WHO’S AFRAID OF COMPLEXITY? An Exploration of the Influence of Native Language Complexity on L2 Complexity
Abstract
The matter of linguistic complexity has been widely scrutinised in the last few decades, within theoretical
linguistics, as well as in second language acquisition studies. A concept introduced in the last half of the
previous century, it continues to be a matter of debate in the linguistic field, as it eludes a clear-cut
definition and interpretation. In this thesis, the morphological and lexical complexity of learner essays in
Swedish are calculated using type-token, entropy and Kolmogorov complexity measures in order to
determine whether properties of the native language (L1) of the learner influence the complexity of the
second language (L2). A supplementary measure is devised by aggregating morphological features
pertaining to each language as taken from the World Atlas of Language Structures. The languages under
analysis are: Arabic, Chinese, Dari, English, German, Persian, Spanish and Swedish. The measures are
computed on both the L1s and L2s, which are afterwards analysed with the help of data visualisations and
linear regression models. This study concludes that the complexity of the L1 is not a reliable predictor of
L2 complexity, although it does act as a predictor regarding the instructional level of the learners.
Degree
Student essay
Collections
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Date
2023-06-19Author
Suditu, Nadina Mariana
Keywords
complexity, SLA, TTR, entropy, kolmogorov, linear regression
Language
eng