[en] Based on an oral picture description task conducted among 46 participants, this contribution aims
at describing how L1 speakers and learners of typologically different languages (French and
Dutch) encode locative events. Moving away from the more traditional verb-centred approach,
this contribution zooms in on the syntactic constructions used to encode locative events and the
role they play in the overall discourse strategy in the productions of L1 speakers of Dutch and
French and in those of French-speaking learners of Dutch. Our elicitation study confirms the
typological differences between Dutch and French in the expression of location on the lexical
level as well as on the constructional and discourse level. As for the learners’ descriptions, they
appear to take an intermediate position between the native speakers of Dutch and French,
suggesting that they become increasingly aware of the overall locative nature of Dutch.
Disciplines :
Languages & linguistics
Author, co-author :
Lemmens, Maarten; Université de Lille 3
Perrez, Julien ; Université de Liège > Département de langues et littératures modernes > Langue néerlandaise moderne et linguistique synchronique
Language :
English
Title :
French Onions and Dutch Trains: Typological Perspectives on Learners’ Descriptions of Spatial Scenes
Publication date :
2018
Main work title :
What is Applied Cognitive Linguistics? Answers From Current SLA Research
