-Te iru in L2 Japanese in an L1 Romanian Setting. A Pilot Study

This paper investigates the learning of the Japanese aspect marker -te iru by native speakers of Romanian. The results of a pilot study based on a comprehension task show that intermediate learners of L2 Japanese with L1 Romanian interpret -te iru target-like, with one exception: the habitual interpretation, especially with activities. Non-facilitative transfer effects are found mainly in the activities condition, where no clear distinction is made between the progressive and the habitual values of the -te iru predicates. I argue that the higher percentage of habitual responses given by the L2 learners is indicative of L1 transfer. In spite of the fact that L1 Romanian lacks an overt marker of the progressive, the acquisition of the -te iru marker in L2 Japanese is affected by transfer from the native language. The results also reveal that intermediate learners have acquired the resultative value of -te iru, in support of the view that it is easier to learn a property that is absent in L1.