The contraction phenomenon and L2 acquisition: An experimental study by Korean learners of English
This study investigates whether L2 learners are guided by UG in the acquisition of a particular linguistic phenomenon, wanna contraction in English. Contraction of want and to to wanna is constrained by a UG principle, based in the trace theory of movement rules (Chomsky 1980b; Jaeggli 1980). Want to can be contracted to wanna in object extraction question ((1) Who do you want to kiss―t (1) Who do you wanna kiss?). However, want to cannot be contracted to wanna in subject extraction question ((2) Who do you want t to kiss Bill? *(2) Who do you wanna kiss Bill?). There is no trace between want and to in (1), while wh-trace intervenes between want and to in (2), blocking the contraction. Two groups of Korean learners of English were tested on contraction in possible and impossible situations with an elicited production test. The results suggest that L2 learners do not show the UG-compatible contraction pattern as native speakers do. This calls into question the general availability of UG.