Frequency and Variation in L2 Spanish Present Tense Indicative Verbal Inflectional Morphology

Abstract

This mixed methods study draws upon theoretical perspectives from usage-based linguistics (UBL) and variationist sociolinguistics to explore four learners’ use of second language (L2) Spanish present tense indicative verbal inflectional morphology (i.e., simple present conjugations). The study compares the frequency and distribution of students’ use of these forms to the frequency and distribution of the same forms in the input they received, both from the teacher and from each other, as well as whether students use the forms variably based on context of subject expression.Data collection took place in a 2nd year high school Spanish foreign language classroom that employed communicative teaching methods. Audio-visual recordings of the interactions of the four focal students and the teacher were transcribed using multimodal conversation analysis conventions. Data were coded for participant, the lexical verb, the particular verb inflection used, the type of accompanying subject expression, and whether the inflection agreed with the subject expression. Analysis consisted of token and type frequency counts, Pearson correlation and chi-square statistics, and person-number agreement between the inflection and the accompanying subject expression. Findings show that all four focal students and the teacher used the third person singular ([3rd-Sing]) inflectional morpheme far more than any other morpheme. In addition, while the teacher’s type and token frequencies appear to be fairly even across inflectional categories, there appears to be greater variation in students’ type and token frequencies, particularly for inflections other than [3rd-Sing]. Type and token frequencies also show that, while focal students used most verbs with only one inflection, they used a few verbs with multiple inflections. Verbs that students used with multiple inflections also appear to be the verbs they used most frequently, and also many of the same verbs that the teacher used most frequently and with multiple inflections. Results of a Pearson correlation statistical analysis show that some focal students’ use correlates with the teacher’s use, and results of a chi-square analysis show that students use inflections variably based on linguistic context of subject expression. The students’ use of some inflection-subject expression pairings appear to have higher person-number agreement than some other inflection-subject expression pairings. These findings suggest that adolescent L2 learners acquire present tense verb forms based largely on frequency in the input. The four focal students appear to have been at different stages in the acquisition of verbal inflections: one student’s use appears to have been largely formulaic in nature; two other students appear to have had some grammatically productive use of inflectional morphology with a handful of verbs; and another student appears to have had grammatically productive use of inflectional morphology more or less as a system across verbs. All four focal students appear to have used present tense inflectional forms variably based on semantic redundancy with subject expression. In more semantically redundant contexts, they appear to have used structural subject expressions—particularly overt subject pronouns (OSPs)—more frequently, and with comparatively low rates of agreement with the verb inflection. In less redundant, null subject contexts, they appear to have used present tense verbal inflectional morphemes with comparatively higher rates of agreement with the apparent subject. Theoretical implications of the study are that cognitive and contextual factors in SLA appear to be deeply intertwined during the acquisition process. Pedagogical implications are that teachers should consider the relative frequency and redundancy of certain forms in the input to inform instructional design.