Linguistic Aspects of Regression in German Case Marking

1989 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Jordens ◽  
Kees De Bot ◽  
Henk Trapman
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Basic Principle ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Acquisition Process ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Case System ◽  
Default Case ◽  
L2 Learners

The tenability of the regression hypothesis as a basic principle for language attrition within languages has not been really questioned until now. In order to find out to what extent attrition might be the reverse of the process of acquisition, phenomena of attrition in the use of the German case system were studied. Two hypotheses were tested: the Linguistic Hypothesis and the Cognitive Hypothesis. the Linguistic Hypothesis is based on the notion of regression. According to this notion, attrition is the reverse of the language acquisition process. The Cognitive Hypothesis is based on the assumption that in natural cases of language acquisition, there is a tendency to establish a one-to-one correspondence between cognitive function and morphological case assignment. The results from experiments on case marking in headline-type constructions showed differences between native (L1) speakers and second language (L2) learners. In L1 speakers the relation between case marking and underlying semantic functioning becomes more prominent, whereas in L2 learners the nominative is used as a default case, indicating that morphological differentiations become reduced. This means that for L1 speakers the Cognitive Hypothesis provides a more adequate explanatory framework, whereas for L2 learners it is the Linguistic Hypothesis that is more appropriate.

Consistency and variation in second language acquisition

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 376-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazue Kanno
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Acquisition Process ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Over Time

This article proposes that L2 learners differ from native speakers with respect to two benchmarks–the extent to which native-like success on one principle of UG predicts comparable success on other principles (lateral consistency), and the extent to which this level of success is stable over time (longitudinal). Results of two experimental studies on the acquisition of Japanese as a second language show that L2 learners exhibit neither lateral nor longitudinal consistency with respect to UG, at least in the early stages of the acquisition process.

Perceived foreign accent in first language attrition and second language acquisition: The impact of age of acquisition and bilingualism—ERRATUM

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
HOLGER HOPP ◽  
MONIKA S. SCHMID
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Open Access ◽  
First Language ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
First Language Attrition ◽  
The Impact

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scholarly journals Subjacency Violations in Second Language Acquisition: Some Evidence from Chinese Mandarin Speakers of L2 English

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Xia Dai
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Follow Up Study ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Mandarin Speakers

The literature review shows that many previous studies have used Subjacency to test the availability of UniversalGrammar (UG) in second language acquisition. Schachter (1989) claimed that L2 learners do not have access to UGprinciples, while Hawkins and Chan (1997) suggested that L2 learners had partial availability of UG, for they foundthere was a strong difference between the elementary L2 learners and the advanced L2 learners in judging theungrammaticality of Subjacency violations; that is, the elementary L2 learners owned the highest accuracy. Underthe hypothesis of partially availability of UG in second language acquisition, L2 learners are only able to acquire theproperties instantiated in their L1s. Although they may accept violations of universal constraints, it is only at facevalue; rather the L2 learners develop different syntactic representations from the native speakers. This study has beenundertaken as a follow-up study of Hawkins and Chan (1997), and tested on L1 Mandarin speakers of L2 English injudging the grammaticality of their Subjacency violations. The results of the Grammaticality Judgement Test showthat the accuracy of Chinese speakers in judgement increased with English proficiency and that they rejectedresumptives inside islands as a repair. Contrary to the previous findings, this study provides evidence that UG isavailable in adult second language acquisition.

scholarly journals Vocabulary acquisition, input, and extensive reading: A conversation

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Extensive Reading ◽  
Acquisition Process

JALT member Joseph Poulshock recently posted a video entitled “How do humans acquire language?” to the extensive reading (ER) website BeeOasis.com. In it, he describes his ALBUM Theory (acquire language by understanding messages), by which he means that the comprehension of input―for example, through ER―is the best way to acquire a second language. The video prompted an online discussion in which a number of JALT members exchanged ideas about the acquisition of vocabulary, the role of ER in the acquisition of various aspects of word knowledge, and the relative importance of input to the language acquisition process. An abbreviated version of this conversation is presented here.

scholarly journals Second Language Acquisition of the English Dative Alternation by Native Speakers of Arabic

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-88
Author(s):  
Anwar S. Aljadani
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Dative Alternation ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Semantic Properties

Abstract This paper reports on an experimental study that investigates the influence of the disparity between English and Arabic on second language acquisition, namely the phenomenon of the acquisition of the English dative alternation by Arab learners. The disallowance of certain Arabic verbs to occur in the double object dative structure causes difficulty for Arab learners to acquire English as far as the acquisition of the dative alternation is concerned. The experiment is devised to examine whether Arab learners are sensitive to syntactic and semantic properties associated with the English dative alternation. The experiment involved picture tasks with two structures: the prepositional dative structure and the double object dative structure. Overall, the results of the experiment show that the L2 learners failed to acquire the double object dative structure which does not exist in their L1. Based on these results, it is argued that L1 has an important effect on the acquisition of L2.

Universal Grammar in the classroom: the effects of formal instruction on second language acquisition

1991 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha W. Felix ◽  
Wilfried Weigl
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Second Language ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Learning Situation ◽  
School Students ◽  
Formal Instruction ◽  
L2 Learners

One of the dominating issues in recent second language acquisition research has been the question of whether or not L2 learners have access to principles of Universal Grammar. It seems that currently there is fairly strong evidence both for and against UG-access by L2 learners. Consequently, the question arises what kinds of factors may potentially further or block UG-access and whether such factors can be related to certain properties of the learning environment. In this paper we wish to approach this question by looking at a somewhat extreme learning situation, namely the acquisition (or maybe non-acquisition) of English as a second language by 77 German high school students who learned and were exposed to English exclusively during classroom hours. These students were tested for their ability to correctly judge grammaticality contrasts in English that are standardly attributed to UG principles. The results suggest that - even under a most liberal interpretation - these students did not show any evidence of having UG-access. Rather, they utilized a number of strategies that (a) tied them very tightly to properties of German and (b) prevented them from making any generalizations that went beyond what had been explicitly taught in the classroom.

The value of clitics in non-native Spanish

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juana M. Liceras
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Parameter Setting ◽  
Conflicting Evidence ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
French And English

One of the tasks of second language acquisition research is to determine the ‘linguistic’ nature of interlanguage systems. To achieve this goal it is mandatory to formulate the properties of learners' grammars in terms of the theoretical constructs proposed by linguistic theory. I have proposed elsewhere (Liceras, 1985) that, permeability, one of those properties, is related to parameter setting. In this paper, it is hypothesized that the location of a given process in the different components of the grammar may also be relevant in the determination of permeability. In the light of conflicting evidence provided by the Spanish interlanguage of French and English speakers with respect to the value of clitics in the non-native grammar, it is suggested that, due to the nature of ‘intake’, L2 learners of Spanish may locate clitics in the lexicon (as affix-like elements) or postlexically (as words in the syntax) rather than giving them a unidimensional value. I have also suggested that non-native clitics may not share all the properties that are assigned to Modern Spanish clitic pronouns.

Frequency effects and second language lexical acquisition

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Crossley ◽  
Tom Salsbury ◽  
Ashley Titak ◽  
Danielle McNamara
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Lexical Acquisition ◽  
Absolute Frequency ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
L1 And L2

Frequency effects in an L1 and L2 longitudinal corpus were investigated using Zipfian distribution analyses and linear curve estimations. The results demonstrated that the NS lexical input exhibited Zipfian distributions, but that the L2 lexical output did not match the NS Zipfian patterns. Word frequency analyses indicated that NS interlocutors modify their lexicon such that frequency scores decrease as a function of time that L2 learners have studied English. In contrast, the word frequency scores for the L2 output increased as a function of time. Post-hoc analyses indicated that differences in frequency scores between NS input and L2 output were best explained by the repetition of infrequent words, but not frequent words by L2 learners in the early stages of language acquisition. The results question absolute frequency interpretations of lexical acquisition for L2 learners and provide evidence for usage-based approaches for language learning.

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