The effects of exposure on L2 concord and non-concord existential there

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Authors
Hovey, Lark Lenora
Advisor
Stallings, Lynne M.
Issue Date
2013-05-04
Keyword
Degree
Thesis (M.A.)
Department
Department of English
Other Identifiers
Abstract

Non-concord (number disagreement) existential there (there + be) is prevalent in all native English varieties (Collins 2012), but it is not well understood how non-native English speakers use existential there. Extent of exposure to native speech is known to influence the adoption of native, non-prescriptive features (Sankoff 1997). Therefore, previous research leaves this question unanswered: Since L2 English speakers are not taught to use non-concord existential there, which is prevalent in native English, does extent of exposure to native English affect L2 oral use of non-concord? This study answers this question by testing this hypothesis: If extent of exposure to native English speakers is greater, then L2 oral use of non-concord existential there will increase, approaching native-like frequency. This study proposes that L2 speakers adopt nonconcord existential there as extent of exposure to native speech increases. These findings can be generalized to suggest that with increased exposure to non-prescriptive native speech, non-prescriptive feature frequencies in L2 speech approximate those of native speech. Furthermore, these results support the hypothesis that the adoption of nonprescriptive features makes L2 speakers more native-like.

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