have to delearn one TP in order to produce the Spanish infinitive constructions. I will report on an experiment carried out in Mexico where speakers of Nahuatl (n=26) were asked to answer a grammaticality judgement task that compared phrases like the ones showed above in 2a and 2b, and a production task in which participants were asked to describe pictures that elicited infinitive constructions. I expect to contribute evidence to the validation of the hypothesis of crosslinguistic influence due to language contact.
