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1、*TheCertainUsesoftheinL2-EnglishTaniaIoninandKenWexlerMassuchesettsInstituteofTechnology1.IntroductionItiswell-knownthatlearnersofEnglishasasecondlanguage(L2)havedifficultyacquiringEnglisharticles.Inparticular,learnersoftenusearticlesinappropriately–i.e.,theydonotappeartohavemastered
2、thesemanticsofEnglisharticles.WhilemuchworkhasbeendevotedtoarticleuseinL2-English(Huebner1983,Master1987,Thomas1989,Murphy1997,amongothers),thereistoourknowledgenoconsensusregardingtheinterpretationthatunderliesarticlechoiceinL2-English.IfL2-grammarisUG-constrained,thenwewouldexpectl
3、earners’errorstobesystematic:errorsinarticleuseshouldreflectparametersettingsorfeaturespecificationsthatareallowedbyUG,butthatareinappropriateforEnglish.Forinstance,L2-learnersmayassociatethenotwithdefinitenessbutwithadifferentsemanticfeature.Inthispaper,wewillarguethatthisisindeedth
4、ecase–thatL2-learnersfrequentlyassociatethewithreferentiality(cf.FodorandSag1982).WearguethatL2-grammarisUG-constrained–thatL2-learnershaveaccesstothesemanticfeaturesofdefinitenessandreferentiality.WewillsuggestthaterrorsinarticleusestemfromL2-learners’inabilitytodecidewhichofthesese
5、manticfeaturesisappropriateforthedivisionofarticlesinEnglish.WedifferfrompreviousL2-literature(e.g.,Huebner1983,Thomas1989),whichconsidersthedere/dedictodistinctiontobeinstrumentalinarticlechoiceinL2-English.Wewillshowthatthisdistinctiondoesnotinfactplayaroleinarticlechoice,whereasre
6、ferentialitydoes.EvidenceforourproposalcomesfromtwostudieswithadultL1-RussianlearnersofEnglish.SinceRussianhasnoarticlesandnodirect1wayofcodingfordefinitenessorspecificity,itisunlikelythatourresultsareduetotransfer.Sincetheterminologysurroundingarticleinterpretationisquitevaried,wepr
7、ovidesomebasic(andnecessarilyoversimplified)definitionsofthetermsthatwewillbeusinginthispaper;examplesillustratingtheterminologyarealsoprovidedbelow.Definitions1.Definiteness:aDPisdefiniteifitsreferentisknowntobothspeakerandhearer,andisuniqueinthecontextuallyrelevantdomain.Otherwise,
8、theDPisindef
