The development of dynamicity in the acquisition of Spanish by Chinese learners

Abstract

The acquisition of aspect in L2 is influenced by the properties of the lexical-aspectual class, coercion at the syntactic-pragmatic interface and grounding information (foreground and background) in discourse. This paper addresses how these linguistic functions influence the acquisition of Spanish aspectual past tenses (pretérito indefinido and pretérito imperfecto) by Mandarin Chinese learners. The results show that activities and accomplishments are more problematic for learners to acquire and that dynamicity, rather than telicity, plays a determinant role for Chinese learners. Moreover, factors concerning coercion – a pragmatic and discourse mechanismremain difficult to master at C1. Our results also support the Discourse Hypothesis, though showing different patterns of association (lexical and grammatical aspect) across levels. We conclude that an integrative perspective gives a better account of the acquisition process of Spanish aspectual tenses