Phrasal Verbs: Usage and Acquisition

Abstract

Phrasal verbs represent a typical feature of English. Multiword expressions, and especially phrasal verbs, can assess the level of English language proficiency. However, learners of English tend to adopt a strategy of avoidance. Unpredictable, phrasal verbs can be difficult to both understand and remember for non-English speakers, which prompted Sinclair (1996) to call them 'the scourge of the learner'. The role of multiword constructions has also been emphasized in theories of first language acquisition (Goldberg, 1995; Tomasello, 2003). They are indeed a rich and productive source of predication that children must master, doing so at very young ages. There is, nevertheless, a huge gap in the study of child language acquisition that has largely left unaddressed questions about how the child learns and acquires verb-particle constructions. The purpose of this paper is to explore the gradual development of verb-particle constructions in child language by examining longitudinal data from the spontaneous oral speech of Naima, an English-speaking girl from the Providence Corpus of the CHILDES database (MacWhinney, 2000; Demuth, Culbertson & Alter, 2006), between ages 0;11 and 3;10. My findings also support the claim that input and interaction play a major role in the language acquisition process. Indeed, by analyzing the emergence and usage of phrasal verbs by Naima, I will thus compare the top ten verb-particle construction types used by the child and the adult. Ultimately, I will show the correlation between the most frequently used phrasal verbs in adult speech and the earliest constructions acquired by Naima.

The Effectiveness of a Proposed Program Integrating Focus on Form and Gamified Learning in Fostering Egyptian English Majors' Phrasal Verbs Comprehension and Production

“…and 'Burglars broke into the bank yesterday.' Semantically speaking, PVs can be divided into three categories: transparent, semitransparent (completive/ aspectual) and opaque (figurative) (Riguel, 2014;Gandorah, 2015;Troy & Millar, 2019;Zohaib & Sarfraz, 2019). Transparent PVs meanings can be easily understood from the meanings of their immediate constituents as in 'go out ', 'sit down', 'take away' and 'come in'. The meanings of semi-transparent PVs are clarified only when they are contextualized.…”

“…As indicated earlier, PVs constitute a knowledge gap and a major challenge for EFL learners (Yasuda, 2010;Mart, 2012;Aldahesh, 2013;Riguel, 2014;Barekat & Baniasady, 2014;Bronshteyn & Gustafson, 2015;Garnier, 2016;Hameed, 2017;Al-Otaibi, 2019;Omidian, Akbary & Shahriari, 2019;Elbehiry, 2020). Therefore, EFL learners usually avoid using them in communicative situations due to PVs unfamiliarity, complexity and multiplicity in addition to these learners' fear of misusing particles in PVs (Zohaib & Sarfraz, 2019).…”

The Effect of Instructing Multi-word Verbs on EAP Learners’ Presentation Skills: A Comparison with Native Academic Presentations

“…The most prominent feature of the English language that has been found to be used in all registers is multi-word verb structures, though, generally, they are used more in conversational registers rather than academic writing registers (e.g., Siyanova & Schmitt, 2007). Findings on multiword verbs, suggest that phrasal verbs can enhance the English language proficiency (Riguel, 2014).…”

“…A range of studies have manifested that multiword expressions, particularly phrasal verbs, can enhance the English language proficiency (Riguel, 2014). Swales (2004) and Biber (2006) have noted that academic presentations in the U.S. are more informal and interactive compared to academic writing.…”

Weighing up the Effect of Contextual Cues in Learning English Phrasal Verbs: Is Context the Answer to Avoidance?

“…In this regard, McArthur (1989) provides one estimate of English phrasal verbs noting that they amount to 3000 at minimum with at least 700 of these being used in everyday communication. Riguel (2014) provides another estimate noting that phrasal verbs occupy a third of the English verb lexicon. As such, it is no wonder then that Bolinger (1971) once regarded phrasal verbs as "an outpouring of lexical creativeness that surpasses anything else in our language" (p. xi).…”