摘要：The study investigates the acquisition of English verb placement by L1 Arabic speakersof L2 English which is generally taken to constitute a UG parameter often referred to asthe verb movement parameter. It sets out to test two competing hypotheses namely, theFailed Functional Features Hypothesis (FFFH) (Hawkins and Chan, 1997) and the FullTransfer Full Access Hypothesis (FTFAH) (Schwartz and Sprouse 1994; 1996). TheFFFH view holds that post-childhood L2 adult learners are unable to reset parametersfrom their L1 values to the L2 settings where these differ from the L1 settings (due to thepartial inaccessibility of UG). On the other hand, the FTFAH claims that post-childhoodL2 adult learners start out with the parameter settings instantiated in their L1 grammars(full transfer) and that they can subsequently reset parameters to the target L2 settingswhere these differ from the L1 settings (due to the full accessibility of UG). Altogether240 L1 Arabic speakers of L2 English who were subdivided into three proficiency levels(lower-intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced) participated in the study. Agrammaticality judgement task on verb placement was designed to test the learners’underlying knowledge of three of the properties subsumed under the verb movementparameter in English: negation in both finite and non-finite contexts, adverb placementand floating subject quantifier placement in finite contexts, with thematic verbs, beauxiliary and copula be verb forms. The findings of the study provide evidence in support.
关键词：UG parameter; English verb placement; L1 Arabic speakers of L2 English
