This paper investigates the mechanisms of generalization and overgeneralization of no in Japanese noun phrases. Samples of spontaneous speech were collected longitudinally from one Chinesespeaking child and tvvo English-speaking children. The results show that in the case of the “NP + no + NP” structure, subjects did not produce no at the earliest stage, then they gradually came to produce no with the ungrammatical structure “NP + NP” Finally, they produced only correct structures. On the other hand, in the case of “AP + NP.” subjects' utterances without no were observed at the earliest stage, and later overgeneralized no appeared, and ultimately disappeared. The Chinese child produced overgeneralized no distinctively longer than the English-speaking children. From these results, it may be concluded that in the acquisition process of no, there are successive stages where second language (L2) learners first do not produce no, and then later start to produce it As this process can be seen in cases of first language (L1) acquisition, a similar mechanism could operate in both L1 and L2 acquisition of noun phrases. In order to acquire Japanese noun phrases, L2 learners learn the rule that no should be inserted only when the modifier is either a noun phrase or a posToositional phrase (i.e., “NO-insertion Rule”). One of the reasons why no is overgeneralized seems to be that L2 learners may adapt the rule to adjective phrases as well. In addition to the “NO-insertion Rule, ” L2 learners must learn the lexical features of the modifier nouns. As long as the L2 learners have not acquired the rule and the features of modifiers, errors such as overgeneralization and deletion of no will persist. The time required for learners to learn the rule will be influenced by Ll characteristics. Therefore, the duration of the stage in which learners produce the incorrect structures will depend upon those Li characteristics.

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The present study investigated how background knowledge and vocabulary knowledge held by Japanese readers affect reading comprehension of a science text written in English. In Experiment 1, three tests were administered to 175 Japanese high school and college students : a cloze test (to measure language skill), a vocabulary knowledge test, and a background knowledge test. The participants read a text written about the heart and blood circulation to answer text-based questions and inference questions measuring 'text-base' and 'situation model', theoretical concepts proposed by van Dijk and Kintsch (1983). Path analysis indicated that vocabulary knowledge causally affected 'text-base', which further showed inter-causal relations with 'situation model'. Background knowledge independently and causally influenced 'situation model' (see details in Figure 2). In Experiment 2,134 high school participants were divided into high-(n=37) and low-groups (n=45) of vocabulary knowledge. It was showed that participants with high vocabulary knowledge performed better in free recall and text-based questions than those with low vocabulary knowledge, whereas no significant differences were found in inference questions and text summarization. In Experiment 3,134 high school participants were divided into high-(n=34) and low-groups (n=36) of background knowledge. It was showed that participants with high background knowledge performed better in text-based and inference questions, and text summarization than those with low background knowledge while no significantdifference was found in free recall. The results of Experiment 2 suggest that although vocabulary knowledge leads to an increase in the numbers of micro propositions, this does not affect the construction of macro proposition. The results of Experiment 3, in contrast, suggest that although background knowledge does not affect the numbers of micro propositions, it contributes to the construction of macro proposition. As a result, background knowledge contributes to enhance the quality of both 'text base' and 'situation model'.

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The present study investigates the overgeneralisation of properties of transitivity alternations in interlanguage grammars. Previous studies of the acquisition of argument structure have suggested that learners tend to make errors by overgeneralising passives (The window was broken where natives use The window broke, *The letter was arrived, *The child was cried) and overgeneralising causatives (*The postman arrived the letter, *The dentist cried the child). A question is whether these errors are observed to the same extent among L2 learners regardless of their L1, and what triggers such errors (e.g. discourse context or L1 transfer). To answer these questions, an experimental study was conducted with Spanish-and Japanese-speaking adult L2 learners of English. The results from an acceptability judgement task and a translation-based production task show differences in overgeneralisation errors between language groups (Spanish vs. Japanese), proficiency levels (lower vs. upper proficiency level) and verb classes (unaccusative verbs vs. unergative verbs). The analysis suggests that learners know the unaccusative/unergative distinction, since more overgeneralisation errors were found with the non-alternating unaccusative verbs compared with the unergative verbs; the unaccusatives have a dyadic structure which allows alternations, while the unergatives have universally a monadic structure at the level of the lexical argument structure. On the other hand, a cross-linguistic difference has been found in overpassivisation errors that appear to reflect different derivational patterns with distinct morphological marking (anti-causative and de-causative morphemes) in the L1. That is, Spanish only has a morphological reflex marking the anti-causative, whilst Japanese has morphological reflexes of de-causativisation and causativisation as well.

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The present study investigates Japanese learners' acquisition of the expletive there construction, the only construction that demonstrates surface unaccusativity in English (Leven and Rappaport Hovav, 1995). The aim is to discover Japanese EFL learners' knowledge of the Case licensing property of unaccusative verbs and be, adopting the framework put forward by Belletti (1988). Unaccusatives and be in English are capable of optionally assigning partitive Case to their single internal argument (Lasnik, 1992, 1995). As a result, the argument DP can stay in its base position, and there is inserted into the subject position to fulfil the Extended Projection Principle (EPP). The DP has to be indefinite because partitive is incompatible with definiteness. In Japanese, in contrast, the same type of verb obligatorily assigns nominative Case to its pre-verbal internal argument, and no DP needs to be inserted into the subject position because the EPP is weak (Yatsushiro, 1996, 1999). With respect to passives and unergatives, English and Japanese share the same properties. Based on this framework, a pioneering study by Hirakawa (2003b) claims that her intermediate-level learners might have acquired the partitive Case of be but not of unaccusatives. To examine the validity of her conclusion, a grammaticality judgement test has been administered to four groups of learners (ranging from Elementary to Advanced) and native speakers of English. The test includes two types of construction ('DP-V'and 'There-V-DP') varying as to verb type (unergative; passive; unaccusative I, expressing 'existence' or 'appearance'; unaccusative II, denoting other meanings; be) and definiteness of DP. Results show that learners come to know the (sub) types of verb that can occur with expletive there, but that even advanced learners have difficulty in eliminating the possibility of other verbs (i.e. unergative and unaccusative II) occurring in the construction. In addition, they have failed to reject '*There-Unaccusative I / be-definite DP'. Based on these outcomes, it is argued that the lexical Case associated with the particular classes of verb cannot be acquired by adult learners. As an alternative account, it is claimed that the there construction in Japanese-English interlanguage is the result of applying their L1 lexical semantics and morphophonological knowledge.

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