The Acquisition of Arabic and English Relative Clauses by L2 English and Arabic Learners

This study explored the acquisition of Arabic and English relative clauses by L2 learners. It examined extent to which Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH) (Keenan Comrie 1977) Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH) (Eckman account for pronouns Twenty Arabic-speaking learners twenty English-speaking were selected. To this end, four different tasks used in regard, namely Sentence Combination task, Multiple-Choice Picture Description Grammaticality Judgement task. The results showed that able comprehend produce successfully. However, their performance was found be affected system Arabic. For example, they better producing who than whom. Additionally, influenced type task (i.e., Task is harder Task). On other hand, group) produced comprehended easily despite L1 language interference. overall NPAH MDH predict mistakes made English.