Conceptual transfer of event frames: The case of motion verbs in the L2

This study addresses the motion event conceptualization of Turkish L2 learners in a typologically different L2. English and Turkish belong to two different categories of motion event-framing according to Talmy's typology (1985, 2000): English is a "satellite-framed language" in which the core schema of a motion event (e.g. Path) is expressed through a satellite following the verb (e.g. The airplane is going up/down). Turkish, on the other hand, is "a verb-framed language" in which the core schema is conflated in the verb (e.g. Uçak yükseliyor/alçalıyor). Given this typological difference, it is hypothesized that L1 speakers of Turkish will have to adjust their event-framing strategies when describing motion events in their L2 English. Following Slobin (1996a, 2003), who shows that such typological differences in the event descriptions of various languages belonging to either of these two categories radically differ from one another in the L1, this study aims to find out to what extent event descriptions of Turkish-speaking L2 users of English, with a focus on motion events, differ from those of the native-speakers. Turkish L2 users of English at various proficiency levels (n=50) were asked to describe a set of 29 pictures depicting a children's story, and their descriptions were compared to English native-speaker counterparts (n=12). The descriptions were then analyzed in terms of event-framing strategies. The results show that L2 users' motion event descriptions are different from the descriptions of the native speakers both qualitatively and quantitatively: L2 users mostly rely on their L1 way of thinking, particularly in the domain of manner and thus describe events with heavy uses of bare motion verbs with path satellites, crucially, independent of their proficiency level, while native speakers' descriptions of motion events are characterized by heavy uses manner conflated verbs with path satellites. Furthermore, L2 learners depend on L1 like alternative manner expressions in their L2 English. Conceptual transfer from L1 to L2 is evident in the findings, even in the event descriptions of L2 speakers at advanced levels. The findings support the claim that conceptual domains are "especially resistant to restructure" in adult second language acquisition (Slobin, 1996b). Key Words: conceptual transfer, verb-framing, motion verbs, second language acquisition, L1 influence