Definiteness across languages and in L2 acquisition

This paper presents evidence suggesting that article-less languages are not created equal and that this influences how native speakers of these languages acquire article languages like English. The evidence suggests that Mandarin learners of English do not unequivocally bear out the predictions of the Fluctuation Hypothesis, unlike learners of English with e.g. Korean, Russian and Japanese as an L1. I propose a research program that approaches articles as a syntax/semantics interface phenomenon. The program considers the syntax/semantics interface of definiteness in its entirety and makes no a priori assumptions about how it is best analysed. Rather, it adopts a data-driven comparative approach with multiple L1s that allows to give a fine-grained answer to the question how L1 influence plays out for definiteness