The Acquisition of Tense‐Aspect Marking in Japanese as a Second Language

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<jats:p>Researchers have argued that the developmental sequence of tense‐aspect morphology in second language (L2) acquisition follows a universal pattern (the Aspect Hypothesis; e.g., Robison, 1995). Although such a tendency fits the acquisition of typologically similar languages (English, French and Spanish), the universal claim requires testing against non‐Indo European languages. This study tested the Aspect Hypothesis using L2 Japanese (JSL) data. Experiment 1 showed that in oral production data, 3 learners of JSL showed stronger association of achievement verbs and past marking (<jats:italic>‐ta</jats:italic>), and of activity verbs and progressive/durative marking (<jats:italic>‐te i‐</jats:italic>), than native speakers. Experiment 2 showed that in an acceptability judgment test of tense‐aspect forms, 17 learners of JSL had more difficulty correctly judging the acceptability of the progressive/durative marker (<jats:italic>‐te i‐</jats:italic>) with achievement verbs than with activity verbs. The results extend the applicability of the Aspect Hypothesis to a non‐Indo‐European language.</jats:p>

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