Of-constructions in the Interlanguage of Norwegian Learners of English: A Pseudo-longitudinal Study

Abstract

The most frequent preposition in English is of. Despite its frequency it can be difficult for learners because many of its central uses are abstract. This paper examines the usage of of among young Norwegian learners of English at different study levels. The emphasis is on the forms and functions of the phrases containing of, with special attention to noun phrases (NPs). The material comes from a corpus of pupil writing (TRAWL), with random samples from years 8, 10, and 11 (ages c. 13–16). This is compared to samples from learners at tertiary level (ICLE-NO) and young English L1 users (Growth-in-Grammar corpus). The overall frequency of of increases with study level, and more importantly, the samples indicate qualitative changes in its use. Generally, NP postmodification is the dominant use, and it increases after year 8. Multi-word units (e.g., a lot of, of course) take up a smaller share of the samples after year 10. Within the N1 of N2 pattern, the proportions of quantifying and part-whole patterns decrease, while nominalizations, possession, and support-noun constructions increase. NP length remains stable, but the co-occurrence of pre- and postmodifiers rises with proficiency. The ICLE-NO sample generally has a greater share of advanced uses than TRAWL 11 except for a lower proportion of nominalizations. The L1 writers align with TRAWL 10 and/or 11 in most respects. The material thus suggests a development towards less reliance on fixed-phrase uses and a wider range of lexicogrammatical environments for of.