L2 ACQUISITION OF TELICITY 1 Evidence of Transfer: L2 Acquisition of Telicity in English by Spanish and Slavic Native Speakers

This paper investigates the claim that the native grammar of the learners is the initial state of second language acquisition, as far as the acquisition of Universal Grammar parameters is concerned. Two opposing views on L1 transfer are discussed: the first hypothesis maintains that learners start out with the L1 parameter value (Schwartz & Sprouse’s 1994, 1996 Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis) while the second hypothesis argues that L1 transfer plays no role in the acquisition process (Epstein, Flynn & Martohardjono 1996’s Direct Access Hypothesis). The parameter under investigation is the Aspect Parameter, postulating two different ways in which languages mark telicity in the verbal phrase. The research design of the experimental study involves examining the competence of two groups of low intermediate learners of English, native speakers of Spanish, a language sharing the same parameter value with English, and of Bulgarian, a language exhibiting the opposite parametric value. Results indicate that the differences in the performance of learners from the two language groups are directly traceable to their native language. Thus the Full Transfer hypothesis receives experimental support.