Reconciling Inter- and Intra-Individual Variation in L2 Socio-Pragmatic Development: Intensifier Variation in Spoken German

This study is the first to scrutinize the rates of, and the lexical diversity in, adjective intensification in second language (L2) German. We additionally attend to the issue concerning whether sociodemographic variables (i.e., length of residence, age, and gender) and individual learner differences (i.e., L2 proficiency, intensity of exposure to the L2, and L2 socioaffect) can predict (a) the inter-individual variation in syntactic adjective intensification, and (b) the observed intra-individual variation based on a weighted measure of intensifier lexical diversity. We analyzed spoken data collected via virtual reality (VR) elicitation tasks from 40 learners of L2 German (first language [L1] English). We found that learners engaged in adjective intensification at similar rates as those reported in the literature, despite some cases of overshooting the target; learners also preferred markers of intensification consistent with the lexical choices of L1 German speakers. Sociodemographic variables did not predict different rates of adjective intensification; rather, individual learner differences such as those relating to L2 proficiency and L2 exposure correlated with more target-like use of intensifiers, though the correlations were weak. The diversity in adjective intensification was also only marginally related to demographic factors and individual learner differences. Our findings suggest that L2 learners indeed engage in similar intensification practices as do L1 speakers; however, systematically predicting more ‘successful’ adoption of target-like sociopragmatic norms among L2 learners remains challenging.