L’acquisition du polonais L2 par les apprenants slavophones

The aim of this article is to determine the extent to which the initial interlanguages of L2 Polish produced by Slavic-speaking learners are compatible with the features of the Basic Variety as described by Klein and Perdue (1997). This research question is particularly stimulating since all the languages in contact belong to the Slavic family. The resulting lexical and grammatical proximity facilitates mutual intelligibility and may lead to intense positive transfer phenomena, producing a different developmental path than that predicted by the Basic Variety hypothesis. Drawing on a review of published empirical studies, the article describes the acquisitional stages of Slavic L2s according to the learner’s L1 (Slavic or non-Slavic), with a focus on the effects of the distance between the languages in contact. The data reveal that, while the initial interlanguages of Slavic-speaking learners do display features compatible with the basic variety, they also exhibit numerous characteristics typical of a syntactic mode, contrary to the predictions of the Basic Variety hypothesis.