Plenary speakers: Christine Czinglar (Universität Kassel), Jana Gamper (Universität Potsdam), Daniel Véronique (Université d’Aix), Catia Cucchiarini (Radboud Universiteit)
Organizers: Jouni Rostila, Eva Havu, Timo Riiho
Language: English
Date: 18 November 2016
Place: Room 15, Main Building (4th floor, Fabianinkatu 33), University of Helsinki
Registration: via e-form, by 10 November
Migration is becoming a matter of course for Europe: the European Union has long promoted the free movement of its citizens within its borders to make the need of labour meet that of employment; moreover, current crises in the Middle East have brought a wave of migration over Europe. Significantly, such developments might even mirror global future tendencies on a miniature scale. Under such circumstances, efficient second language learning is rapidly gaining in importance. The syntax programme of the research community CoCoLaC (Comparing and Contrasting Languages and Cultures) at the University of Helsinki therefore wishes to offer a forum for discussing questions related to L2 syntax acquisition and organizes a seminar on L2 syntax on Friday, November 18, 2016. Due to recent developments in Europe, and CoCoLaC’s aim of mainly researching French, German, Spanish and Italian, the intended focus of the seminar is on the acquisition of French, German, Spanish and Italian syntax by refugees or immigrants with different linguistic backgrounds. However, contributions pertaining to the acquisition of syntax in other second languages are welcome, too, especially if they aim at highlighting general features of such processes. Topics straddling the border line between L2 acquisition and foreign language learning, as well as research into the possibility of native-like L2 syntax acquisition in general, are also of interest.
9.00-9.10 Opening
9.10-10.10 Daniel Véronique (Aix-Marseille University): The acquisition of spoken French syntax by immigrant (Arabic L1) learners of French: the development of finiteness and its syntactic implications
10.10-10.40 Tommi Manner (University of Helsinki): Present Tense in Finnish French Learners’ Oral Production
10.40-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-12.00 Jana Gamper (University of Potsdam): The Emergence of Sentence Structure in German as a Second Language
12.00-13.00 Christine Czinglar (University of Kassel): The L2-syntax of German: variation in the rate of L2-acquisition of verb placement in the context of migration
13.00-14.30 Lunch break
14.30-15.30 Catia Cucchiarini (Radboud University): Computer-assisted speaking practice and the acquisition of syntax by L2 learners of Dutch
15.30-16.00 Marika Paavilainen (University of Jyväskylä Teacher Training School): The placement of negation in L2 Swedish – mission impossible?
16.00-16.30 Maria Ahlholm (University of Helsinki) & Tapani Möttönen (Aalto University): Repeat and learn. Founding syntactic competence without teaching grammar
16.30-17.00 Closing words