L3 acquisition of functional morphology : the role of cross-linguistic influence and language-learning aptitude

• L3 acquisition of functional morphology: the role of cross-linguistic influence and language-learning aptitudeTwo factors suggested to influence second-language acquisition are cross-linguistic influence (CLI) and language-learning aptitude. However, the relationship between these two factors has rarely been investigated, and it is unclear to what extent the relative importance of CLI and aptitude depends on the degree of similarity between the target language and previously acquired languages (cf. Bokander 2021; Skehan 1998; Tolentino & Tokowicz 2014). The present study addresses this issue by examining the longitudinal development of definiteness marking in native Russian-speaking learners of Swedish as a third language (L3), who had previously acquired English as a second language (L2). Unlike Russian, English and Swedish obligatorily express definiteness using dedicated functional morphology. While the English indefinite article (a park) is structurally similar to its Swedish counterpart (en park ‘a park’), the English definite article (the park) is structurally dissimilar to its Swedish counterpart, which is a nominal suffix (park-en ‘the park’). In this study, we exploit these structural similarities and differences across languages in order to investigate the role of both CLI and language-learning aptitude in L3 acquisition of functional morphology.Using a communicative, oral task, we elicited definite and indefinite noun phrases from native speakers of Russian (n = 18) at three occasions during the first two terms of a beginner-Swedish course. At data point 1, we tested their use of English articles, using the same task, as well as their language-learning aptitude, using Meara’s (2005) LLAMA Language Aptitude Tests. In addition, reference data were collected from native speakers of Swedish (n = 26) and English (n = 17). The participants’ use of indefinite and definite morphemes was analysed separately, and two linear mixed-effects models were built to investigate to what extent the learners’ language-learning aptitude and command of English articles could predict their developing use of the Swedish indefinite article and definite suffix respectively. The results revealed that the learners’ use of both morphemes improved over time. Their use of the indefinite article was associated with their command of the English indefinite article, which is structurally similar to the Swedish one. In contrast, their use of the definite nominal suffix, which is structurally dissimilar to its English counterpart, was associated with aptitude. This suggests that L3 learners may capitalise on previously-acquired linguistic knowledge primarily when source and target languages are similar, while language-learning aptitude appears to play a more important role in the acquisition of qualitatively new morphology, that is morphology without a structurally similar counterpart in any previously learned language. ReferencesBokander, Lars (2021). Language aptitude and crosslinguistic influence in initial L2 learning. Journal of the European Second Language Association 4(1), s. 35–44. Meara, Paul (2005). LLAMA Language Aptitude Tests: the manual. Swansea: Lognostics. Tolentino, Leida C. & Natasha Tokowicz (2014). Cross-language similarity modulates effectiveness of second language grammar instruction. Language Learning 64(2), s. 279–309.

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