The use of Negative Polar Questions in English by Dutch Second Language Learners

Abstract

The current study aimed to explore whether Dutch second language learners of English use low and high negative polar questions in the same way as native English speakers do. The use of negative polar questions depends on the context. It was experimentally tested whether Dutch second language learners of English use the right type of polar question in the right type of contexts. The results of the questionnaire showed that Dutch second language learners did not use low negation questions in a similar way to native English speakers. On the other hand, Dutch second language learners were able to use high negation and positive polar questions correctly in the corresponding contexts. However, Dutch second language learners seem to overuse the high negation polar questions, which is problematic for communication.