Acquisition of English ergative verbs by Turkish students: Yesterday and today

Abstract

This study tries to diagnose the acquisition of a special subclass of intransitive verbs, namely ergatives, by Turkish learners of English by comparing the (partial) results of the study carried out in 2000 (as an MA Thesis) with the results of its replication conducted in 2007. In both studies all the variables were the same. Proficiency levels were determined via a cloze test and a grammaticality judgment test with various subclasses of intransitives was administered. Results of the study have revealed that proficiency levels of the participants have increased in seven years, but paired ergative verbs have remained the most problematic subclass of intransitives in both studies.