Language acquisition, pidgins and creoles

1981 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henning Wode
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
The Past ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
The Way

Why are pidgin utterances structured linguistically the way they are? Why, as has often been noted, do the linguistic structures of different pidgins tend to be more similar to each other than to the structure of the original languages involved in the specific pidgin? This has been noted as all the more surprising since these similarities also occur in cases where totally unrelated languages are involved, so that borrowing must be excluded; or where historical explanations cannot apply because there was no contact in the past at all. It will be suggested here that these similarities result from universal linguo-cognitive processing strategies which man employs in learning languages. Some of these strategies are universal in the sense that they apply in all acquisitional types so that pidgins have some properties which recur in all types of acquisition. Other strategies are more restricted in their applicability, for example, to the various types of second language (L2) acquisition.

scholarly journals On determining developmental stages in natural second language acquisition

1981 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen M. Meisel ◽  
Harald Clahsen ◽  
Manfred Pienemann
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Target Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Source Language ◽  
The Past ◽  
Linguistic Structures

Research on Second Language (L2) Acquisition, over the past ten years, has undergone substantial changes by shifting its focus of interest away from an analysis of linguistic structures alone, concentrating more on the learner himself or, rather, on the process of learning. It had become obvious that one of the major shortcomings in contrastive studies as well as in the usual kind of error analysis is that they lack thorough investigation of factors which determine the kind of approach a learner may take to acquire a second language. This again implies that it is more fruitful to study the process of learning itself instead of merely analysing its outputs. It is by now widely accepted that the learner takes an active part in the learning process and does not merely get trapped in structural gaps which linguists may find when comparing the source language (the learner's L1) and the target language (L2).

scholarly journals A Review of Theories in L2 Socialization and Cognitive Approaches to Second Language Acquisition

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. p109
Author(s):  
Lili Wang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Scientific Discovery ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Acquisition Process ◽  
The Past ◽  
L2 Processing

In the past 20 years, there is a shifting trend in the second language acquisition (SLA) field departing from the traditional “logical science” (Zuengler & Miller, 2006) to a context-oriented perspective for its robust power in exploring social factors beyond individual internal cognition in L2 processing research. While context-oriented researchers claim the formal linguistic-focused research decontextualizes L2 learning from its environment and thus is problematic to comprehensively explain the L2 acquisition process, some scholars taking formal linguistic perspectives resist such critique and contend that social conditions are neither sufficient nor “necessary for scientific discovery” (Zuengler & Miller, 2006, p. 15). Within this paper, I will interrogate what differentiates the cognitive paradigm from L2 socialization paradigm in terms of second language acquisition.

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. 

scholarly journals Age and Second Language Acquisition in Adulthood: The Learning Experiences and Perceptions of Women Immigrants

1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Wang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Language Curriculum ◽  
The Social

Although considerable evidence indicates that age of onset for second language acquisition is related to second-language proficiency outcomes among adult learners Jew studies have actually looked at how adult learners of different ages experience and perceive second language acquisition. This study presents 30 women immigrant learners' accounts of their experiences and perceptions of learning English as a second language in the Canadian context. Findings from this study reveal the complexity of adult L2 acquisition, which involves factors pertaining not only to the learners themselves, but also to the social context in which the second language is learned. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the second language curriculum development and classroom practice.

In defense of ‘copying and restructuring’

2020 ◽  
pp. 026765832097583
Author(s):  
Bonnie D Schwartz ◽  
Rex A Sprouse
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Large Body ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Third Language ◽  
L3 Acquisition ◽  
Nonnative Language ◽  
Access Model

In her keynote article advocating the Linguistic Proximity Model for third language (L3) acquisition, Westergaard (2019) presents several arguments against ‘copying and restructuring’ in nonnative language acquisition, mechanisms central to Schwartz and Sprouse’s (1996) Full Transfer/Full Access model of second language (L2) acquisition. In this commentary, we seek to counter her arguments and also show that the results of a large body of studies on nonnative language acquisition are explained only by ‘copying and restructuring’.

An Empirical Study on Interlanguage of Computer Science and Engineering Major Students in English Writing

2011 ◽  
Vol 71-78 ◽  
pp. 4337-4340
Author(s):  
Jing Li
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
English Teaching ◽  
English Writing ◽  
The Past

Interlanguage is an important issue in the field of second language acquisition for the past forty years. This study classifies the errors into three levels-lexicon, syntax and discourse, and then analyses the error examples to reflect the cause of interlanguage. The result may make some suggestions to the English teachers in English teaching.

The adaptation of French liquids in Haitian

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 386-410
Author(s):  
Benjamin Storme
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Loanword Adaptation ◽  
Perceptual Asymmetry ◽  
The Way

Abstract Haitian, a French-lexifier creole with a Gbe substrate, shows an asymmetry in the way it has adapted French liquids: the French lateral was maintained in postvocalic coda position in Haitian, but the French rhotic was systematically deleted in this position. This paper presents the results of a perception study showing that the lateral is generally more perceptible than the rhotic in coda position in Modern French. The hypothesis that perception played a role in the phonological asymmetry in Haitian is compatible with these results. The paper sketches an analysis of how the perceptual asymmetry between French coda laterals and rhotics resulted in the emergence of a new phonological grammar, distinct from both the grammar of the substrate and superstrate languages. This analysis is in line with previous works on the role of perception in second language acquisition, loanword adaptation, creolization, and sound change more generally.

Turtles all the way down: Micro-cues and piecemeal transfer in L3 phonology and syntax

2020 ◽  
pp. 026765832094103
Author(s):  
John Archibald
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
First Language ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Third Language Acquisition ◽  
The One ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
The Way

There are several theories which tackle predicting the source of third language (L3) crosslinguistic influence. The two orthogonal questions that arise are which language is most likely to influence the L3 and whether the influence will be wholesale or piecemeal (property-by-property). To my mind, Westergaard’s Linguistic Proximity Model (LPM) is preferable to other theoretical models (say Rothman’s Typological Primacy Model) insofar as it is consistent with many aspects of L2/L3 phonological learnability that I am familiar with. Westergaard proposes a structure-based piecemeal approach to the explanation of third language acquisition (L3A). The model is driven by parsing and dictates that the first language (L1) or second language (L2) structure which is hypothesized to be most similar to the L3 structure will be the one to transfer.

AHISTORICITY REVISITED

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Gass ◽  
Catherine Fleck ◽  
Nevin Leder ◽  
Ildiko Svetics
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Pertinent Literature ◽  
The Past ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Logical Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
Second Language Acquisition Theory

In our reply to Margaret Thomas's article “Programmatic ahistoricity in second language acquisition theory,” we first review pertinent literature, concluding that historical awareness is evident in SLA, though it is not as far-reaching as Thomas would like it to be. We then argue that the attitude of most scholars in SLA toward the past is reasonable given that no significant work in SLA from antiquity has been discovered—by Thomas or anyone else—and that if such work exists Thomas has the burden to bring it to light before declaring the field guilty of ahistoricity. We consider various ways to define the field of SLA, arguing that it should be defined theoretically first, and historically second. We claim that the point at which SLA separated itself from language teaching is a logical point from which to date the beginnings of SLA as a true discipline. We consider and reject Thomas's comparison of SLA and its history to various other scientific disciplines and their histories, arguing that these disciplines have true milestones to point to in the distant past, whereas SLA does not. Although we agree with Thomas that a general awareness of the history of philosophy and science is beneficial for scholars in all fields, we make a sharp division between that history and the history of SLA proper. We conclude by arguing that respect for the field of SLA can come only through sound scientific progress, not by appeals to history.

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