L1/L2 acquisition

Co-phonologies and parallel grammars in L1 acquisition: I have also worked in collaboration with Marina Tzakosta (University of Crete) and Spyridoula Varlokosta (University of the Aegean) on (typical and atypical) phonological acquisition where my interest is mainly on the architecture of early grammars and the formal expression of learning paths as these are
revealed in the speech of young learners of Greek.

Tzakosta, Μ. & A. Revithiadou. 2007. Α Grammar Inclusion Hypothesis of child language variation. Journal of Greek Linguistics 7, 49-70.

Revithiadou, A. & M. Tzakosta. 2004a. Alternative grammars in acquisition: Μarkedness- vs. faithfulness-oriented learning. In Proceedings of the 28th BUCLD Annual Conference on Language Development: Supplement, Brugos, A., L. Micciula & C.E. Smith (eds.). Cascadilla Press, Somerville, CA.

Revithiadou, A. & M. Tzakosta. 2004b. Markedness hierarchies vs. positional faithfulness and the role of multiple grammars in the acquisition of Greek. In Proceedings of GALA 2003: Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition, Baauw S. & J. van Kampen (eds.), vol. 2, 377-388. Utrecht University, Utrecht.

L2 acquisition of Greek: I have worked on the acquisition of Greek suprasegmentals by the Muslim students of Thrace who are native speakers of Turkish and learn Greek as a second language. This research was part a large-scale project with the title: Education of Muslim Students in Greece, 2002-2004 (http://www.ecd.uoa.gr/museduc/), Action: Grammar and Teaching
(Head co-ordinator: Dr. Spyros Moschonas). More specifically, I identified the structures that are transferred from the native to the target language and provided a framework for their explanation.

Revithiadou, A. & M. Τzakosta. 2007. Η Φωνολογία στην Εκμάθηση της Ελληνικής ως Ξένης Γλώσσας. [Phonology in the Acquisition of L2 Greek.] Εκδόσεις Πατάκη, Αθήνα. [Patakis Publications, Athens.] [Click here to view the table of contents, pdf, 44KB.]

L2 acquisition of Turkish: In collaborative work with Dr. D. Papadopoulou, Dr. S. Varlokosta, Dr. V. Spyropoulos, S. Prokou and H. Kaili, we explore the optional use of morphology attested in second language learners by providing empirical data from the early interlanguage of Greek learners of Turkish. More specifically, we conducted three experiments, a cloze task, a sentence
picture matching task and an on-line grammaticality judgement task, in order to investigate case morphology and its interaction with word order constraints. The findings of all three experiments point towards a variable use of case morphology, which is also observed in previous studies of Turkish as a second language (L2). Moreover, all three experiments show clearly that the learners face difficulties with non-canonical word orders as well as with the interaction of word order constraints and Case. On the other hand, the learners performed well on verbal inflections. On the basis of these findings, we argue that the developmental patterns in the early stages of L2 acquisition cannot be attributed to a global lack of functional categories but rather to more localized difficulties, which seem to be related to (a) whether the features in the L2 are grammaticalized in the first language and (b) the way these features are encoded in the morphosyntax of the first language. Furthermore, we claim that processing factors and the specific properties of the morphological paradigms affect L2 development.

Following this line of research, we also investigate differences in the acquisition of verbal and nominal inflection by the same group of speakers. The results from the sentence completion, the grammaticality judgement and the sentence-picture matching tasks indicate that the Greek learners of Turkish experience more difficulties with case morphology rather than with verbal morphology. Furthermore, the learners’ performance on the verbal and on the case suffixes show improvement in higher proficiency levels; however, difficulties with case morphology persist with non-specific objects as well as with the dative case when it denotes direction. The error analysis for the case suffixes shows that the non-native speakers have internalized the function of the cases and the difficulties attested may be due to the morphological realization of case morphemes.


Papadopoulou, D., S. Varlokosta, V. Spyropoulos, H. Kaili, S. Prokou & A. Revithiadou. 2011a. Case morphology and word order in L2 Turkish: Evidence from Greek learners. Second Language Research 25: 173-204.

Papadopoulou, D., S. Varlokosta, V. Spyropoulos, H. Kaili, S. Prokou & A. Revithiadou. 2011b. The acquisition of verbal and nominal suffixes by Greek learners of Turkish. In Proceedings of the 31st Annual Meeting of Greek Linguistics, Koutsogiannis, D., D. Papadopoulou & A. Revithiadou (eds.). Institute of Modern Greek Studies, Triantafyllidis Foundation, Thessaloniki.