The Acquisition of Spatial Relations in a Second Language
1st Edition
Published on 23. May 1997
XII, 212 pages
978-90-272-8276-7 (ISBN)
Description
This book is the third to appear in the SIBIL series based on results from the European Science Foundation's Additional Activity on the second language acquisition of adult immigrants. It analyses from a longitudinal and cross-linguistic perspective the acquisition of the linguistic means to express spatial relations in the target languages English, French and German. Learners' progress in the expression of spatial relations is closely followed over a period of 30 months using a wide range of oral data, and the factors determining both the specifics of individual source/target language pairings, and the general characteristics of all cases of acquisition studied, are carefully described. In particular, a basic system for the expression of spatial relations common to all learners from all language backgrounds is identified. The book is of particular significance for the field of second language acquisition in that this is the first time that results are presented in English on the acquisition of L2 means to express the basic cognitive - and communicational - category of space from a comparative linguistic point of view.
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Angelika Becker | Mary Carroll
The Acquisition of Spatial Relations in a Second Language
Book
05/1997
John Benjamins Publishing Co
€111.30
Shipment within 10-15 days
Persons
Content
- THE ACQUISITION OF SPATIAL RELATIONS IN A SECOND LANGUAGE
- Editorial page
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Table of contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Transcription and presentation of recorded data
- 1 Background to the study
- 1.1 Aims of the analysis
- 1.2 "Second language acquisition by adult immigrants'': The European Science Foundation project
- 1.2.1 Motivation, time schedule and organisation
- 1.2.2 Design
- 1.3 Data base
- 1.3.1 Informants
- 1.3.2 Data collection techniques
- 1.4 Procedure for data analysis
- Notes
- 2 Theoretical framework
- 2.1 The processing of spatial expressions
- 2.1.1 The initial state
- 2.1.2 The input
- 2.1.3 The language learning capacity
- 2.1.4 Behaviour organisation
- 2.2 Frame of analysis
- 2.2.1 Localisation
- 2.2.2 The conceptualisation of space
- 2.2.3 The semantic form of locatives
- 2.2.4 The structuring of space into subspaces
- 2.2.5 The meaning of topological and axis-based locatives and the complexity of relations
- 2.2.6 Complex relata
- 2.2.7 The concept of distance
- 2.2.8 Change of place
- 2.2.9 Cross-linguistic variation
- Notes
- 3 The acquisition of English
- 3.1 Introduction
- 3.1.1 Informants
- 3.1.2 Spatial expressions in English and Italian
- 3.2 Change of place
- 3.2.1 Cycle I
- 3.2.2 Cycle II
- 3.2.3 Cycle III
- 3.2.4 Conclusions
- 3.3 Location
- 3.3.1 Cycle I
- 3.3.2 Cycle II
- 3.3.3 Cycle III
- 3.4 Conclusions
- 3.4.1 The role of conceptual factors
- 3.4.2 Acquisition orders
- 3.4.3 Facilitating factors
- 4 The acquisition of German
- 4.1 Introduction
- 4.1.1 Presentation of the chapter
- 4.1.2 Spatial expressions in German and Turkish
- 4.2 From Italian to German
- 4.2.1 Cycle I
- 4.2.2 Cycle II
- 4.2.3 Cycle III
- 4.3 Comparative Data: from Turkish to German
- 4.3.1 Cycle I
- 4.3.2 Cycle II
- 4.3.3. Cycle III
- 4.4 Summary of learners of German
- 4.4.1 Change of place
- 4.4.2 Location
- Notes
- 5 The acquisition of French
- 5.1 Introduction
- 5.1.1 Informants and data
- 5.1.2 Spatial expressions in French, Spanish and Moroccan Arabic
- 5.2 From Spanish to French
- 5.2.1 Cycle I
- 5.2.2 Cycle II
- 5.2.3 Cycle III
- 5.3 Comparative data: from Moroccan to French
- 5.3.1 Longitudinal analysis
- 5.3.2 Summary
- 5.4 Summary of learners of French
- Notes
- 6 General conclusions
- 6.1 Building up the basic variety
- 6.2 Beyond the basic variety
- 6.3 Determining factors
- APPENDIX: the learners
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
