Aspect in the L2 and L3 acquisition of Greek

Abstract

This paper investigates different facets of the second language acquisition of Modern Greek by native speakers of Russian and Georgian, both adults and children, in the domain of aspectual marking in embedded clauses. The study investigates experimentally the interaction of lexical and grammatical aspect in those embedded sentential environments which are a locus of difference between Modern Greek and Russian: The former permits only perfective aspect of the finite complement verb in the context under consideration, while the latter allows either perfective or imperfective aspect of the infinitival complement verb. The results of the experimental study reveal that L2 learners can reach native-like attainment, though there is L1 interference at the initial stage of L2 acquisition, thus providing evidence in support of the Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis. The large number of participants and the different groups investigated further allow us to distinguish other variables relevant for L2 acquisition, such as age of onset, length of residence, and so on, which were gathered through a detailed language history questionnaire. The results are interpreted statistically for all relevant facets of the languages and participants involved, shedding some light on a number of intertwined issues involved in (early vs. late) L2/L3 acquisition.