Jill Hallett

            Canonical English constituent order is SVO or SVPP, with deviations considered “marked” (Prince 1999, Netz and Kuzar 2007).  In Indo-Aryan languages such as Hindi, however, order is relatively flexible (Butt 1994, Mahajan 1997).  Some evidence suggests that topicalization is acceptable in Indian English (Rushdie 1981, 1999; Mehrotra 2002).
            This study examines acceptability judgments of topicalized sentences in English by native English speakers, and in Hindi and English by Indo-Aryan L1 speakers. How do native speakers of American English judge topicalized structures?  How do English L1 speakers compare with Indo-Aryan L1 speakers on acceptance of topicalized structures in English?  Do Indo-Aryan L1 speakers transfer topicalization patterns to English?  Finally, if Indo-Aryan L1 speakers reject topicalization in English, is there evidence of topicalization attrition in Hindi as a result of English influence (Sorace 2004)?
            Eleven adult, India-born highly proficient learners of English whose age of exposure to English averaged 4.7 years were given three acceptability judgment tasks: one in Hindi (written), and two in English (one written, one aural).  Thirteen Midwestern American English native speakers served as controls; these subjects crucially had little or no exposure to languages known to have free constituent order.
            Results show that the Indo-Aryan L1 speakers rated the Hindi topicalized sentences generally high (average 4.26, 6 = perfectly acceptable), while their ratings of topicalized sentences on the English written task hovered near 2, rising slightly on the aural task to around 2.57.  These results are much in line with those of the American English native speakers, for whom topicalized written sentences were rated on average 2.12, and topicalized aural sentences 2.6.
            There is no evidence of transfer to American English by the Indo-Aryan L1 speakers.  These speakers show mastery of English constituent order preference, as they pattern with American English native speakers, but they do not exhibit attrition of topicalization patterns in Hindi.  Length of residence in the United States and institutional context of the study may be contributing factors to the results.