How L2 English Speakers Interpret Disjunction in Negative Sentences

Abstract

The present study investigates the interpretation of disjunction in negative sentences, focusing on the cross-linguistic variation between English and Romanian and on the resetting of parameter values by Romanian-speaking learners of English. One experimental study was conducted for each linguistic group, and the results indicated that: 1) English speakers preferred the interpretation according to which disjunction is not understood as a positive polarity item (i.e., the –PPI interpretation), 2) Romanian speakers preferred the interpretation according to which disjunction is understood as a positive polarity item (i.e., the +PPI interpretation), and 3) the majority of English learners were at an interlanguage stage where there was variation between the English-like and Romanian-like preferences. This study contributes to the understanding of cross-linguistic variation in polarity phenomena and of parameter resetting in second-language learning.