The Influence of the First Language on the Cognition of Temporal Properties of Motion Events in the Second Language
Summary
The question of whether a language has grammaticised means of expressing aspectual distinctions in conceptual categories is used in investigating linguistic relativity in speakers of different languages. This study focuses on the extent to which advanced learners of a second language are affected by the concepts set in their first language when lexicalising temporal properties of motion events. The analysis, which covers native speakers of Dutch who are advanced learners of English, involves data from a linguistic experiment in which the participants described video clips in both their first and their second language. The current study investigated the endpoint behaviour of this population, and it was found that there is no difference in the encoding of endpoints between the first and the second language. This finding may indicate that the speakers still employ L1 principles in their L2, which could hold implications for second language education. Previous studies, such as von Stutterheim and Carroll (2006), have also found that advanced learners of a second language rely on the principles of their L1 when lexicalising temporal properties of motion events. These findings were consolidated by the results of the present study. This provides evidence for the framework on linguistic relativity as designed by Slobin (1996), i.e. the thinking-before-speaking hypothesis, as in the present study, native speakers of Dutch are more attentive to the maximal temporal viewing frame, as they are when speaking their native language, even when speaking a second language.