SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This chapter addresses the issues by examining how first language (L1) English or Korean speakers of second language (L2) Japanese describe Motion events depicted in animated cartoons, by first selecting Motion events for which many L1 Japanese speakers are found to use mimetics. Research on L2 learners’ Motion event descriptions has drawn much attention due to the “centrality of motion in everyday human life” and the interest in how L2 learners acquire thinking-for-speaking in L2. If the L1-L2 typology indeed matters English speakers learning L2 Japanese may face similar challenges to the L2 Korean learners in Choi and Lantolf’s study in mapping Manner to elements such as adverbs, gerundive phrases or manner verbs when they describe Motion events in L2 Japanese. The chapter aims to investigate the influence of L2 learners’ L1 when using Japanese mimetics in Motion event descriptions.