Affiliation:
1. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt , Institut für Psycholinguistik und Didaktik der deutschen Sprache , Frankfurt , Germany
Abstract
Abstract
Using the standardized test LiSe-DaZ across four test rounds, we collected elicited production data from 22
typically developing early second language learners (eL2 TD) of German (mean age at T1: 3;7) and 11 older eL2
children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) (mean age at T1: 7;1). Focusing on the relation between verb
placement and verbal inflectional morphology two questions were addressed: Do eL2 children obey the ban on
non-finite verbs in verb-second position (V2) in German, and do eL2 SLI children differ from their eL2 TD peers in
their morpho-syntactic behavior? This is the first study on this issue to systematically differentiate between V2 and
verb-final position (Vf) and between bare verb forms and infinitives, based on a large sample of elicited production
data. Results show that from the first test round onwards verbal inflectional morphology and verb placement were
strongly related in the TD and the SLI group. Bare verb forms occurred in V2 only and are argued to be finite;
en-infinitives were restricted to Vf. We conclude that a) the restrictions for morphological markings
are inextricably tied to specific syntactic positions, b) that this knowledge is still accessible when L2 acquisition
starts around age 3, and c) that the ban on non-finite verbs in V2 is invulnerable in eL2 TD and in SLI, indicating
that SLI is matter of severe delay.
Subject
Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics
Cited by
6 articles.
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