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SUMMARY:The effects of language contact on event construal: insights from 
 language production of L1 and very advanced L2-speakers of German - Barbar
 a Schmiedtová (Universität Heidelberg)
DTSTART:20111110T170000Z
DTEND:20111110T183000Z
UID:TALK33072@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:George Walkden
DESCRIPTION:The paper presents the results of several elicitation studies\
 , including linguistic\, eye-tracking and memory data\, as well as speech 
 onset times\, comparing Czech\, German and Russian native speakers produci
 ng verbalizations of a set of short video clips. In addition to data from 
 native speakers data from very advanced German L2-speakers whose L1 is eit
 her Czech or Russian will be presented and discussed. The overall focus of
  the presentation is on the investigation of the role of grammatical forms
  in the construal of goal-oriented motion and events with resultant state.
  \nThe results show a consistent pattern: Czech\, even though typologicall
 y similar to Russian\, clusters in all four measures with German. In other
  words\, Czech and German speakers behave similarly when conceptualizing a
 nd remembering events. These patterns are further supported by the L2-data
 : Russian speakers rely on different conceptual strategies than Czech spea
 kers when construing goal-oriented motion and events with resultant state 
 in L2 German. The “Czech pattern” in L2 German is very similar to that
  found in verbalizations of German native speakers. \nIn line with previou
 s literature (cf. Carroll\, v. Stutterheim\, Nüse\, 2004\; Slobin\, 1996\
 ; v. Stutterheim and Nüse\, 2003) I will argue that patterns of event con
 strual differ in relation to the grammatical system of the underlying ling
 uistic system: Grammaticalized structures play a crucial role in determini
 ng how speakers proceed in solving the manifold tasks of language producti
 on. In keeping with the view of cognitive linguistics (cf. Langacker\, 201
 0\; Talmy\, 2000)\, I assume that grammatical categories are fundamental f
 or organizing content. They represent basic conceptual categories that are
  highly abstract\, fully automatized\, and provide a conceptual grid for p
 lanning processes (conceptualization) recruited for language production. \
 nWith respect to Czech and German clustering in one group I will argue tha
 t the Czech aspectual system has been affected by language contact with Ge
 rman. In particular\, a re-analysis of the perfective has led to a verbal 
 form\, which allows for the integration of endpoints under the perspective
  of the deictic now that is expressed as the combination of a perfective (
 event marked as complete) and the present tense\, under a present tense re
 ading (cf. Schmiedtová\, 2011\; Schmiedtová et al.\, 2011). In contrast 
 to descriptions in reference grammars\, the observed compatibility of the 
 perfective and the present tense in Czech shows a marked difference from t
 he other Slavic languages with respect to grammaticalized aspect. The pres
 ent findings illustrate the importance of comparing actual usage preferenc
 es across languages\; in addition to cross-linguistic categorizations base
 d on the linguistic system.
LOCATION:GR04\, English Faculty\, 9 West Road (Sidgwick Site)
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