The role of English as L2 in the acquisition of L3 Norwegian by Italian native speakers. Cross-linguistic Influence in adult multilingualism.

Abstract

As the field of third language acquisition (L3A) expands, the question of whether one or more languages influence the acquisition of (an) additional language(s) remains central. This thesis aims to contribute to the ongoing debate in the field of L3A by examining the role of English as a second language (L2) in the acquisition of L3 Norwegian by Italian native speakers (L1). English is the most commonly taught L2 in Italy and Europe, making it crucial to investigate its potential influence on L3 learning. This thesis incorporates a main experiment consisting of a self-paced reading task (SPR) to test the acquisition of four Norwegian properties: (i) pre-nominal gender agreement, adverbial word order in (ii) main and (iii) subordinate clauses, and (iv) topicalization. The participants were (n=10) Norwegian native speakers that served as a control group, and (n=16) Italian native speakers with L2 English learning Norwegian (L3). Altogether, results from the L1 Italian group indicated that L3 performance was influenced by their L2 English, and that length of English instruction significantly correlated with this behavior, while other extra-linguistic variables such as proficiency and exposure did not affect participants’ ability to detect grammatical violations.