From SOV to SVO: the grammar of interlanguage word order

Abstract

This paper analyses the grammatical outcome of the conflict speakers of a head-final L1 (Southern Quechua) face when learning a head-initial target (Standard Spanish) in a naturalistic setting. It proposes that interlanguage sentential word orders reflect a transfer of two independent parameters from the L1: the possibility of having null objects with definite/specific antecedents and a feature triggering object movement for sentential focus. The second parameter can be successfully reset through contradictory evidence; the first one, however, cannot, since target evidence is compatible with the L1 setting. This data can better be accounted for in Schwartz and Sprouse's full-access/full-transfer model (Schwartz and Sprouse, 1994; 1996) than in other alternatives such as Vainikka and Young-Scholten's (1994) minimal trees hypothesis and Eubank's (1994; 1996) valueless features hypothesis.