An investigation of Norwegians' L2 knowledge of English verb phrase anaphora patterns

Abstract

This thesis investigates Norwegians ’ L2 knowledge of English verb phrase anaphora patterns. 44 native speakers of Norwegian with Eng lish as their L2 were given an acceptability j udgement te st with 60 sentences containing anaphoric expressions. The study aims at investigating whether or not conditions for English verb phrase patterns are internalised within Norwegians ’ L2 competence. Ratings diverging from English native speaker standards are examined and attempted explained in terms of transfer from L1 or being L1 independent. The study also examines if proficiency of target language affect s the judgment s , hence t he 44 participants came from two different groups with different levels of proficiency . Group one consists of 21 pupils from VG2, Norwegian upper secondary school, and group two consists of 23 students studying English at university level . The partic i pants were exposed to three different experimental conditions and t he results reveal that both groups arguably show some evidence of transfer from L1 with regards to stative verbs in combination with do so constructions . English verb phrase ellipsis seems to be familiar to most participants. However, ratings diverging from native speaker standards in the cases not including a stative verb and do so anaphors can simply be explained in terms of variability in L2 competence between groups and among participants within the groups.