Triggers in L2 acquisition: The case of Spanish N-N compounds

Spanish has left-headed compounds which are not as productive as their left -headed counterparts in other languages. This presence or absence of produc tivity has been attributed to a binary parameter according to which N-N com pounding, as opposed to nominal constructions in which the head noun takes a complement as in 'the destruction of the city', would be the superset or marked option. Furthermore, the idiosyncratic nature of Spanish N-N compoun ding has been attributed to the make-up of Spanish Nouns. Specifically, it has been proposed that Spanish Nouns have a 'word marker' which triggers L1 acquisition of these constructions. Based on the results of two picture te sts intended to elicit actual command of N-N compounding strategies, as wel l as word order patterns and gender marking patterns, we argue that 1) N-N compounding is not a marked construction; 2) adult L2 acquisition of Spanis h N-N compounds is triggered by head directionality (a processing trigger) rather than by the 'word-marker' (a representational trigger) which is supp osed to trigger L1 acquisition of these compounds.