Our work focuses on two phenomena that appear in the language of English L2 learners: the use of unconventional verbs, and the production of generic, high-frequency verbs (rather than specific verbs). Our study involves a group of Francophone university students learning English as a second language, with a B1 level (experimental group), as well as a group of native English speakers (control group), both placed in a naming task using 42 videos that show cut- and break-type actions. Results show significant differences in the way that the two groups categorize these types of actions, with a higher frequency of unconventional and generic verbs used by the L2 learners. Based on these results, we highlight the importance of the use of these types of verbs as a communication strategy, allowing L2 learners to compensate for gaps in their lexicon.
