Third Language Acquisition And Universal Grammar

This volume presents studies which approach the relatively new field of third language (L3) acquisition from the generative linguistic perspective. It aims to bring together researchers who are interested in L3 acquisition and who are at the same time working within the generative framework i.e. Chomsky's Universal Grammar (UG) approach to language acquisition. A total of nine contributions are included, reporting research on L3 involving different combinations of source/target languages and investigating various UG-related properties.

Table of contents

From the ancient Mediterranean world to the present day, our conceptions of what is universal in language have interacted with our experiences of language learning. This book tells two stories: the story of how scholars in the west have conceived of the fact that human languages share important properties despite their obvious differences, and the story of how westerners have understood the nature of second or foreign language learning. In narrating these two stories, the author argues that modern second language acquisition theory needs to reassess what counts as its own past. The book addresses Greek contributions to the prehistory of universal grammar, Roman bilingualism, the emergence of the first foreign language grammars in the early Middle Ages, and the Medieval speculative grammarians efforts to define the essentials of human language. The author shows how after the renaissance expanded people's awareness of language differences, scholars returned to the questions of universals in the context of second language learning, including in the 1660 Port-Royal grammar which Chomsky notoriously celebrated in Cartesian Linguistics. The book then looks at how Post-Saussurean European linguistics and American structuralism up to modern generative grammar have each differently conceived of universals and language learning. Universal Grammar in Second Language Acquisition is a remarkable contribution to the history of linguistics and will be essential reading for students and scholars of linguistics, specialists in second language acquisition and language teacher-educators.

In recent years, researchers have acknowledged that the study of third language acquisition cannot simply be viewed as an extension of the study of bilingualism, and the present volume’s authors agree that a point of departure that embraces the unique properties that differentiate L2 acquisition from L3/Ln acquisition is essential. From linguistic, sociological, psychological, educational and cognitive viewpoints, it has become increasingly apparent that the study of L3/Ln acquisition can provide new evidence to help resolve ongoing debates in these areas of study. This volume uniquely provides a wide-ranging overview of current trends in the study of adult additive multilingualism from formal, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives, adding new insights into adult multilingual epistemology. This collection includes critical reviews of L3/Ln morphosyntax, phonology, and the lexicon, as well as individual studies with unique language pairings including Romance, Germanic, Slavic, and Asian languages.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne (Englisches Seminar), course: Research in Language Acquisition, language: English, abstract: If we take for granted that children acquire their first language with the help of an innate language acquisition device containing Universal Grammar, is it likely that the acquisition of a second language works in the same way? Is Universal Grammar still the driving force or did the prerequisites for the acquisition change in a way that learners need to consult other means and resources, like only their general cognitive abilities and learning strategies? There are many points in which first and second language acquisition differ...It is these differences that made linguists doubt that first and second language acquisition are entirely the same process. This paper is concerned with the question whether Universal Grammar is still available for second language learners and whether the mental grammar of L2 learners shows signs of impairment. After a short introduction to the concept of Universal Grammar in first language acquisition, it will turn to Universal Grammar in second language acquisition. In this context it will be considered whether the interlanguage grammar might be impaired and whether UG is probable to influence second language acquisition. Several theories of second language acquisition will be presented in advance to the discussion whether learners are likely to have full access, partial access or no access to Universal Grammar. Before being concluded it will take a short look at the problems that arise in second language research.

This authoritative textbook provides an overview and analysis of current second language acquisition research conducted within the generative linguistic framework. Lydia White argues that second language acquisition is constrained by principles and parameters of universal grammar.

This book discusses about the place of second language in the world today, why study second language acquisition, development of the field of study of second language acquisition, the scope of second language acquisition research Follow by Language: from intelligence or innate ideas? The quest for the perfect circle, empiricist, and rationalist answers, the empiricist view: no knowledge is innate, the Rationalist view: basic knowledge is innate, Chomsky’s Universal Grammar, arguments are intelligence and Universal Grammar, Chomsky’s ease and speed of child acquisition argument, objections to ease and speed of child acquisition argument, Chomsky’s inadequate language data argument, objections to the inadequate language data argument, Chomsky’s poverty of stimulus argument, objections to Chomsky’s poverty of stimulus argument, Chomsky’s irrelevance of intelligence argument, objections to the irrelevance of intelligence argument, the rationalist view: basic knowledge is innate, mentalism and behaviorism contrasted, language, thought, and culture speech as the basis of thought, arguments against this idea in speech, understanding precedes production, speech understanding by people with speech disabilities, thinking while paralyzed by a drug, talking about one thing while thinking about another, language as the basis of thought, arguments against this idea, deaf children without language can think, bilinguals are not schizoids, creoles: new languages from old, where language does affect thought, thought as the basis of language, the non-linguistic origin of meaning, the true relationship between language and thought, language and the brain, brain structure and function, hemispheric dominance and lateralization, language areas and functioning, brain maturation and critical age for learning language, language disorder, Broca’s aphasia, Wernicke’s aphasia, other speech – related aphasias, reading, and writing aphasias: dyslexia, localism and holism, methods of investigating brain and language, established methods: post-mortem, injured people, electrical stimulation, new high-tech methods: CAT and PET, mind and brain, culture and foreign language teaching. By reading this book the students are expected to be able to understand the concept of language acquisition. Buku Persembahan Penerbit PrenadaMediaGroup

Infants and very young children develop almost miraculously the ability of speech, without apparent effort, without even being taught - as opposed to the teenager or the adult struggling without, it seems, ever being able to reach the same level of proficiency as five year olds in their first language. This useful textbook serves as a guide to different types of language acquisition: monolingual and bilingual first language development and child and adult second language acquisition. Unlike other books, it systematically compares first and second language acquisition, drawing on data from several languages. Research questions and findings from various subfields are helpfully summarized to show students how they are related and how they often complement each other. The essential guide to studying first and second language acquisition, it will be used on courses in linguistics, modern languages and developmental psychology.