Interlanguage variation Past Tense Morphemespast tense morphemes

Zusammenfassung

This study on interlanguage variation examines style-shifting in the use of three past tense morphemes: regular past, irregular past and past copula. A cross-sectional study was then undertaken to investigate the order of a low-intermediate second language learner of English. This study was motivated by the hypothesis that there was an invariant order in the developmental route which was the result of universal processing strategies similar to those observed by first language acquisiton. Data were collected under three different styles of speech: 1) planned writing; 2) planned speech and 3) un-planned speech. The results have an interesting relationship to those published by Ellis (1987) showing the same interaction between task and morpheme. Different degrees of accuracy have been observed and it suggests that the natural route followed by second language learners might not be a stable phenomenon.