Publication ｜Sophia Linguistica
Yumi Orihara
This study investigated the acquisition process of the -teiru form, a Japanese aspect
marker, by German learners of Japanese whose language does not have a progressive
form. Using the data collected by a picture-describing task, I examined which usage is
acquired earlier, the progressive or the resultative. The results from the analysis showed
that German learners of Japanese use the progressive earlier than the resultative and
this supports previous studies. Compared with English learners of Japanese who have a
progressive form in their mother tongue (be -ing form), there was not a large gap between
the two groups when the progressive was used. Furthermore the German learners used
the resultative more than the English learners. The study concluded that although German
learners of Japanese are influenced by their mother tongue in the acquisition process of
the -teiru form, it doesn’t change the universality of the acquisition pattern.
