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Acquiring a Variable Structure: An Interlanguage Analysis of Second Language Mood Use in Spanish
Author(s) -
Gudmestad Aarnes
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2012.00696.x
Subject(s) - interlanguage , psychology , linguistics , variation (astronomy) , mood , contrast (vision) , sociolinguistics , second language acquisition , cognitive psychology , social psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science , philosophy , physics , astrophysics
This investigation connects issues in second language (L2) acquisition to topics in quantitative sociolinguistics by exploring the relationship between native‐speaker (NS) and L2 variation. It is the first large‐scale analysis of L2 mood use (the subjunctive‐indicative contrast) in Spanish. It applies variationist findings on the range of linguistic and extralinguistic factors (form regularity, semantic category, time reference, hypotheticality, and task) shown to influence NSs’ mood use to an interlanguage analysis of L2 development and shows that analyses of frequency and predictors provide revealing details about how learners acquire the ability to vary their use of verbal moods in Spanish. Variationism, it is concluded, can foster rich descriptions and explanations of interlanguage and its evolution.