| The current research tests the claim of Processability Theory (PT), an acquisition theory of output, that constructions with less processing cost are produced in developmental time earlier than those that require more complex processing procedures. This claim was tested by comparing the production rate of two Indonesian constructions, reduplication (red) and numeral classifiers (numclass), in a group of first exposure learners. An LFG (Lexical Functional Grammar) - based syntactic analysis showed that red is processed at the category level, a level more primitive than the phrasal level, which is where numclass is processed. It was predicted that red is acquired earlier than numclass. Results showed otherwise: learners had easier access to numclass than to red. This research creates a challenge to PT, but at the same time, it opens up a new approach to testing PT. It also makes a novel contribution to the study of Indonesian syntax by contributing an analysis of numclass constructions in the Lexical Functional Grammar paradigm. Finally, this thesis adds to the growing literature on first exposure studies with a novel pair of languages (English L1/Indonesian L2) and reveals the rapidity with which adult learners can learn complex structures on the basis of minimal amounts of input. |
