Naturalistic L2 acquisition and the formation of an immigrant variety of Spanish

A case study

Authors

• Joseph Clancy Clements Indiana University - Bloomington

DOI: https://doi.org/10.51814/nm.136656

Keywords:

naturalistic L2 acquisition, immigrant variety, frequency, detectability, L1 transfer

Abstract

Immigrants in their host country sometimes take advantage of the assistance offered in order to learn formally the host country language in a classroom setting. This is not always the case. This contribution examines the variety of Spanish that was created by an immigrant who arrived in Spain to work in the restaurant industry. Because of her work situation, she did not take formal Spanish lessons. Rather, she constructed her own variety of Spanish based on input she received on the job and in her interactions with native Spanish speakers. Three aspects of her grammatical system are the focus: tense-aspect marking, copula use, and the pronoun system. The solutions the immigrant created for communication show she has developed a grammar that is different from that of the native speakers of the host language , and its nature is largely predictable by appealing to frequency and detectability of forms in discourse and the process of L1 transfer.