Competence and performance in language acquisition

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 730-731
Author(s):  
Mark Hale
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
And Performance ◽  
L1 Acquisition

AbstractThe implications of Epstein et al.'s critical evaluation of much of the existing literature on L2-acquisition extends far beyond the domain they discuss. I argue that similar methodological clarification is urgently needed in analyses of the role of UG in L1-acquisition, as well as in discussions in such seemingly “distant” areas as the study of language change.

First- and Second-Language Acquisition and CILC

2020 ◽  
pp. 214-240
Author(s):  
Eva Duran Eppler ◽  
Gabriel Ozón
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Change ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Language Data ◽  
L1 And L2

This chapter explores the contested role of L1 and L2 acquisition in contact-induced linguistic change (CILC). We first identify three factors underlying these controversies (field of research; theoretical approach; and methodological limitations/advances), before discussing two elements language change and language acquisition have in common (i.e., isolated individuals cannot accomplish either, and both have to be studied through natural language data, with its attendant high degree of variation). We go on to define key terms and concepts for the role of L1 and L2 acquisition in contact-induced language change, including first and second language acquisition (L1A and L2A), bilingual first language acquisition, language variation and change, language contact and contact-induced language change. In the main section we discuss the role of L1A and L2A in CILC, and examine different language-acquisition scenarios, in particular their potential for leading to CILC. We use these different language-acquisition types as testing grounds for the motivations behind (i.e., causes for, and triggers of) language change, and arrive at tentative conclusions about which of these language-acquisition scenarios is more likely to play a role in CILC, and why.

scholarly journals The Role of Presuppositionality in the Second Language Acquisition of English Articles

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heejeong Ko ◽  
Tania Ionin ◽  
Ken Wexler
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Experimental Findings ◽  
English Articles ◽  
L1 Acquisition

This article investigates the role of presuppositionality (defined as the presupposition of existence) in the second language (L2) acquisition of English articles. Building upon the proposal in Wexler 2003 that young English-acquiring children overuse the with presuppositional indefinites, this article proposes that presuppositionality also influences article (mis)use in adult L2 acquisition. This proposal is supported by experimental results from the L2 English of adult speakers of Korean, a language with no articles. The experimental findings indicate that presuppositional indefinite contexts trigger overuse of the with indefinites in adult L2 acquisition, as in child L1 acquisition (cf. Wexler 2003). The effects of presuppositionality are teased apart from the effects of other semantic factors previously examined in acquisition, such as scope (Schaeffer and Matthewson 2005) and specificity (Ionin, Ko, and Wexler 2004). The results provide evidence that overuse of the in L2 acquisition is a semantic rather than pragmatic phenomenon. Implications of these findings for overuse of the in L1 acquisition are discussed. This article also has implications for the study of access to Universal Grammar in L2 acquisition, as well as for the number and type of semantic universals underlying article choice crosslinguistically.

scholarly journals The Influence of Frequency on the Acquisition and Textbooks Design of Second Language Vocabulary

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Anwar Saad Aljadani
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Teaching Objectives ◽  
Dominant Feature ◽  
L2 Vocabulary ◽  
Selection Of

This paper provides an overview of the role of vocabulary frequency in second language (L2) acquisition as vocabulary is a dominant feature of language acquisition and vitally important to language learners. It reported the vocabulary frequency’s significant role in both the earlier acquisition and the easier remembering comparing to infrequent vocabulary in L2 acquisition. It also seeks to discuss the influence of frequency on the selection of vocabulary in L2 textbooks as they are sometime the only source of L2 vocabulary in the classroom. It presents discussions of what vocabulary should be selected, how selective vocabulary are organised in the textbooks to reach determined teaching objectives as well as the teaching rate pre lesson. 

The role of sociocognitive salience in the acquisition of structured variation and linguistic diffusion: Evidence from quotative be like

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Davydova
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Linguistic Feature ◽  
Variationist Sociolinguistics ◽  
High Degree

Abstract Quotative be like is a much discussed variable linguistic feature recruited in this investigation in order to revisit the hypothesis of linguistic diffusion (Labov 2007) predicting re-ordering of original patterns by L2 populations. As a sociocognitively salient variant spreading above the level of conscious awareness, be like has been appropriated by adult speakers from two distinctive L2 English ecologies with a high degree of precision, a finding previously not reported in studies exploring the acquisition of structured variation. In this article, I explain how, supported by frequency and constraint complexity, sociocognitive salience may have contributed to the generally accurate replication of the variable grammar for be like and, by this token, how it can inform existing models of language change. (Sociocognitive salience, linguistic diffusion, L2 acquisition of structured variation, variationist sociolinguistics, World Englishes, be like)

Emergent knowledge of a universal phonological principle in the L2 acquisition of vowel harmony in Turkish: A ‘four’-fold poverty of the stimulus in L2 acquisition

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Öner Özçelik ◽  
Rex A. Sprouse
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Phonological Development ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Pervasive System ◽  
Nonnative Language ◽  
Nonnative Acquisition

A significant body of theoretically motivated research has addressed the role of Universal Grammar (UG) in the nonnative acquisition of morphosyntax and properties of the syntax–semantics interface, but very little research has addressed the role of phonological principles of UG in nonnative language acquisition. Turkish has a regular and pervasive system of vowel harmony for which classroom second language (L2) learners receive explicit instruction and abundant input; however, there are also cases of non-canonical vowel harmony in Turkish, for which classroom learners receive no instruction and rather little input. In this study, we show that English–Turkish L2ers come to exhibit sensitivity to the ‘No Crossing Constraint’ of UG (Goldsmith, 1976; Hammond, 1988) when calculating non-canonical vowel harmony in the context of underlyingly pre-specified non-velarized laterals (i.e. ‘light’ [l]), despite the poverty of the stimulus and potentially misleading effects of classroom instruction and standard Turkish orthography. We argue that this supports the view that nonnative phonological development is guided by (at least one principle of) UG.

scholarly journals The Interpretability of Features in Second Language Acquisition: Evidence from Null and Postverbal Subjects in L2 English

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Prentza ◽  
Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Parameter Resetting ◽  
L1 English

We examine the microparameters of null and postverbal subjects in the Greek L1/English L2 interlanguage, exploring the role of interpretability in interlanguage representations. Our results suggest that while uninterpretable features are inaccessible in L2 acquisition, interpretable features are available and play a compensatory role. Although the abstract L1 properties of subject-verb agreement seem to transfer to the L2 representation, the effects appear scattered and transfer is not direct. We thus suggest that Greek-learner L2 English grammar exhibits non-random optionality in the properties of null and postverbal subjects, regulated by parameter-resetting (feature re-valuation) which is, however, neither the L1 (Greek) nor the target L2 (English) option.

Child second language acquisition from a generative perspective

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belma Haznedar
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
First Language ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Current Work ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Functional Architecture ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
L1 Acquisition

This chapter reviews current work on child second language acquisition from a generative perspective. The primary goal is to identify characteristics of child L2 acquisition in relation to child first language (L1) acquisition and adult second language (L2) acquisition and to discuss its contribution to these sister fields both in typical and atypical domains. The chapter is organized into three sections, covering L1 influence in child L2 acquisition, the acquisition of functional architecture in child L2 acquisition, and the issue of morphological variability. Also included in the last section are the relatively new and fast developing areas of research in atypical child L2 acquisition research.

scholarly journals Input-output relation in second language acquisition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyu-Ho Shin ◽  
Boo Kyung Jung
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Input Output ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
English Speaking

Abstract Studies on the role of input in L2 acquisition often estimate L2 input properties through L1 corpora and focus on L2-English. This study probes the initial stage of L2-Korean learning for adult English-speaking beginners of Korean to investigate input-output relations in the acquisition of L2 that is typologically different from English in a more direct manner. We specifically ask how L2 beginner input affects L2 beginner production with respect to Korean postpositions. For this purpose, we investigate how the beginners receive input regarding Korean postpositions from a textbook and to what extent the input characteristics are manifested in learner writing. We found that, whereas the presentation of certain postpositions in the textbook was generally reflected in learner writing, individual postpositions showed disparity in their use between the textbook and the writing. Implications of the findings are discussed in light of L1-L2 differences and how the textbook presents form-function pairings of these postpositions.

scholarly journals The Potential Role of Microbial Biostimulants in the Amelioration of Climate Change-Associated Abiotic Stresses on Crops

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayomide Emmanuel Fadiji ◽  
Olubukola Oluranti Babalola ◽  
Gustavo Santoyo ◽  
Michele Perazzolli
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Abiotic Stresses ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Growth Yield ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Crop Plants ◽  
Symbiotic Relationships ◽  
Microbial Symbionts ◽  
And Performance

Crop plants are more often exposed to abiotic stresses in the current age of fast-evolving climate change. This includes exposure to extreme and unpredictable changes in climatic conditions, phytosanitary hazards, and cultivation conditions, which results in drastic losses in worldwide agricultural productions. Plants coexist with microbial symbionts, some of which play key roles in the ecosystem and plant processes. The application of microbial biostimulants, which take advantage of symbiotic relationships, is a long-term strategy for improving plant productivity and performance, even in the face of climate change-associated stresses. Beneficial filamentous fungi, yeasts, and bacteria are examples of microbial biostimulants, which can boost the growth, yield, nutrition and stress tolerance in plants. This paper highlights recent information about the role of microbial biostimulants and their potential application in mitigating the abiotic stresses occurring on crop plants due to climate change. A critical evaluation for their efficient use under diverse climatic conditions is also made. Currently, accessible products generally improve cultural conditions, but their action mechanisms are mostly unknown, and their benefits are frequently inconsistent. Thus, further studies that could lead to the more precisely targeted products are discussed.

De Rol van het Deelverzamelingsprincipe in de Tweede-Taalverwerving.

1988 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 48-57
Author(s):  
Paul van Buren ◽  
Michael Sharwood Smith
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Input Data ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Learning Function ◽  
Subset Principle ◽  
Acquisition Strategy ◽  
L1 Acquisition

The subset principle, recently formulated by Wexler and Manzini as a theorem in L1 acquisition, can be roughly described as a learning function linking a set of input data to a grammar G which generates the "smallest language" compatible with such a set. This property of G guarantees that the acquisition process can only take place on the basis of positive evidence; negative evidence thus does not have to play a role. This article discusses the question whether the subset principle also plays a role in the process of second language acquisition. Contrary to what is suggested in the literature it has to be concluded that as an L2 acquisition strategy the subset principle is either redundant or incoherent. The reasoning on which this conclusion is based involves certain implications for the research concerning the problem of overgeneralisation in L2 acquisition.

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