Dissociating syntax from morphology in a divergent L2 end-state grammar

Abstract

This article addresses current proposals in the literature suggesting that thematic verb-raising is optional in the grammars of L2 acquirers, due either to failure to acquire verbal agreement morphology or to an impairment of the mechanism relating the ‘richness’ of morphological agreement paradigms to syntactic feature strength. I examine naturalistic longitudinal production data from Patty, a native Chinese speaker whose L2 English grammar has ‘fossilized’ with regard to verbal agreement morphology. The data show that, despite the omission of regular agreement suffixation in about 96% of obligatory contexts, thematic verbs are never raised in Patty's English,thus showing no optionality of raising.The results indicate that even in cases where regular verbal morphology is neveracquired,it is still possible for the learner to determine feature strength and the status of verb-raising in the target language.