Universal Grammar Theory and Language Acquisition: Evidence from the Null Subject Parameter

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Naif Alsaedi
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Generative Linguistics ◽  
Empty Categories ◽  
Null Subject Parameter

This article introduces the Universal-Grammar-based (UG) theory of language acquisition. It focuses on parameters, both as a theoretical construct and in relation to first-language acquisition (L1A). The null subject parameter is used to illustrate how languages vary and explain how a child’s grammar develops into adult grammar over time. The article is structured as follows: the first section outlines crucial ideas that are relevant to language acquisition in generative linguistics, such as the notions of competence, performance, critical period, and language faculty. Section two introduces and discusses the content of language faculty from the perspectives of the Principles and Parameters Theory and the Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory. This section also briefly describes the contrast among languages in regard to whether or not they allow empty categories in subject position in finite clauses. The third section first discusses how children are hypothesised to acquire their native language (L1). Then, in light of findings from the early null subject phenomenon, this section empirically examines the content of grammars that are developed by children at various developmental stages until they acquire the appropriate value for the null subject parameter. The final section highlights the important role of UG theory to L1A.

scholarly journals Português Brasileiro como segunda língua: um estudo sobre o sujeito nulo (Brazilian Portuguese as a second language: a study about the null subject)

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 237
Author(s):  
Gildete Rocha Xavier
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
Single Type ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Verbal Form ◽  
Principles And Parameters

Este estudo objetiva investigar como se dá a aquisição do sujeito nulo do português brasileiro (PB) como segunda língua (L2) por adultos estrangeiros, falantes nativos de inglês e italiano em situação de imersão total. A pesquisa desenvolve-se no âmbito da gramática gerativa, dentro do quadro da Teoria de Princípios e Parâmetros (CHOMSKY, 1981, 1986) e do Programa Minimalista (CHOMsKY, 1993, 1995, 2000). As questões da pesquisa estão relacionadas ao acesso à Gramàtica Universal (GU) por aprendizes de L2. Mais especificamente, procurou-se investigar se os sujeitos analisados têm acesso à GU e, em caso afirmativo, qual seria a forma desse acesso. Os resultados da análise dos dados confirmaram a) a hipótese de acesso direto à Gu, através do uso do valor default do parâmetro pro-drop = sujeitos nulos ou preenchidos + a forma verbal unipessoal, nas produções dos falantes de inglês e italiano em fase inicial de aquisição; e b)a hipótese do acesso indireto à Gu, via L1, nas produções dos sujeitos falantes de inglês e italiano em fase inicial de aquisição. Além disso, considerando que as línguas pro-drop não constituem um único tipo, levantou-se a hipótese de que, com base nos dados do input, os aprendizes vão apresentar o pro-drop do PB, a partir da (1999) aquisição da concordância dessa língua, o que se confirmou. A tese confirma a hipótese do "bilinguismo universal" de Roeper (1999) não apenas para o estágio inicial, mas para os estágios intermediário e final.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Aquisição de linguagem. Gramática gerativa. Aquisição da segunda língua. Sujeito nulo. Princípios e parâmetros.ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to investigate the acquisition of the null subject in Brasilian Portuguese (BP) as a second language (L2) by native adult speakers of English and Italian, in a situation of total immersion. The research was developed within the framework of the Principles and Parameters Theory (CHOMSKY, 1981, 1986) and the Minimalist Program (CHOMSKY, 1993, 1995, 2000). The research attempted to investigate whether the L2 leaners have access to Universal Grammar (UG) and what the form of that access would be. The results of the analysis confirmed a) the hypothesis of direct access to UG , throught the use of the pro-drop parameter's default value = null or over subjects + the one-person agreement verbal form, in the production of English and Italian Speakers in the initial phase of acquisition. Considering that pro-drop languages do not constitute a single type, it was hypothesized that, based upon data from the input the learners would present the pro-drop of BP, starting by the acquisitionof the agreement in that language, which was confirmed. The analysis confirms the "universal bilinguism" hypotesis (ROEPER, 1999), not only for inatial stage of aquisition, but also for the intermediate and final stages.KEYWORDS: Language acquisition. Second language acquisition. Generative grammar. Null subject. Principles and parameters.

L1/L2 parametric directionality matters

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 165-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Judy
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Syntactic Property ◽  
Overt Pronoun ◽  
Null Subject Parameter ◽  
Shed Light

Assuming transfer of the L1 grammar, in the present study the question of whether all parameters can be reset even with access to UG is examined in light of the subset/superset relationship. Specifically, the resetting of the Null Subject Parameter (NSP) in L2 learners of English (L1 Spanish) is investigated by means of examining the application of the Overt Pronoun Constraint (Montalbetti 1984), a property that clusters with the null subject setting only, as well as acceptance/rejection of null subjects in English. Since English does not syntactically license empty subjects, but Spanish does, the two languages are in a subset/superset relationship such that Spanish is the superset grammar. Therefore, the results stand to shed light on the validity of the Subset Principle (Berwick 1982; Manzini and Wexler 1987; Wexler and Manzini 1987) and its learnability constraints applied to second language acquisition (SLA) where transfer might impede convergence on the narrow syntactic property despite full access to Universal Grammar.

scholarly journals Language acquisition and the minimalist program: a new way out

2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth E. Vasconcellos LOPES
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Computational System ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Acquisition Process ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
Syntactic Relation ◽  
Conceptual Necessity

Our aim in this paper is to show that Chomsky's Minimalist Program brings in a new way to conceive the Language Faculty and, thus, the Universal Grammar as well. Therefore, it opens up a whole range of possibilities for the language acquisition field. Explanations have to be motivated by virtual conceptual necessity: either through bare output conditions imposed by the interfaces, or through economy conditions of the computational system. Our point is that it should work likewise for language acquisition. If economy conditions play a role in the Language Faculty, then they must be important for the language acquisition process. If interface levels are essential for the Language Faculty, then they must play a role in the acquisition process as well. In order to pinpoint such issues we will discuss some evidence from the asymmetry between the child's initial production of subject and object in different languages. Our guiding hypothesis is that the basic syntactic relation that is privileged by the child acquiring a language is c-command.

On the Acquisition of French (Null) Subjects and (In)Definiteness: Simultaneous and Early Sequential bi-, tri- and Multilinguals

Probus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-225
Author(s):  
Laia Arnaus Gil ◽  
Johanna Stahnke ◽  
Natascha Müller
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Timing Acquisition ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Null Subject Parameter ◽  
Definite Articles ◽  
Linguistic Approaches ◽  
Early Late

Abstract The French non-null-subject parameter is set very early, irrespective of the number of languages acquired. By contrast, the acquisition of (in)definiteness marking takes place at age 11;0. For early parametrized grammatical phenomena, Tsimpli (Tsimpli, Ianthi Maria. 2014. Early, late or very late? Timing acquisition and bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 4(3). 283–313.) argues that age of onset (AoO) matters. For late acquired phenomena, language experience is crucial. We recruited 23 simultaneous and 34 early sequential L2 (eL2) learners of French (mean age 4;6). Using an elicitation task, we examined the production of French subjects and (in)definite articles. All children behaved similarly with respect to the (early) setting of the null-subject parameter. In contrast, (in)definite marking was sensitive to number of languages and age; AoO or input effects did not affect the results. Simultaneous multilinguals diverge from eL2 children, showing subject spell-out preferences, interpreted in terms of acquisition phases. We will discuss this result against a model of language acquisition in which the child proceeds in acquisition stages.

FUNDAMENTAL AND GRADIENT DIFFERENCES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Herschensohn
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
First Language ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Generative Theory ◽  
The Difference

This article reexamines Bley-Vroman’s original (1990) and evolved (this issue) fundamental difference hypothesis that argues that differences in path and endstate of first language acquisition and adult foreign language learning result from differences in the acquisition procedure (i.e., language faculty and cognitive strategies, respectively). The evolved assessment of the theoretical and empirical developments of the past 20 years is taken into account with respect to Universal Grammar and parameters in generative theory and with respect to cognition and acquisition in data processing. This article supports the spirit of Bley-Vroman’s proposals in light of the discussion of three topics: pathway of acquisition, endstate age of acquisition effects, and language processing by monolinguals and bilinguals. I argue that the difference between child and adult language acquisition is, above all, quantitative not qualitative, a gradient continuum rather than a precipitous break.

Second Language Acquisition and Syntactic Theory in the 21st Century

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 248-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juana M. Liceras
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Science Field ◽  
Syntactic Theory ◽  
Syntactic Properties

Syntactic theory has played a role in second language acquisition (SLA) research since the early 1980s, when the principles and parameters model of generative grammar was implemented. However, it was the so-called functional parameterization hypothesis together with the debate on whether second language learners activated new features or switched their value that led to detailed and in-depth analyses of the syntactic properties of many different nonnative grammars. In the last 10 years, with the minimalist program as background, these analyses have diverted more and more from looking at those syntactic properties that argued for or against the various versions of the UG-access versus non-UG-access debate (UG for Universal Grammar) and have more recently delved into the status of nonnative grammars in the cognitive science field. Thus, using features (i.e., gender, case, verb, and determiner) as the basic units and paying special attention to the quality of input as well as to processing principles and constraints, nonnative grammars have been compared to the language contact paradigms that underlie subsequent bilingualism, child SLA, creole formation, and diachronic change. Taking Chomsky's I-language/E-language construct as the framework, this article provides a review of these recent developments in SLA research.

A minimalist approach to null subjects and objects in second language acquisition

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyeson Park
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Feature Learning ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Korean Type

Studies of the second language acquisition of pronominal arguments have observed that: (1) L1 speakers of null subject languages of the Spanish type drop more subjects in their second language (L2) English than first language (L1) speakers of null subject languages of the Korean type and (2) speakers of Korean-type languages drop more objects than subjects in their L2 English. An analysis of these two asymmetries is conducted within the Minimalist Program framework (MP), which hypothesizes that language acquisition involves the learning of formal features of a target language.I propose, based on Alexiadou and Anagnostopoulou (1998), that the licensing of null subjects is conditioned by the interpretability of agreement features. When a language has [+interpretable] agreement features, raising of the verb to T (X-movement) satisfies the EPP requirement: hence, a null subject is allowed. On the other hand, in a language with [-interpretable] agreement features, the subject is obligatory since merger of the subject in the specifier of TP (XP-merge) is required to check the EPP feature. Learning of the obligatory status of English subjects is easier for Korean learners than for Spanish speakers since syntactically both English and Korean have the same feature value [-interpretable] (although null subjects are allowed in Korean for pragmatic reasons). Spanish has the opposite syntactic feature value [+interpretable] and resetting of this is more difficult. Licensing of null objects is hypothesized to be related to the strength of theta-features. Languages with strong theta-features, such as English and Spanish, do not allow null objects, whereas languages with weak theta-features like Korean allow null objects. It takes time for Korean speakers to learn the different value of English theta-features, resulting in the extended null object period in L2 English of Korean L1 speakers.

scholarly journals Chomsky's Contribution to Linguistics: A Review

2018 ◽  
Vol I (I) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Sonia Touqir ◽  
Amna Mushtaq ◽  
Touqir Nasir
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Phrase Structure ◽  
Generative Grammar ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Acquisition Process ◽  
Principles And Parameters

This review seeks to highlight Chomsky's major contributions to the field of linguistics. He changed linguists' conception about the nature of language from an externalized to internalized approach. This shift also resulted in the language being thought of as a cognitive phenomenon rather than as a set of structures to be analyzed for their correctness or incorrectness to prove his stance introduced the concept of language faculty, its workings, Universal Grammar, Principles and Parameters, and Transformational and Generative Grammar. The TGG also significantly overhauled the existent phrase structure rules. These rules were brought to follow binarity principles that dictated that a node cannot have less than or more than two branches. Besides the concept of Universal Grammar, along with its principles and parameters, Chomsky simplified how the language acquisition process can be understood: instead of learning hundreds of rules, the human mind has to install a handful of principles and parameters.

Derivational Economy in Syntax and Semantics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Željko Bošković ◽  
Troy Messick
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Efficient Design ◽  
Computationally Efficient ◽  
Computational System ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Generative Theory ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Syntactic Dependencies

Economy considerations have always played an important role in the generative theory of grammar. They are particularly prominent in the most recent instantiation of this approach, the Minimalist Program, which explores the possibility that Universal Grammar is an optimal way of satisfying requirements that are imposed on the language faculty by the external systems that interface with the language faculty which is also characterized by optimal, computationally efficient design. In this respect, the operations of the computational system that produce linguistic expressions must be optimal in that they must satisfy general considerations of simplicity and efficient design. Simply put, the guiding principles here are (a) do something only if you need to and (b) if you do need to, do it in the most economical/efficient way. These considerations ban superfluous steps in derivations and superfluous symbols in representations. Under economy guidelines, movement takes place only when there is a need for it (with both syntactic and semantic considerations playing a role here), and when it does take place, it takes place in the most economical way: it is as short as possible and carries as little material as possible. Furthermore, economy is evaluated locally, on the basis of immediately available structure. The locality of syntactic dependencies is also enforced by minimal search and by limiting the number of syntactic objects and the amount of structure accessible in the derivation. This is achieved by transferring parts of syntactic structure to the interfaces during the derivation, the transferred parts not being accessible for further syntactic operations.

Chomsky's Minimalist Program : A Brief Linguistic Primer

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-77
Author(s):  
Mary Sweig Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Augmentative And Alternative Communication ◽  
Native Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Alternative Communication ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Children around the world, no matter what their native language, follow a similar course in language acquisition from the emergence of first words to the mastery of syntax. The uniformity and rapidity of first language acquisition is possible because human infants are born with a biologically endowed innate language faculty within the brain that drives the course of language development. Although this premise was doubted 50 years ago, today biologists and linguists alike accept it. Our human language faculty orchestrates and shapes the acquisition of language. Neurotypically developing children need only the surrounding language input to acquire language. In contrast, children with receptive language delays, including many of those who are or will become augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) users, need more than exposure to language if they are to develop adult competence in their native language.

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