艺术与社会科学杂志

The Acquisition of English Interrogative Structures in the Light of L2 Generative Models: The Case of Monolingual Persian and Bilingual Kurdish-Persian Speakers

Abstract

Zaynab Karimi

This study investigates the interaction of L1, L2, and L3 in the acquisition of English interrogative structures by Persian monolinguals and Kurdish-Persian Bilinguals across different levels of language proficiency in light of generative UG models (Full Transfer Full Access (FA/FT), Representational Deficit Hypothesis (RDH), Shallow Structure Hypothesis, Direct Access (DA), Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (MSIH), and Modulated Structure Building Hypothesis (MBSH). The participants were 108 learners, including Persian monolinguals and Kurdish-Persian bilinguals, assigned to lower intermediate, upper-intermediate, and advanced proficiency levels. The participants were then given two experimental tests (GJTandTT), to analyze the data; the inferential Statistics of ANOVA and Post hoc Scheffe tests were employed. The results indicated no significant difference between the performances of monolinguals and bilinguals at each level of language proficiency, yet the difference was statistically significant across proficiency levels; also, no single generative hypothesis can offer a comprehensive explanation of the whole process of L2 and L3 interrogative language acquisition. The results support the predictions made by FT/FA, DA, and MBSH and contradict with the predictions made by RDH, MSIH, and SSH.