| This longitudinal study investigates the interlanguage (IL) development of two Vietnamese children acquiring English. The study is undertaken within a functional-typological framework, in essence, Givon's Functional-Typological Syntactic Analysis modified to allow a more interactionist treatment of spontaneous IL speech. Audio-taped conversational speech collected over ten months is examined through function-to-form analysis to characterize the process of syntacticization--movement from highly context-dependent, "paratactic," speech to more explicit, morphosyntactically encoded speech--in two areas of IL development: Past time reference (PTR) and propositional encoding (PE).; With respect to PTR, both learners' ILs are shown to be highly paratactic, as indicated by (1) lower proportions of linguistically encoded than contextually indicated PTR; (2) low frequencies of lexical past verbs and no inflectional past verbs; and (3) heavy reliance upon interlocutor establishment of PTR. Little evidence of syntacticization is found, and the lack of inflectional past marking is partly attributed to first language syllable-structure transfer.; In propositional encoding, syntacticization is observed in (1) the proportions of propositional utterances produced, (2) the tendency to distribute propositional content over single utterances, and (3) little interlocutor collaboration in propositional encoding. These results are attributed to the learners' cognitive and social maturity and are contrasted with findings from earlier studies of child first and second language acquisition. Parataxis is reported, however, for complex propositions, with a low rate of multipropositional utterance (MPU) production and use of juxtapositioning to bind propositions evident throughout the study. While these findings are taken to indicate a shift from coordination to subordination, an argument is also made for detailed semantic analysis of MPUs in future work.; The results of both analyses are discussed in terms of (1) variation in IL development, (2) the primary role of discourse-pragmatic factors in the communication of messages, (3) the interdependence of linguistic domains in IL development, and (4) the necessity and sufficiency of conversational interaction for the acquisition of particular coding devices. With respect to the methodology, the merits of function-to-form and multi-level analysis of IL data are reviewed. |
