Cross-Linguistic Influence on Relative Clause Structure: An Experimental Study of Resumptive Pronouns in an Arab ESL Speaker

This study examines the influence of first language (L1) on the use of resumptive pronouns (RPs) in English by an Arab second language (L2) learner. Specifically, it investigates whether the participant’s grammatical judgments and preferences in English relative clauses (RCs) reflect transfer from Arabic. The study involved a grammaticality/preference task, where the informant, an Arab female studying English in the United States, was presented with a series of sentences containing resumptive pronouns. She was asked to identify the correct or most preferable sentence structures. The results indicate a tendency to favor English RCs that resemble Arabic structures in their use of RPs, suggesting cross-linguistic influence. Notably, the participant demonstrated a preference for structures where resumptive pronouns appeared in object and prepositional positions, aligning with Arabic syntactic norms. These findings contribute to the broader understanding of syntactic transfer in second language acquisition, particularly in relation to learners whose native languages permit resumptive pronouns in contexts where they are ungrammatical in English. The study highlights the necessity for targeted instructional strategies in ESL classrooms to address such transfer issues, emphasizing explicit awareness of RC structures across languages. Future research should explore larger populations and additional syntactic environments to further investigate the scope of cross-linguistic influence on relative clause formation among Arab ESL learners.