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.
