This volume presents a state-of-the-art descriptive and explanatory analysis of the second language development of Romance tense-aspect systems. It contains new experimental data from adult French, Catalan, Portuguese learners, and Italian children learners. Standing research questions are addressed and pedagogical implications for foreign language classrooms are proposed arguing that there are possible commonalities in the instructional sequences of tense-aspect development in Romance languages. The first chapter presents an overview of current theoretical approaches and a summary of empirical findings. The following four chapters introduce new empirical data from a variety of theoretical perspectives (e.g., the Aspect Hypothesis, the UG/Minimalist framework). Chapter 5 proposes practical pedagogical approaches for the foreign language classroom based on empirical findings. The last chapter summarizes and discusses these findings in order to start elaborating a more comprehensive model of the development of tense-aspect marking in the Romance languages.

Table of contents

Acknowledgements vii

About the contributors ix–x

The development of L2 tense-aspect in the Romance languages M. Rafael Salaberry and Dalila Ayoun 1–33

The acquisition of perfective and imperfective morphology and the marking of discourse grounding in Catalan Llorenç Comajoan 35–77

The acquisition of tense and aspect in L2 French from a Universal Grammar perspective Dalila Ayoun 79–127

Italian tense-aspect morphology in child L2 acquisition Sonia Rocca 129–178

Evidence for transfer of knowledge of aspect from L2 Spanish to L3 Portuguese M. Rafael Salaberry 179–210

From empirical findings to the teaching of aspectual distinctions Carl Blyth 211–252

Towards a comprehensive model of the acquisition of L2 tense-aspect in the Romance languages Dalila Ayoun and M. Rafael Salaberry 253–281

References 283–306 Index 307–316