Talk by Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig, Indiana University (http://www.indiana.edu/~dsls/faculty/kathleen.shtml)

Topic: Unconventional expressions: Productive syntax in the L2 acquisition of formulaic language

Date: Wednesday, May 11
Time: 5-6.30
Venue: Sala de Professors (Ed. Josep Carner, fifth floor)Abstract

Conventional expressions are used by speech communities in specific discourse contexts, and include phrases such as “Nice to meet you,” “(I’m) sorry I’m late,” “I’m just looking,” and “I gotta go.” In my work on conventional expressions in L2 pragmatics, a surprising pattern emerged. Learner production of conventional expressions such as “Sorry I’m late,” “Thanks for inviting me,” and “I really appreciate it” revealed interlanguage syntax. This is surprisingly in light of claims that the role of formulaic expressions in L2 development is as a bootstrapping mechanism into the L2 grammar; targetlike fixed expressions come first, eventually forcing the grammar to catch up. On this account, a repertoire of constructions is memorized, allowing eventual statistical induction of abstract grammatical categories (Ellis, 2003, 2012; Eskildsen & Cadierno, 2007; Myles, 2004; Wray, 2008).

However, an alternative view is supported in work by Carroll (2010) and Bardovi-Harlig (2009), whose data suggest that even in the earliest stages of L2 acquisition, learners creatively construct formulaic expressions. This study brings evidence to bear on this debate from an extensive investigation of the acquisition of conventional expressions by L2 learners of English.

This talk will illustrate the many interlanguage forms used by learners and will propose that learner build conventional expressions around a lexical core which can be associated with pragmatic contexts.

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Grup de recerca en Educació, Llenguatge i Literatura

Universitat de Vic – Universitat Central de Catalunya

Departament de Filologia i Didàctica de la Llengua i la Literatura

Coordinador del Programa de Doctorat en Innovació i Intervenció Educatives 

Editor Associat, Cultura y Educación (Taylor & Francis)

On behalf of the LAALCM MA program, the Applied Linguistics PhD program, and the Research Group on Education, Language and Literature from the University of Vic, it is my pleasure to invite you to the following event: