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Animacy effect and language specificity: judgment of unaccusative verbs by Korean learners of English as a foreign
Hye K Pae1, Brian Schanding, Yeon-Jin Kwon
1School of Education, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221, USA, hye.pae@uc.edu.
Abstract:
This study investigated the tendency of overpassivization of unaccusative verbs by Korean learners of English as a foreign language (FL). Sixty Korean native college students participated in the study, along with 17 English-speaking counterparts serving as a comparison group. Consistent with the findings of previous research, this study found Korean students' tendency to incorrectly accept passive-voice with inanimate subjects. The results of this study highlighted the role of lexical animacy, the hierarchy of agentivity, and language-specific effects on FL judgment. The findings of this study suggest a robust language-specific L1 effect on L2 acquisition and a greater involvement of cognition in FL use than language input.
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