Discourse Cohesion and Accessibility of Referents in Oral Narratives: A Comparison of L1 and L2 Acquisition of French and English
Thiss study aims at comparing L1 and L2 acquisition processes through an analysis of the linguistic means used to ensure discourse cohesion in the oral narratives of French and English four-, seven- and ten-year-old children and of adult learners of these two languages. We focused on the use of high...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses universitaires de Caen
2013-07-01
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| Series: | Discours |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/discours/8801 |
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| author | Pascale Leclercq Ewa Lenart |
| author_facet | Pascale Leclercq Ewa Lenart |
| author_sort | Pascale Leclercq |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Thiss study aims at comparing L1 and L2 acquisition processes through an analysis of the linguistic means used to ensure discourse cohesion in the oral narratives of French and English four-, seven- and ten-year-old children and of adult learners of these two languages. We focused on the use of high accessibility markers (HAM) (zero anaphora, subject and object pronouns) and low accessibility markers (LAM) (definite noun phrases) by the different groups of learners to analyze the way they maintained and switched reference to the protagonists of the story. Our results highlight a tendency to underspecification among children, who use HAM in a higher proportion than native adults and produce ambiguous forms in context; and a tendency to overspecification among adult advanced and intermediate L2 learners, who favour LAM even where pronouns could be envisaged. This might be explained by the impact of cognitive factors as well as crosslinguistic influences on the productions of L1 and L2 learners. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-88e2921d67574ed283df5a655e2f185b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1963-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2013-07-01 |
| publisher | Presses universitaires de Caen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Discours |
| spelling | doaj-art-88e2921d67574ed283df5a655e2f185b2025-01-30T09:52:45ZengPresses universitaires de CaenDiscours1963-17232013-07-011210.4000/discours.8801Discourse Cohesion and Accessibility of Referents in Oral Narratives: A Comparison of L1 and L2 Acquisition of French and EnglishPascale LeclercqEwa LenartThiss study aims at comparing L1 and L2 acquisition processes through an analysis of the linguistic means used to ensure discourse cohesion in the oral narratives of French and English four-, seven- and ten-year-old children and of adult learners of these two languages. We focused on the use of high accessibility markers (HAM) (zero anaphora, subject and object pronouns) and low accessibility markers (LAM) (definite noun phrases) by the different groups of learners to analyze the way they maintained and switched reference to the protagonists of the story. Our results highlight a tendency to underspecification among children, who use HAM in a higher proportion than native adults and produce ambiguous forms in context; and a tendency to overspecification among adult advanced and intermediate L2 learners, who favour LAM even where pronouns could be envisaged. This might be explained by the impact of cognitive factors as well as crosslinguistic influences on the productions of L1 and L2 learners.https://journals.openedition.org/discours/8801cognitive maturityageL1 acquisitionL2 acquisitionnominal referenceunderspecification |
| spellingShingle | Pascale Leclercq Ewa Lenart Discourse Cohesion and Accessibility of Referents in Oral Narratives: A Comparison of L1 and L2 Acquisition of French and English Discours cognitive maturity age L1 acquisition L2 acquisition nominal reference underspecification |
| title | Discourse Cohesion and Accessibility of Referents in Oral Narratives: A Comparison of L1 and L2 Acquisition of French and English |
| title_full | Discourse Cohesion and Accessibility of Referents in Oral Narratives: A Comparison of L1 and L2 Acquisition of French and English |
| title_fullStr | Discourse Cohesion and Accessibility of Referents in Oral Narratives: A Comparison of L1 and L2 Acquisition of French and English |
| title_full_unstemmed | Discourse Cohesion and Accessibility of Referents in Oral Narratives: A Comparison of L1 and L2 Acquisition of French and English |
| title_short | Discourse Cohesion and Accessibility of Referents in Oral Narratives: A Comparison of L1 and L2 Acquisition of French and English |
| title_sort | discourse cohesion and accessibility of referents in oral narratives a comparison of l1 and l2 acquisition of french and english |
| topic | cognitive maturity age L1 acquisition L2 acquisition nominal reference underspecification |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/discours/8801 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pascaleleclercq discoursecohesionandaccessibilityofreferentsinoralnarrativesacomparisonofl1andl2acquisitionoffrenchandenglish AT ewalenart discoursecohesionandaccessibilityofreferentsinoralnarrativesacomparisonofl1andl2acquisitionoffrenchandenglish |