| Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 35-49 |
| Abbreviation: APJCR |
| e-ISSN: 2733-8096 |
| Publication date: 31 August 2022 |
| Received: 28 May 2022 / Received in Revised Form: 31 July 2022 / Accepted: 16 August 2022 |
| DOI: https://doi.org/10.22925/apjcr.2022.3.1.35
|
A Corpus-Based Analysis of Crosslinguistic Influence on the Acquisition of Concessive Conditionals in L2 English |
| Laurence Newbery-Payton (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) |
| Copyright 2022 APJCR
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Abstract |
| This study examines crosslinguistic influence on the use of concessive conditionals by Japanese EFL learners. Contrastive analysis suggests that Japanese native speakers may overuse the concessive conditional even if due to partial similarities to Japanese concessive conditionals, whose formal and semantic restrictions are fewer than those of English concessive conditionals. This hypothesis is tested using data from the written module of the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE). Comparison of Japanese native speakers with English native speakers and Chinese native speakers reveals the following trends. First, Japanese native speakers tend to overuse concessive conditionals compared to native speakers, while similar overuse is not observed in Chinese native speaker data. Second, non-nativelike uses of even if appear in contexts allowing the use of concessive conditionals in Japanese. Third, while overuse and infelicitous use of even if is observed at all proficiency levels, formal errors are restricted to learners at lower proficiency levels. These findings suggest that crosslinguistic influence does occur in the use of concessive conditionals, and that its particular realization is affected by L2 proficiency, with formal crosslinguistic influence mediated at an earlier stage than semantic cross-linguistic influence. |
Keywords |
| Learner Corpus, Second Language Acquisition, Concessive Conditional, Crosslinguistic Influence, even if |
References |
| Fujii, S. (2002). Iwayuru ‘gyaku jouken’ no kategori o megutte: Nihongo to Eigo no bunseki kara (On the categorization of so-called ‘reverse conditions’: An analysis of Japanese and English) In Ogoshi, N. (Ed.), Shirizu Gengokagaku 4: Taisho Gengogaku (Linguistic Science Series 4: Contrastive Linguistics) (pp.249-280). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.
Gilquin, G. (2008). Combining contrastive and interlanguage analysis to apprehend transfer: Detection, explanation, evaluation. In Gilquin, G. (Ed.), Linking up Contrastive and Learner Corpus Research (pp.3-33). Amsterdam: Rodopi. Gomes, G. (2020). Concessive conditionals without even if and nonconcessive conditionals with even if. Acta Analytica, 35, 1-21. Granger, S. (1996). From CA to CIA and back: An integrated contrastive approach to computerized bilingual and learner corpora. In Aijmer, K., Altenberg, B., & Johansson, M. (Eds.), Languages in Contrast: Text-based Cross-linguistic Studies (pp.37-51). Lund: Lund University Press. Granger, S. (2015). Contrastive interlanguage analysis: A reappraisal. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research, 1, 7-24. Haspelmath, M., & König, E. (1998). Concessive conditionals in the languages of Europe. In van der Auwera, J. (Ed.), Adverbial Constructions in the Languages of Europe (pp.563-640). Berlin: de Gruyter. Ishikawa, S. (2013). The ICNALE and sophisticated contrastive interlanguage analysis of Asian learners of English. Learner Corpus Studies in Asia and the World, 1, 91-118. Jarvis, S. (2000). Methodological rigor in the study of transfer: Identifying L1 influence in the interlanguage lexicon. Second Language Research, 34(4), 539-552. Jarvis, S., & Pavlenko, A. (2008). Crosslinguistic Influence in Language and Cognition. New York: Routledge. Maeda, N. (2009). Nihongo no Fukubun: Joukenbun to Gen’inbun / Riyuubun no Kijutsuteki Kenkyuu (Complex Sentences in Japanese). Tokyo: Kuroshio. Odlin, T. (2005). Crosslinguistic influence and conceptual transfer: What are the concepts? Annual review of Applied Linguistics, 25, 3-25. Sweeter, E. (1990). From Etymology to Pragmatics: Metaphorical and Cultural Aspects of Semantic Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wang, C. (2013). Hanyu de rangbu tiaojianju (Concessive conditionals in Chinese). Yuyan Kexue (Linguistic Science), 12(2), 130-142. Werner, V., Fuchs, R., & Gotz, S. (2021). L1 influence vs. universal mechanisms: An SLA-driven corpus study on temporal expression. In Le Bruyn, B., & Paquot, M. (Eds.), Learner Corpus Research Meets Second Language Acquisition (pp. 39-66). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. |
The Author |
| Laurence Newbery-Payton received a PhD from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in 2021. He currently teaches at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and is a research fellow in the Graduate School of Global Studies at the same institution. His research interests include exploring issues relating to second language acquisition and contrastive linguistics through the use of learner corpora. |
The Author’s Address |
| First and Corresponding Author Laurence Newbery-Payton Lecturer Global Linkage Initiative Program Tokyo University of Foreign Studies 3-11-1, Asahi-cho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo 183-8534, JAPAN E-mail: laurencecnp-tufs@tufs.ac.jp  DOI QR Code |
