Cross Linguistic Aspects Of Processability Theory

Seven years ago Manfred Pienemann proposed a novel psycholinguistic theory of language development, Processability Theory (PT). This volume examines the typological plausibility of PT. Focusing on the acquisition of Arabic, Chinese and Japanese the authors demonstrate the capacity of PT to make detailed and verifiable predictions about the developmental schedule for each language. This cross-linguistic perspective is also applied to the study of L1 transfer by comparing the impact of processability and typological proximity. The typological perspective is extended by including a comparison of different types of language acquisition. The architecture of PT is expanded by the addition of a second set of principles that contributes to the formal modeling of levels of processability, namely the mapping of argument-structure onto functional structure in lexical mapping theory. This step yields the inclusion of a range of additional phenomena in the processability hierarchy thus widening the scope of PT.

Seven years ago Manfred Pienemann proposed a novel psycholinguistic theory of language development, Processability Theory (PT). This volume examines the typological plausibility of PT. Focusing on the acquisition of Arabic, Chinese and Japanese the authors demonstrate the capacity of PT to make detailed and verifiable predictions about the developmental schedule for each language. This cross-linguistic perspective is also applied to the study of L1 transfer by comparing the impact of processability and typological proximity. The typological perspective is extended by including a comparison of different types of language acquisition. The architecture of PT is expanded by the addition of a second set of principles that contributes to the formal modeling of levels of processability, namely the mapping of argument-structure onto functional structure in lexical mapping theory. This step yields the inclusion of a range of additional phenomena in the processability hierarchy thus widening the scope of PT.

Aims to provide a systematic perspective on some central psychological mechanisms underlying the spontaneous production of interlanguage (IL) speech. The text develops a framework that represents a theory of processability of grammatical structures, referred to as "Processability Theory".

Processability Theory (PT) as developed by Manfred Pienemann is a prominent theory of second language acquisition. PT serves as a framework for a wide range of research covering issues, including L2 processing, interlanguage variation, typological effects on SLA, L1 transfer, pidgins and creoles, linguistic profiling, stabilisation/fossilisation and teachability. This textbook provides a reader-friendly introduction to PT. It is designed for students with a basic knowledge of (applied) linguistics. The components of PT are set out in four parts. The first part focuses on observed facts, in particular on paths of L2 development and learner variation. The second part gives an overview of the theoretical basis of PT. Part three details the application of PT to contexts other than ESL (i.e. Japanese, creoles and bilingual acquisition), and the forth part focuses on practical applications. Each chapter contains exercises (including data analysis and interpretation) which may be used for individual study or in class. The textbook can be used as a concise introduction to PT. However, it may also serve as a point of reference for particular PT-related topics. The individual chapters were written by specialists in each of the research areas

This edited volume is devoted to expanding the theoretical basis of Processability Theory, a theory of second language development that combines insights in the way speakers generate language and store their language knowledge to predict, describe and explain developmental sequences (Pienemann 1998, 2005). The aim of the book is to provide a forum for new perspectives focusing on three intersections: (1) the interface between morpho-syntax and discourse/pragmatics/semantics, (2) constraints on processing and receptive processing and (3) developments in instructed second language learning. Each part also includes a response paper, in which the new perspectives, in terms of the theoretical challenges and/or the empirical results of the preceding chapters are discussed. This collection of articles and response papers will be very relevant to students and researchers interested in theoretical aspects of second language acquisition, and more specifically Processability Theory, and clearly indicates that the field is lively and open.

The cross-linguistic aspect of language processing is becoming a central question in psycholinguistic research: if the goal of psycholinguists is to give a model of the human sentence processor, and not `a language' sentence processor, a test of its cross-linguistic validity is essential. The chapters address truly fundamental issues about the representational primitives of the parsing system and the motivations for the essential characteristics of the parser. The volume also discusses important methodological issues in cross-linguistic research, such as the choices of linguistic material and experimental procedures. It also shows how cross-linguistic research can be pursued in either a monolingual or multilingual approach. This volume contains contributions from experimental and theoretical psycholinguists, and computational researchers. Audience: The book is recommended reading for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in psycholinguistics, linguistics and computational linguisitics, as well as practising researchers in the same fields.

This is the first book on the acquisition of the German case system by foreign language learners. It explores how learners in their interlanguage progress from the total absence to the presence of a case system. This development is characterized by an evolvement from marking the argument’s position to marking the argument’s actual function. Theoretically couched within Processability Theory, the book deals with the feature unification and the mapping processes involved in case marking, and critically examines previous findings on German case acquisition. Empirically, the book consists of longitudinal data of 11 foreign language learners of German, which was collected over a period of 2 years. This book will be useful to anyone interested in the acquisition of German and in the acquisition of case systems in general.

This book explores relationships between Processability Theory approaches and other approaches to SLA. It is distinctive in two ways. It offers PT-insiders a way to see connections between their familiar traditions and theories with other ways of working. Parallel to this it offers readers who work in other traditions ways of connecting with a research tradition that makes specific testable claims about second language acquisition processes. These dual perspectives mean that both beginning and established SLA researchers as well as those seeking to connect their work with views of language learning will find something of interest. Studies of multiple languages and multiple aspects of language are included. Chapters cover areas as diverse as literacy, language comprehension, language attrition and language testing.