Referring in a Second Language: Studies on Reference to Person in a Multilingual World

The introduction and tracking of reference to people or individuals, known as referential movement, is a central feature of coherence, and accounts for “about every third word of discourse”. Located at the intersection of pragmatics and grammar, reference is now proving a rich and enduring source of insight into second language development. The challenge for second language (L2) learners involves navigating the selection and positioning of reference in the target language, continually shifting and balancing the referential means used to maintain coherence, while remaining acutely sensitive to the discourse and social context. The present volume focuses on how L2 learners meet that challenge, bringing together both eminent and up-and-coming researchers in the field of L2 acquisition. The chapters address a range of problems in second language acquisition (SLA) (e.g., form-function mapping, first language [L1] influence, developmental trajectories), and do so in relation to various theoretical approaches to reference (e.g., Accessibility Theory, Givenness Hierarchy). The global outlook of these studies relates to the L2 acquisition of English, French, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish and covers a diverse range of situational contexts including heritage language learning, English as a medium of instruction, and the development of sociolinguistic competence.

Table of Contents:
Foreword (Henriette Hendriks) 1. Referring in a second language: Introduction to the volume (Peter Crosthwaite and Jonathon Ryan) 2. Referent accessibility marking and referent’s social status in Japanese as a second language (Jo Lumley) 3. Use of demonstratives in oral narratives by Japanese learners of English (Bonnie Swierzbin) 4. Do referential marking styles transfer to L2 story retelling? (Yuko Nakahama) 5. Referential movement in L2 vs Heritage Korean: A learner corpus study (Peter Crosthwaite and Min Jung Jee) 6. Under-explicit and minimally explicit reference: Evidence from a longitudinal case study (Jonathon Ryan) 7. Anaphora resolution in topic continuity: Evidence from L1 English-L2 Spanish data in the CEDEL2 corpus (Fernando Martín-Villena and Cristóbal Lozano) 8. Using the Givenness Hierarchy to examine article use in academic writing: A case study of adult Spanish-speaking learners of English (Jennifer Killam) 9. Referent introducing strategies in advanced L2 usage: A bi-directional study on French learners of Chinese and Chinese learners of French (Ludovica Lena) 10. Nominal reference in L2 French: How do adult learners manage to understand the multifunctionality of determiners and their discourse counterparts? (Ewa Lenart) 11. Afterword: New directions in L2 reference research (Jonathon Ryan and Peter Crosthwaite)