1. The lexicon-syntax interface and the syntax-discourse interface:
native-like and optional knowledge in advanced L2 Spanish
Cristóbal Lozano
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
The Romance Turn 2004

2. Background
Emerging pattern in advanced L2 acquisition of syntactic properties vs. discursive props.
Syntax vs. discourse: Pronominal distribution (pro-drop parameter) in L2 Spa:
Formal/syntactic props acquired early: null expletives first, then null referentials  convergence: (Al-Kasey & Pérez-Leroux, 1998; Liceras, 1989; Phinney, 1987)
Syntactic licensing of pro AND syntactic contraints on pro (OPC) acquired early  convergence
BUT pragmatic conditions licensing pro persistently problematic  divergence.
(Liceras & Díaz, 1999; Pérez-Leroux et al. 1999; Pérez-Leroux & Glass, 1997, 1999; Sauter, 2003)
Similar findings in:
Bilingual L1 attrition of overt and null pronouns: Montrul, 2004; Satterfield, 2003; Sorace, 2004; Tsimpli et al., in press 2004.
L1 attrition: Tsimpli, 2001
L1 acquisition of English pronouns: Chien & Wexler, 1990; Grodzinsky & Reinhart, 1993; Serratrice, 2004
 formal syntactic constraints in place before discursive ones (advanced levels).
converge with formal/syntactic props:
 native-like knowledge.
diverge with discursive props like topic and focus (syntax-discourse interface):
 divergent / optional knowledge.

3. Aim
If emerging view is correct, will it be observed with the second property of pro-drop parameter: “subject inversion”?
“Subject inversion” is constrained:
Syntactically (Unaccusative Hypothesis) at lexicon-syntax interface
Discursively (TP-internal presentational Focus Phrase) at syntax-discourse interface

4. SV/VS alternations
Subtle learnability problem for learners of L2 Spanish:
Do SV / VS alternate freely?
(1) María gritó (SV) / Gritó María (VS)
‘Maria shouted’ ‘Shouted Maria’
(2) María llegó (SV) / Llegó María (VS)
‘Maria arrived’ ‘Arrived Maria’
Alternations constrained formally (Unaccusative Hypothesis) and discursively (presentational focus).

5. Syntax: Unaccusative Hypothesis
Principle of UG: UTAH
Parameter: pro in Spec,TP
Greek: like Spa.
English: strictly SV (no surface syntactic effects)

6. Syntax-discourse: presentational focus
Greek & Eng: pres focus in situ: SV (pres. focus subject checked in Spec,TP)
A: ¿Quién gritó?
‘Who sho
uted?’
B: Gritó María
‘Shouted Maria’

7. Summary of word order SV VS VS VS Unfocused contexts:
“What happened?”
“Who shouted/arrived?”
Unergatives SV VS
María gritó
Gritó María+Foc
‘Maria
shouted’
‘Shouted Maria’
Unaccusatives VS VS
Llegó
María
Llegó
María+Foc
‘Arrived Maria’
‘Arrived Maria’

8. Previous L2 findings Syntax (Unacc. Hypothesis):
English-speaking learners of Spanish are sensitive to the syntactic effects of the Unacc. Hypothesis from early stages of development: SV with unergatives but VS with unaccusatives
(De Miguel, 1993; Hertel, 2000, 2003; Hertel & Pérez-Leroux, 1999).
Discourse: under-researched area:
Hertel (2003): presentationally focused subjects in final position are acquired late in L2 Spa. Same finding for L2 Italian (Belletti & Leonini, 2004).
Ocampo (1990) and Camacho (1999): L2 Spa acquisition of distinct word orders to mark focus is acquired late or perhaps never acquired in native-like fashion.

9. Method
Instrument:
Contextualised acceptability judgement test (Hertel, 2000)
Translation

10. Results: unfocused contexts (Unaccusative Hypothesis)
¿Qué pasó? “What happened?”
Unergatives (SV) Unaccusatives (VS)
sig
sig
sig
sig
sig
sig
Convergence with natives (native-like knowledge)

11. ¿Quién gritó / llegó? “Who shouted / arrived?”
Results: focused contexts (Presentational focus at syntax-discourse interface)
¿Quién gritó / llegó? “Who shouted / arrived?”
Unergatives (VS) Unaccusatives (VS)
sig
n.s.
n.s.
sig
n.s.
n.s. (just)
Divergence with natives (subtype: optionality)

12. Conclusion
 Sorace (2000c; 2004), Tsimpli et al (in press), Tsimpli (2001):
[-interpretable] vs. [+interpretable] features
Less vulnerable to attrition
Highly vulnerable to attrition
Convergent (native-like)
Divergent (e.g., optionality)
Uninterpretable [D] and phi features on T licensing postverbal subjects at syntax
Interpretable [Focus] feature at syntax-discourse
syntax
discourse

13. Thank you !

15. Native non-native Native non-native