Sharon Unsworth

<sharon.unsworth@let.uu.nl>

Utrecht University

On the L2 acquisition of an interpretive constraint on form

When an indefinite NP object in Dutch is 'scrambled' from its preverbal base position (1) to a (traditionally) VP-adjoined position (2), it is generally associated with a 'specific' interpretation.

(1)    Het meisje heeft twee keer   [een bal] gegooid        [specific/non-specific]

        the  girl       has   two  times   a  ball    thrown

        'The girl threw a(ny) ball twice.' 

(2)    Het meisje heeft [een bal] twee keer ti gegooid        [specific/*non-specific]

        'The girl threw a (certain) ball twice.'

For the English-speaking non-native acquirer (L2er) of Dutch, acquiring the interpretive difference between (1)/(2) presents a so-called ‘poverty-of-the-stimulus’ problem. In this talk, I show how this interpretive constraint on form cannot be derived from the learners’ L1 grammar, the L2 input which they hear or from instruction.  Nevertheless, almost half of the L2ers tested (8/19) demonstrated knowledge of the interpretive distinction in question. I consider (i) how the L2 grammar must be constrained in order for this to be possible, and (ii) why it is that many L2ers do not know this constraint.