Search

Two construction types that are allowed in Afrikaans but not in French are transitive expletive constructions and full-NP object shift constructions. The study reported here tested whether Afrikaansspeaking advanced adult learners had knowledge of the ungrammaticality of these two construction types in the target L2 French, given that they had not been instructed about this ungrammaticality. The results of this study show that a large number of the L2 learners had indeed acquired knowledge of this ungrammaticality, despite the absence of (explicit) negative evidence to this effect, raising the question of which types of input or evidence learners make use of in L2 acquisition.Keywords: Adult L2 Acquisition, Afrikaans, French, Different Types of Input, Unlearning Construction Types

There is much confusion concerning the prepositional verb as a separate category main verb in Afrikaans. Some linguists are of the opinion that the prepositional verb is not a separate category main verb, but rather a subcategory transitive or intransitive verb. There is a definite need for parameters within which the prepositional verb should feature. The unique characteristics of the prepositional verb necessitate the need for it to be classified as a separate category, and the need that the relation between the prepositional verb and the particle be highlighted.