Verbs of motion in L1 Russian of Russian–English bilinguals

Abstract

This study examines the motion lexicon in narratives elicited from Russian–English bilinguals. Lexical choices made by the participants are compared to those made by native speakers of Russian and English in narratives elicited by the same stimuli. The analysis of bilinguals’ narratives shows that lexicalization of motion is not subject to L2 influence in these bilinguals. A few instances of L2 influence on L1 uncovered in the data are used to discuss the forms L1 attrition might take in the Russian motion lexicon.