Linguistic Difficulties in the Knowledge of L2 and Heritage Korean Learners.

This study examined the nature of the linguistic difficulties observed in the production of Korean relative clauses (RC) by 37 English-dominant beginning second language and heritage learners. Despite the difference in the age and mode of acquisition, native-like attainment of the target/heritage grammar is lacking in both groups (Montrul 2008). The overall results of a written production task showed that the heritage group produced errors more frequently than the L2 group. Yet, an individual error analysis of the low accuracy level revealed a rather complex nature of the linguistic difficulties experienced by the two groups. They produced the same type of error reflecting negative influence from English, but a main difference was found in the low-accuracy heritage group's (n=8) heavy reliance on head-internal RCs in producing head-external RCs, compared to their L2 counterpart (n=11). Lastly, the study explores plausible explanations for the heritage group's preference for head-internal RCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]