Formulaic language and L2 syntactic development: A multiparadigmatic approach

This thesis presents a novel, multiparadigmatic approach to the role of formulaic
language in the development of second language (L2 ) syntax. It adopts theoretical
frameworks and concepts from generative and usage-based linguistics to analyse two
longitudinal corpora documenting interlanguage development from the initial state
through transitional state grammars. These datasets constitute L1 Spanish/Catalan
learners of L2 English, and L1 English learners of L2 French. Similar formulaic expressions
(FEs) are identified in both corpora at the initial state that learners are
able to produce fluently upon contextual cues in absence of related L2 syntactic
competence. I track learners’ use of these FEs and evidence of related syntactic
competence across the data collection periods, as measured by knowledge of underlying
computational properties (generative) and schematic patterns (usage-based).
Through adopting a multiparadigmatic approach, similar developmental trends
are observed in both corpora that would have otherwise been missed if relying on
one framework alone. Outside of the FEs, learners first demonstrate knowledge of
lexical categories only, before knowledge of L2 functional categories emerges later.
Importantly, the use of FEs seems to be influential on the rate in which learners progress through this trajectory. Correlations are found between a more frequent use of these expressions at the initial state and a greater knowledge of related underlying computational properties longitudinally. Traceback analysis also reveals that the FEs have instantiated
utterance schema extraction and generalisation across similar functional structures.
I discuss the interplay of these concepts by drawing on processing models of SLA,
suggesting that schematic learning could provide learners with more syntactic and
morphological distributional evidence needed for L2 syntactic activation levels to
better compete with the existing L1 ones during processing.