Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I. & Hijazo-Gascón, A.
Dept. of General and Hispanic Linguistics. University of Zaragoza. Zaragoza. Spain
The relationship between L1 and L2 languages and how the L1 can have an influence on the L2 is one of the most studied phenomena in L2 acquisition. Traditionally, transfers (Ellis 1994, Kellerman 1995, Odlin 1989) were mainly analysed in relation to lexis and grammar. More recently, L2 researchers are studying conceptual transfer (Jarvis/Pavlenko 2008) in cases where, although there are no grammatical errors per se, the L1 influence onto the L2 is clear, for example, the rhetorical style, that is, the typical and characteristic linguistic constructions used in the native speakers’ discourse narration. A great deal of this work has been carried out in the domain of motion events (Brown/Gullberg 2008, 2010; Cadierno 2004, 2010; Filipović/Vidaković 2010). Stemming from Talmy’s distinction between satellite-framed (English run-out) and verb-framed languages (French sortir-en-courant), researchers have shown that L2 speakers, regardless of their proficiency level, transfer to some degree the rhetorical style of their L1 onto the L2. This paper picks up this topic and discusses how proficient Basque L2 speakers whose L1 is Spanish talk about motion in Basque. Both Spanish and Basque are verb-framed languages, but they behave differently with respect to the characterisation of trajectories (Path). Basque speakers tend to elaborate Path in much more detail than Spanish speakers do (Ibarretxe-Antuñano 2004). They usually add to the main motion verb several extra pieces of information (e.g. amildegitik-behera-erori zian-ibai-batera (cliff.abl.loc below.all fall aux river one.all)). The main hypothesis is that Basque L2 speakers lack this complex and rich description of the Path component, and that these differences between native and L2 speakers directly affect the rhetorical style of these narratives. Data—elicited using the Frog Story methodology (Berman and Slobin 1994, Strömqvist and Verhoeven 2004)—come from three groups of 12 adult speakers each (L2 Basque—C1/ALTE5, L1 Basque, L1 Spanish).