WORD FORMATION IN THE EARLIEST STAGES OF POLISH L2 ACQUISITION 

Vortrag von Jacopo Saturno – Università di Bergamo

Mittwoch, den 13.12.2017, 12 Uhr c.t.
Dorotheenstr. 65, Raum 5.54

This talk discusses the strategies adopted by initial adult learners of L2 Polish when confronted with lexical gaps.

The study is based on the VILLA project, a multi-national, cross-linguistic initiative dedicated to the earlies stages of Polish L2 acquisition under controlled input conditions (Dimroth et al. 2013). 163 speakers with various L1s and no experience of the target language took part in a 14-hour Polish course taught by a professional teacher, whose speech represents the only input available. This was entirely recorded and transcribed, so as to correlate its features with the results of the numerous tests learners took during the course.

Learner production is observed in the context of a test aimed to elicit copular structures. Some of the target words had never been presented in the input, so that learners were effectively required to invent them, while at the same time trying to make them sound as Polish as possible. It can be argued, therefore, that learner strategies should reflect those input features which enjoyed the greatest prominence.

The data show a very marked tendency to use a root-final -k- sound, optionally followed by sound clusters resembling Polish inflectional endings. The study attempts to justify such observation on the basis of the fully controlled VILLA input. Parallels are also outlined between the present data and other studies from various fields of L1 and L2 acquisition.