Catalan existential sentences produced by Chinese learners

Abstract

In this paper we intend to show how L1 influences the Catalan existential sentences produced by Chinese learners of Catalan. This study is based on data generated by means of semi-structured interviews to 6 adult learners living in North-Eastern Catalonia. In order to better understand the Catalan existential sentences they produce, we also take into account their production of attributive, locative and possessive sentences, as well as their use of the verbal inflection in L2 and the use of the clitic hi, which also appears in the existential verb haver-hi. We conclude that all these factors are relevant to explain why Catalan existential constructions are so difficult to acquire for Chinese learners