The Negative Evidence Hypothesis: The Acquisition of the Double-Object Construction by Brazilian-Portuguese English Bilinguals

Abstract: This study aims to add to the body of evidence regarding the linguistic structures that seem to be more challenging in L2 acquisition than in L1 acquisition (DeKeyser, 2005; Ellis, 2008; Inagaki, 2001; Slabakova, 2014; Sorace, 2011). The Negative Evidence Hypothesis (NEH) (Oliveira, 2016) predicts that bilinguals are less sensitive than native speakers to violations resulted from the overgeneralization of an L2-specific rule. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing the behavior of Brazilian Portuguese-English bilinguals with different profiles towards the double-object construction in English with unlicensed verbs in two acceptability judgment tasks. The results corroborate the NEH by conveying that bilinguals gain sensitivity as they become more proficient, yet, the data suggest that not even when immersed in the L2, they become as sensitive as native speakers.

摘要：本研究旨在补充有关第二语言（L2）习得相较于第一语言（L1）习得更具挑战性的语言结构的实证研究证据（DeKeyser, 2005; Ellis, 2008; Inagaki, 2001; Slabakova, 2014; Sorace, 2011）。负证据假说（Negative Evidence Hypothesis, NEH）（Oliveira, 2016）预测，相较于母语者，双语者对因过度泛化第二语言专属规则所引发的语法违规现象敏感度更低。我们通过两项可接受性判断任务，分析了不同熟练度特征的巴西葡萄牙语-英语双语者在英语双宾语结构中使用非许可动词时的语言表现，以此检验该假说。研究结果验证了负证据假说：双语者的敏感度会随熟练度提升而增强，但数据同时表明，即便沉浸于第二语言环境中，双语者的敏感度也无法达到母语者的水平。