Laurent Dekydtspotter
• Associate Professor
of French Linguistics
• Associate Professor
of Second Language Studies
Office: Ballantine Hall
611
Office phone: 855-2221
Email: ldekydts @indiana.edu
Research areas:
Development of interpretive knowledge: phrasal semantics, lexical semantics and grammatically computed pragmatic inferences. Sentence processing: information integration in L2 processing.
Education:
- PhD, Linguistics, Cornell University, 1995
- MA, TESOL/Linguistics, Washington State University, 1989
- MA, English, Université Catholique de l'Ouest, 1987
- BA, English, Université Catholique de l'Ouest, 1985
Background:
I am interested in second language learners’ knowledge of the interpretations available to a sentence that are not grammatical in the learner's native language and in the precise manner in which second language learners interpret sentences of the target language input, with special interest in the integration of information from context, pragmatics, prosody, semantics and syntax.
Not all ways of combining words together have the same interpretive consequences. Aspects of one's semantic intuitions results from the way in which one goes about building the sentence. A string of experiments suggests that second language acquisition is channeled by the type of constraints that determine interpretation in native systems.The reason for the focus on processing is that not all ways of combining information together have the same consequences for language understanding.
In a string of experiments, I have investigated the extent to which context can override syntactic information in the manner in which second language learners perceive sentences. Results so far suggest a deep structural reflex in second language acquirers of French. This threatens the notion that second language learners do not process sentences as deeply as natives, relying on lexical and contexual information instead.
Selected awards:
- Teaching Excellence Recognition Award (TERA), 1999
Recent Courses Taught
- Introduction to French Semantics
- Introduction to French Phonology
- Advanced French Syntax • Introduction to French Syntax
- Advanced Grammar and Composition
- Phonetics and Pronunciation
- Structure and Development of French
- Topics in the Learning and Teaching of French: Issues of Acquisition
Recent Publications
Articles
Dekydtspotter, L., B. Kim, H-j. Kim, Y-T. Wang, H.K. Kim & J. K. Lee. (2008) Intermediate traces and anaphora resolution in the processing of English as a second language. In Harvey Chan, Heather Jacob & Enkeleida Kapia (Eds.), (pp. 84-95) Proceedings of the 32st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Cascadilla Press, Somerville, MA.
Dekydtspotter, L., Anderson, B. & Sprouse, R. A. (2007) Syntax-semantics in English-French Interlanguage: Advancing second language epistemology. In Dalila Ayoun (Ed.), (pp. 75-102), The Handbook of French Applied Linguistics, John Benjamins, Philadelphia, PA.
Dekydtspotter, Laurent and Jon Hathorn (2005) Quelque chose (...) de remarquable in English-French Acquisition: Mandatory, Informationally Encapsulated Computations in Second Language Interpretation. Second Language Research 21: 291-323.
Dekydtspotter, Laurent and Samantha Outcalt (2005) A Syntactic Bias in Scope Ambiguity Resolution in the Processing of English-French Cardinality Interrogatives: Evidence for Informational Encapsulation. Language Learning 1: 1-37.
Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Rex Sprouse and Kimberly Swanson (2001) Reflexes of the Mental Architecture in Second Language Acquisition: The Interpretation of Discontinuous Combien Extractions in English-French Interlanguage.” Language Acquisition 9: 175-227.
Dekydtspotter, Laurent (2001) The Universal Parser and Interlanguage: Domain-Specific Mental Organization in the Comprehension of Combien Interrogatives in English-French Interlanguage.” Second Language Research 17: 93-145.
Dekydtspotter, Laurent and Rex Sprouse (2001) Mental Design and (Second) Language Epistemology: Adjectival Restrictions of Wh-Quantifier and Tense in English-French Interlanguage. Second LanguageResearch 17: 1-35.
Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Rex Sprouse and Rachel Thyre (1999/2000) The Interpretation of Quantification at a Distance in English-French Interlanguage: Domain-Specificity and Second Language Acquisition. Language Acquisition 8: 265-320.
Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Rex Sprouse and Bruce Anderson (1998) Interlanguage A-bar Dependencies: Binding Construals, Null Prepositions and Universal Grammar. Second Language Research 14: 341-358.
Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Rex Sprouse and Bruce Anderson (1997) The Interpretive Interface in L2 Acquisition: the Process-Result Distinction in English-French Interlanguage Grammars. Language Acquisition 6: 297-332.
