Argument structure in L2 acquisition: language transfer re-visited in a semantics and syntax perspectiveDOI:10.5007/2175-8026.2011n60p153

Interlanguage studies tend to be dominated by investigationsof strictly morphosyntactic phenomena. Issues of argumentstructure and argument realization are shown to be a potentiallyinnovative theoretical approach to the study of L2 learners’knowledge of target language grammar, as they are framedas an interface between semantics and syntax. In this article,evidence of language transfer effects in Brazilian L2 learners’representation of transitivity alternations in verbs of mannerof movement are presented to support the view that secondlanguage research on the acquisition of argument structurerealization patterns is a promising line of enquiry