ABSTRACT
This research investigated the role of a specific form of attention underlying second language (L2) proficiency. Some cognitive linguists have proposed that a principal function of language, beyond referring to events, objects and their properties, is to direct attention to relationships between elements in a message (Talmy, 2000). Grammaticized elements (grammatical morphemes, inflections, and word order patterns) refer to categories that are not “experienced directly in our perceptual, sensorimotor, and practical dealings with the world” (Slobin, 1996, p. 91). Instead, their meanings derive from how they relate various message elements to each other. In The boy was holding a red ball, the grammaticized elements (the/a, was, ing) refer to definiteness, time, and how actions unfold. These meanings are not directly available to perception as are those of boy, hold, red, and ball Languages vary in the use of grammaticized elements -- a potential challenge for L2 learners. For example, not all languages mark definiteness (the/a) in the same way, if at all. Slobin suggested that in L2-proficiency, grammaticized elements obligatorily (automatically) direct attention to such relationships.
