Linguistic encoding of motion events in English and French: Typological constraints on second language acquisition and agrammatic aphasia

Languages show differences in how they encode motion in discourse: Verb-framed languages lexicalize Path in the verb, leaving Manner peripheral or implicit; Satellite-framed languages lexicalize Manner together with Path adjuncts. The present study investigates: 1) the extent to which such typological constraints affect the verbalizations of second language learners (English learners of French) and of aphasic speakers (English and French speakers with agrammatism) — who typically show dissociations between lexical and syntactic knowledge — in comparison to controls (English and French native speakers); as well as 2) the role of language-independent factors (level of acquisition, syndrome type). Despite some similarities between learners and speakers with aphasia due to language-independent factors, the findings suggest typologically constrained verbalizations in all groups, as well as diverging strategies that may reflect distinct underlying conceptualization processes.