EL.LE Educazione Linguistica. Language Education

Journal | EL.LE
Journal issue | 9 | 1 | 2020
Research Article | The Use of the Verb Run in English Learner-Narratives

The Use of the Verb Run in English Learner-Narratives

An Analysis of Verb Constructions Influenced by Different L1s

Abstract

The present paper investigates the use of the verb RUN in texts compiled in English by three groups of multilingual learners in the North of Italy. The participants spoke three different L1s: Ladin, Italian, and German. The main objective was to ascertain whether L1 imprints could be identified in the different groups, and whether the Ladin subjects behaved more similarly to their Italian or German counterparts. Despite considerable homogeneity found across all groups, the findings surprisingly suggested a stronger closeness between the texts of Ladin and German speakers, and not – as the typological relationship between Ladin and Italian would suggest – between Ladin and Italian speakers. The present data implicate that multilingual speakers bring to bear composite cognitive and typological systems when they construct texts in English as a third or further language, and text features are usually not easily attributable to a typologically clearly defined L1.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: March 8, 2019 | Accepted: May 10, 2020 | Published July 30, 2020 | Language: en

Keywords English as a third or fourth languageSatellite-framed languagesLearner-textsLadin frog story


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