Duplication in the L2 Spanish produced by Quechua-speaking children: Transfer of a pragmatic strategy
Article comments
The definitive version of this chapter was published in Languages in Contact, Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics, volume 28, by Rodopi, Amsterdam-Atlanta, GA, 2000. http://www.rodopi.nl/functions/search.asp?BookId=ssgl+28.
Abstract
Languages long in contact in the Andean countries, Quechua and Spanish are intriguing partners in bilingual speech because they exhibit very different word order patterns. In a study exploring the development of Spanish word order in Quechua-speaking children, Minaya & Luján (1982) reported that children frequently produced "hybrid" (S)VOV structures. They proposed that the children had a transitional grammar with a nonadult phrase structure rule.
This study presents a vigorous challenge to this claim. First, both adult and child speakers of Quechua duplicate not only verbs, but a variety of constituent types, presumably for emphatic effect. Second, the Minaya & Luján proposal attributed to the children a transitional "wild grammar." It will be shown that the appearance of the VOV pattern in child L2 Spanish clearly represents transfer of a pragmatic strategy and not a transitional, illicit, hybrid grammar.
Suggested Citation
Ellen H. Courtney. "Duplication in the L2 Spanish produced by Quechua-speaking children: Transfer of a pragmatic strategy" Language in Contact. Ed. D. Gilbers, J. Nerbonne and J. Schaeken. Amsterdam - Atlanta, GA: Rodopi, 2000. 87-98.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ellenhcourtney/2