The relativisation strategies in the production of Maltese advanced learners of Italian L2

Abstract

Maltese and Italian exhibit parametrically different choices regarding restrictive relative clause formation. This study focuses on the interlanguages of non-native, intermediate, and advanced Maltese students studying Italian as a second language in a formal context. Relative clauses were classified and analysed following Keenan and Comrie’s (1977) noun phrase accessibility hierarchy (NPAH), a theoretical framework adopted to examine the structure of relative clauses. Given that relative clauses are islands for extraction in Italian, this study also incorporates findings from a self-paced experimental design adapted from Beltrama and Xiang (2016) to investigate the extent to which a [-wh-movement] L1 (Maltese) and a [+wh-movement] L2 (Italian) influence L2 processing of complex relative clauses in the final stage of L2 acquisition. The results indicate that the acquisition process of relative clause syntactic structures is affected by the level of L2 proficiency and frequency of L2 syntactic structures. As proficiency increased, the output of advanced learners became more similar to native speakers, with the advanced group exhibiting native-like attainment. This research contributes new evidence in three main areas: (i) how the noun phrase acceptability hierarchy, as a theoretical framework, complements an experimental methodology design; (ii) what factors contribute to describing and interpreting degrees of language acceptability in experimental designs of complex syntactic structures; and (iii) the possible factors that lead non-native language learners to acquire and produce complex syntactic structures that go beyond the limit of possible experience while making developmental progress in both the accuracy and processing efficiency of relative clauses.