Research in Language Research in Language
Volume 14 Issue 3 Article 5
September 2016
The role of inter- and intralingual factors and compendiums in The role of inter- and intralingual factors and compendiums in
acquisition of Swedish as a foreign language: the case of Finns acquisition of Swedish as a foreign language: the case of Finns
learning de<niteness and the use of articles learning de<niteness and the use of articles
Eeva-Lisa Nyqvist
University of Helsinki
, eeva-liisa.nyqvist@helsinki.<
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Nyqvist, Eeva-Lisa (2016) "The role of inter- and intralingual factors and compendiums in acquisition of
Swedish as a foreign language: the case of Finns learning de<niteness and the use of articles,"
Research
in Language
: Vol. 14 : Iss. 3 , Article 5.
DOI: 10.1515/rela-2016-0016
Available at: https://digijournals.uni.lodz.pl/rela/vol14/iss3/5
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Research in Language, 2016, vol. 14:3 DOI: 10.1515/rela-2016-0016
297
THE ROLE OF INTER- AND INTRALINGUAL FACTORS AND
COMPENDIUMS IN ACQUISITION OF SWEDISH AS A
FOREIGN LANGUAGE: THE CASE OF FINNS LEARNING
DEFINITENESS AND THE USE OF ARTICLES
1
EEVA-LIISA NYQVIST
University of Helsinki
eeva-liisa.nyqvist@helsinki.fi
Abstract
This study explores the acquisition of definiteness and article use in written Swedish by
Finnish-speaking teenagers (n=67) during the three years in secondary school. The studied
grammatical phenomena are problematic for all L2 learners of Swedish and are especially
difficult for learners, such as Finns, whose L1 lacks expressive definiteness
morphologically.
The informants produce complex NPs already in their first narratives. The form of
NPs poses significantly more problems than the choice of a correct form of definiteness.
Hence, it is possible that previous knowledge in English helps informants in the choice of
definiteness. The common nominator for problematic expressions is simplification, in both
formal aspects and in the relation between form and meaning. Previous research in Sweden
has made similar findings. The most central types of NPs build an acquisition explainable
by a complexity hierarchy between the different types of NPs. The informants master best
NPs without definiteness markers. Definite singulars containing an ending are significantly
easier than indefinite singulars, the indefinite article of which is notoriously difficult for
Finns learning Swedish as an L2. This acquisition order, however, profoundly differs from
the traditional order of instruction of their compendiums.
Keywords: Swedish, definiteness, use of articles, third language acquisition, Finnish
1. Introduction
Finland is a plurilingual country with two official languages. In 2013, circa 90%
of the population spoke Finnish and circa 5% of the population spoke Swedish
as their first language (henceforth L1; Statistics Finland 2014). Hence, the
Finnish-speaking pupils learn Swedish and the Swedish-speaking pupils learn
Finnish at all levels of education from the compulsory basic education to the
university (Basic Education Act 628/1998; General Upper Secondary Schools
Act 629/1998 and Government Decree on University Degrees 794/2004).
1
This article is based on my doctoral dissertation (Nyqvist 2013).
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298 Eeva-Liisa Nyqvist
The first foreign language for Finnish-speaking pupils, commonly called the
syllabus A language in the Finish school system, is typically English, beginning
at the latest at the third grade (at the age of 9). Hence, the majority of pupils
begin to learn Swedish as a syllabus B language at the seventh grade (at the age
of 13). (FNBE 2014.) Thus, the vast majority of Finns actually learn Swedish as
a third language (henceforth L3).
The most recent survey of learning results in secondary school (Tuokko
2009) covering the learning results in Swedish of 5300 Finnish-speaking
students in the final grade of compulsory basic education (15 years old) shows
that Swedish proficiency of only 21% of the students reaches the level “good”:
27% of the students exceed this level and more than 50% remain below it. The
results are weakest in language production. The level of Swedish skills has
declined, especially in grammar, after 2002, when a previous survey (Tuokko
2002) was conducted. The main reason for this development is that instruction
nowadays focuses on communicative activities. Grammatical features are, still,
necessary for comprehensibility, and grammatical knowledge is especially
important for the ability to write comprehensible language and to facilitate
understanding in communication (Ellis 2005). Definiteness and the use of
articles, especially, has been reported to pose problems (Karppinen and
Sarkkinen 1995). Hence, the aim of this study is to explore how Finnish-
speaking pupils learning B-syllabus Swedish use the different definiteness forms
of Swedish nouns and express the different definiteness meanings and what
kinds of problems they have in grades seven through nine.
It is important to note that the role of compendiums that consist of study
texts, and exercises on vocabulary, grammar and communication is considerable
in acquisition of Swedish as a second language (henceforth L2) in Finland. The
input is indispensable for all second-language acquisition (henceforth SLA), and
the compendiums actually build the principal input source for Finnish-speaking
L2 learners of Swedish, as Swedish is, de facto, a foreign language for most L2
learners. The Swedish-speaking population mainly lives on the coastal areas of
Finland, and many Finns lack everyday contact with Swedish even if they live in
the bilingual areas. Swedish teachers are, naturally, likely to speak Swedish
during lessons, but how much and how they speak varies.
The considerable typological differences between Finnish and Swedish (see
Definiteness in Swedish and in Finnish below), but rather small differences
between Swedish and English, also lead to many interesting research questions.
The SLA research has shown that the previous L2s play a greater part in the
learning of a L3 than was expected (e.g., Hammarberg 2007: 51–52). Secondly,
the rich inflectional system of Swedish may pose problems for learners
irrespective of the L1 (see Previous research below). As only one language out
of three in the world expresses definiteness morphologically, and only 8% of the
languages of the world have both indefinite and definite article (Haspelmath
1998: 274), Swedish actually belongs to the minority. Hence, traits typical of
Finnish learners of L2 Swedish can be expected to be typical of L2 learners of
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The role of inter- and intralingual factors... 299
Swedish with many different L1s lacking articles: e.g., Polish-speaking L2
learners of Swedish have been reported to omit articles and overuse pronominal
attributes, which is also typical of Finnish-speaking learners of L2 Swedish
(Eriksson and Wijk-Andersson 1988; Axelsson 1994). In the following, I will
use the term L2 when referring to any language acquired after the L1, and the
term L3 when the fact that the informant has acquired another L2 before the
actual one can be assumed to have relevance (Hammarberg 2007: 51– 52).
2. Objective, data and methods
The objective of this study is to analyse how Finnish-speaking pupils (n=67) in
comprehensive school living in a town in Southern Finland express the
definiteness in their written L2 Swedish and how their proficiency develops
from the seventh to the ninth grade (at the age of 13–15 years). Material was
collected for the first time in the spring term in the seventh grade (henceforth
S7), twice in the eighth grade (once in the autumn and the spring term,
henceforth A8 and S8) and three times in the ninth grade (twice in the autumn
term, once in the spring term, henceforth A9 and S9; the two texts of A9 are
treated as one text). Only informants who have written at least four narratives
are included in the study.
Table 1. The material
The topics of the narratives relate to the informants’ everyday life and are such
that they are present in their compendiums in accordance with the National Core
Curriculum for Basic Education (FNBE 2004). The narratives were written
during lessons, and the informants were given advice concerning vocabulary.
The narratives include 4379 noun phrases (henceforth NPs): 641 in S7, 555 in
A8, 653 in S8, 1677 in A9 and 853 in S9.
The NPs in the material are analysed at the phrase level. It is a fundamental
presumption that certain NP types are easier than others, and the grammatical
environment of a noun therefore plays a central part. An analysis at the word
level would lead to a loss of information, as one could not say whether a high
frequency of indefinite forms depends on a high frequency of indefinite referents
Writing moment Titles of the narratives n
Spring term 7th grade My hobby 64
Autumn term 8th grade My trip 58
Spring term 8th grade My friend 62
Autumn term 9th grade My favourite band/singer
My leisure
64
63
Spring term 9th grade Me – a 9th grader! 60
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300 Eeva-Liisa Nyqvist
or on a high frequency of, e.g., possessive attributes constructed with indefinite
nouns (see Definiteness in Swedish and in Finnish below). The categories for
different NP types follow traditional grammar, e.g., indefinite singular or
definite plural. Since definiteness involves both form and meaning (see
Definiteness in Swedish and Finnish below), I will also analyse the different
types of definite and indefinite meaning occurring in the NPs. This classification
originates from the meaning types described in Svenska Akademiens grammatik
(“Grammar of the Swedish Academy, henceforth SAG, see Obligatory
occasions below). The research questions and hypotheses are the following:
1. How frequent are the different NP types? Are there any differences
among grades seven through nine? Hypothesis: The most common NP
types occur already in S7, but the most complex ones (for definition, see
5.2 below) occur only in the later narratives.
2. How does accuracy evolve during grades seven through nine?
Hypothesis: accuracy scores rise in all kinds of NPs, but the most
complex ones remain difficult in the ninth grade.
3. What kind of difficulty hierarchy is there between the studied NPs?
Does it resemble the acquisition order predicted in the processability
theory (Pienemann 1998) or the results of Axelsson’s study (1994, see
below)? Hypothesis: the most complex NPs are acquired last.
4. Does the majority of the inaccuracies concern the choice of definiteness
(e.g., indefinite form in an obligatory occasion for definite form,
henceforth definiteness inaccuracies) or the form of the NP (e.g.,
omission of an article, henceforth formal inaccuracies)? Hypothesis: the
formal aspects are more difficult, as the informants can exploit their
previous knowledge of English in the choice of definiteness.
The method in the study is mainly quantitative, albeit inputting the material in
the Microsoft Access analysis programme has involved an extensive qualitative
analysis: all NPs have been coded by writing moment (S7–S9), form
(singular/plural; definite/indefinite; occurrence of pronominal or genitive
attributes, see below), meaning (definite/indefinite), and accuracy. As the
informants produced only a little text per person, the analysis occurs on the
group level.
The analyses concern the whole performance, i.e., both correct and incorrect
use of NPs. The analyses are based on the obligatory occasions, i.e., which are
forms the informants should produce according to the norm of the target
language. As Finnish schoolchildren typically learn Swedish in the classroom,
their production is compared with the norm given in their compendiums. Thus,
the analyses involves a study about how fully they have acquired the studied
linguistic features (Ellis and Barkhuizen 2005).
The performance analysis encompasses calculation of frequencies by
dividing the number of obligatory occasions of a NP type by the total number of
NPs. The frequencies are also compared with those in the texts in the
compendiums the informants have used (henceforth Series A and B). The
© by the author, licensee Łódź University – Łódź University Press, Łódź, Poland. This article is an open access article
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