Prosodic and syntactic markers of narrow focus in Italian L1 and L2 (French L1): an experimental study

Abstract

Information structure marking can be a challenge for L2 learners: first, because it implies an articulated interplay of prosody, syntax and word order; second, because the interaction of these linguistic means is subject to language-specific constraints. In this paper, we analyse the narrow focus (non-corrective and corrective) marking strategies of native speakers of Italian and French, and French learners of Italian L2, through a corpus of task-elicited speech (41 speakers). We examine to what extent L2 learners use similar linguistic structures to those observed in the target language in narrow focus marking, and how L1 may influence their productions. Our results show that crosslinguistic effects arise both at the syntactic and the prosodic level, and depending on the contexts, can have a positive or negative effect on learners' productions. While crosslinguistic similarities help in the early mastery of cleft sentences for NF marking, systemic differences at the prosodic level initially prevent prosody from being exploited to the same goal.