This study investigates the acquisition of Spanish word order by native speakers of
English. Specifically, it considers the development of sensitivity to the distinct
interpretations of subject-verb (SV) vs. verb-subject (VS) order, as determined by
lexical verb class (unaccusative and unergative verbs) and discourse
structure.Participants included a native speaker control group and learners at four
proficiency levels. Results from a contextualized production task indicate that
beginning learners transferred the SV order of English for all structures.
Intermediate learners showed a gradual increase in the production of lexically and
discourse-determined inversion, although their data was also characterized by
indeterminacy and variability. The advanced learners demonstrated a sensitivity to
the word order effects of unaccusativity and discourse factors, but also tended to
overgeneralize inversion to unergative verbs in a neutral discourse context.
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