Restrictive Relatives in L3 English: L1 Transfer and Ultimate Attainment Convergence

What is it about?

This study examines the acquisition of the restrictive relative clause with respect to the distribution of gaps and resumptive pronouns in L3 English. The learners are L1 Arabic–L2 French adults. The study considers whether the L1 or the L2 or both constitutes the source of morphosyntactic transfer in the L3 initial stages. The predictions of three multilingual transfer models are tested: the Typological Primacy Model; the Cumulative Enhancement Model; and the L2 status factor. Additionally, the study investigates the upper limit of the advanced L3 learners’ performance. The results of an acceptability judgment and a preference task show that knowledge of restrictive relatives in the L3 initial stages is influenced by L1 Arabic and that economical cognitive processing pre-empts (psycho)-typology and determines the source of transfer. For the advanced learners, their L3 English performance is nativelike.

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