Not all english resultative constructions (ercs) are equal: the acquisition of erc by spanish speakers

• Autores: París, Luis A.; Celi, María Alejandra; Tabullo, Angel; Godoy, Mahayana C.
• Año de publicación: 2023
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Fuente: Language Acquisition. Vol.30, No.2, 2023
• Materia: ESPAÑOL; SINTAXIS; LINGÜISTICA COMPARATIVA
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina

Fil: París, Luis A. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Fil: París, Luis A. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentina
Fil: Celi, María Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Fil: Celi, María Alejandra. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina
Fil: Tabullo, Angel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Fil: Tabullo, Angel. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Argentina; Argentina
Fil: Godoy, Mahayana C. Universidad Federal de Rio Grande do Norte; Brasil
Abstract: The English Resultative Construction (ERC) is a satellite-framed structure with no identical equivalent in Spanish. In a series of studies, we analyzed and compared recognition (acceptability judgment task) and comprehension (sentence comprehension task) of three ERC subtypes with the English Depictive Construction (EDC) (which has a Spanish counterpart) by Spanish speaker learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Results showed that: 1) EDCs were better recognized than ERCs by L2 learners, but highly proficient participants were closer to English native speakers’ performance, 2) Less proficient EFLs comprehended EDCs better than those ERC subtypes that were further from Spanish (ERC Property and Fake Reflexive). We interpret our findings in terms of an interlinguistic distance gradient, where those constructions present (EDC) or closer (ERC-Path) to L1 are more readily acquired. This effect seems more prominent at lower EFL proficiencies, and fades as proficiency increases, evolving towards a more native-like pattern.