The Acquisition of WH-dependencies by Behdini Learners of English

The book investigates firstly the clausal environments which license gaps and resumptive (or intrusive) pronouns in Behdini. A comparison is made between Behdini and English, and then in this context, L1 Behdini speakers' L2 acquisition of English wh-dependencies is investigated. Several important theoretical hypotheses about L2 acquisition and processing are evaluated. This book includes the first ever SLA study whose results prove that islands license the use of resumptive pronouns in English not only theoretically but also experimentally; this has not been explored before! The book also presents an original description and analysis of Behdini grammar, an undocumented language of Iraq which shows an unusual typological profile.

Autorentext

Shivan S. Toma: I got my BA in 2004 and MA in 2010 in linguistics from University of Duhok. I got my PhD in Second Language Acquisition from University of Leeds in 2016. I am a lecturer at University of Duhok, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Translation. I teach: Contrastive Grammar, Syntax, Sociolinguistics, Simultaneous Interpreting, etc.