The production of lexical categories (VP) and functional categories (copula) at the initial stage of child L2 acquisition

Abstract

This is a longitudinal case study of two Farsi-speaking children learning English: ‘Bernard' and ‘Melissa', who were 7;4 and 8;4 at the start of data collection. The research deals with the initial state and further development in the child second language (L2) acquisition of syntax regarding the presence or absence of copula as a functional category, as well as the role and degree of L1 influence in lexical and functional categories. Some studies in the field of child first language (L1) acquisition are discussed to determine similarities or differences between child L1 and child L2 acquisition. Examining data collected from the children's spontaneous speech, the researcher's diaries and translation, and other tasks over a period of 20 months. The competing claims of the two most prominent hypotheses about early L2 grammars are tested: Vainikka & Young-Scholten's (1996) Minimal Trees/Structure Building hypothesis and Schwartz & Sprouse's (1996) Full Transfer/Full Access hypothesis. Word order, use of rote-learned formulae, and suppliance of verbs (lexical category) and copula (functional category) are investigated, and the conclusion is reached that lexical categories are influenced by L1 whereas functional categories are absent at the initial state and that they emerge without the learners' reliance on their L1, consistent with Minimal Trees/Structure Building.