Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T20:19:25.661Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Generative Approaches to Third Language Acquisition

from Part I - Theoretical Approaches to L3/Ln

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2023

Jennifer Cabrelli
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Adel Chaouch-Orozco
Affiliation:
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Jorge González Alonso
Affiliation:
Universidad Nebrija, Spain and UiT, Arctic University of Norway
Sergio Miguel Pereira Soares
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Eloi Puig-Mayenco
Affiliation:
King's College London
Jason Rothman
Affiliation:
UiT, Arctic University of Norway and Universidad Nebrija, Spain
Get access

Summary

This chapter provides an introduction to formal linguistic approaches to third language acquisition. A substantial body of work on sequential multilingualism has been produced in the last two decades under assumptions and theoretical constructs that followed from the generative tradition in second language acquisition. My aim in this chapter is to briefly survey the main theories, models, and proposals originated in this subfield, and to highlight which of the assumptions in the tradition of generative grammar bring them together as a coherent approach to the acquisition of third or further languages. Some of these are, essentially, questions the field inherited from second language acquisition; others are core theoretical concepts from the generative enterprise. The recognition of these common bases and goals can help future work on these models focus on moving the field forward as a whole.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bardel, C., & Falk, Y. (2007). The Role of the Second Language in Third Language Acquisition: The Case of Germanic Syntax. Second Language Research, 23(4), 459484.Google Scholar
Bardel, C., & Falk, Y. (2012). Behind the L2 Status Factor: A Neurolinguistic Framework for L3 Research. In Cabrelli, J., Flynn, S., & Rothman, J. (Eds.), Third Language Acquisition in Adulthood (pp. 6178). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardel, C., & Sanchez, L. (2017). The L2 Status Factor Hypothesis Revisited: The Role of Metalinguistic Knowledge, Working Memory, Attention and Noticing in Third Language Learning. In Angelovska, T. & Hahn, A. (Eds.), L3 Syntactic Transfer: Models, New Developments and Implications (pp. 85101). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Bley-Vroman, R. (1989). What Is the Logical Problem of Foreign Language Learning? In Gass, S. & Schachter, J. (Eds.), Linguistic Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition (pp. 4168). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabrelli, J., & Iverson, M. (2023). Why Do L3 Learners Overcome Non-facilitative L3 Transfer from an L2 Faster Than an L1? The Cumulative Input Threshold Hypothesis. International Journal of Multilingualism.Google Scholar
Cabrelli, J., Iverson, M., Giancaspro, D., & González, B. H. (2020). The Roles of L1 Spanish Versus L2 Spanish in L3 Portuguese Morphosyntactic Development. In Molsing, K., Becker Lopes Perna, C., & Tramunt Ibaños, A. M. (Eds.), Linguistic Approaches to Portuguese as an Additional Language (pp. 1133). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Cenoz, J., & Jessner, U. (Eds.) (2000). English in Europe: The Acquisition of a Third Language. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cenoz, J., Hufeisen, B., & Jessner, U. (Eds.) (2001). Cross-Linguistic Influence in Third Language Acquisition: Psycholinguistic Perspectives. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cenoz, J., Hufeisen, B., & Jessner, U. (Eds.) (2003). The Multilingual Lexicon. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1981). Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1995). The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
DeLuca, V., Miller, D., Pliatsikas, C., & Rothman, J. (2019). Brain Adaptations and Neurological Indices of Processing in Adult Second Language Acquisition. In Schwieter, J. & Paradis, M. (Eds.), The Handbook of Neuroscience and Multilingualism. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Epstein, S., Flynn, S., & Martohardjono, G. (1996). Second Language Acquisition: Theoretical and Experimental Issues in Contemporary Research. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 19, 677714.Google Scholar
Eubank, L. (1994). On the Transfer of Parametric Values in L2 Development. Language Acquisition, 3, 183208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falk, Y., & Bardel, C. (2011). Object Pronouns in German L3 Syntax: Evidence for the L2 Status Factor. Second Language Research, 27(1), 5982.Google Scholar
Falk, Y., Lindqvist, C., & Bardel, C. (2015). The Role of L1 Explicit Metalinguistic Knowledge in L3 Oral Production at the Initial State. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 227235.Google Scholar
Flynn, S., Foley, C., & Vinnitskaya, I. (2004). The Cumulative-Enhancement Model for Language Acquisition: Comparing Adults’ and Children’s Patterns of Development in First, Second and Third Language Acquisition of Relative Clauses. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1(1), 316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giancaspro, D., Halloran, B., & Iverson, M. (2015). Transfer at the Initial Stages of L3 Brazilian Portuguese: A Look at Three Groups of English/Spanish Bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 191207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guijarro-Fuentes, P., Iverson, M., Judy, T., & Rothman, J. (2008). Non-convergence at Advanced Levels, Learnability and the Preemption Problem in L2 Semantics: DP and Bare Nominal Interpretations in L2 Portuguese. Paper presented at the Romance Turn. University of Southampton, September 18.Google Scholar
Hawkins, R., & Chan, C. Y. (1997). The Partial Availability of Universal Grammar in Second Language Acquisition. Second Language Research, 13(3), 187226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iverson, M. (2009). Competing SLA Hypotheses Assessed: Comparing Heritage and Successive Spanish Bilinguals of L3 Brazilian Portuguese. In Pires, A. & Rothman, J. (Eds.), Minimalist Inquiries into Child and Adult Language Acquisition (pp. 221244). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Iverson, M. (2010). Informing the Age-of-Acquisition Debate: L3 as a Litmus Test. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (IRAL), 48(2–3), 221243.Google Scholar
Kanno, K. (1997). The Acquisition of Null and Overt Pronominals in Japanese by English Speakers. Second Language Research, 13, 265287.Google Scholar
Klein, E. C. (1995). Second versus Third Language Acquisition: Is There a Difference? Language Learning, 45(3), 419466.Google Scholar
Kolb, N., & Westergaard, M. (2021). L3 Development: A Longitudinal Study on L3 German in Norway. Paper presented at the 13th International Symposium on Bilingualism. University of Warsaw, Poland, July 10–14.Google Scholar
Kupisch, T., Pereira Soares, S. M., Puig-Mayenco, E., & Rothman, J. (2021). Multilingualism and Chomsky’s Generative Grammar. In Allot, N., Lohndal, T., & Rey, G. (Eds.), Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Chomsky. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Leung, Y.-K. I. (2001). The Initial State of L3A: Full Transfer and Failed Features? In Bonch-Bruevich, X., Crawford, W. J., Hellermann, J., Higgins, C., & Nguyen, H. (Eds.), The Past, Present and Future of Second Language Research: Selected Proceedings of the 2000 Second Language Research Forum (pp. 5575). Somerville: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Leung, Y-K. I. (2002). Functional Categories in Second and Third Language Acquisition: A Cross-Linguistic Study of the Acquisition of English and French by Chinese and Vietnamese Speakers. Unpublished PhD dissertation, McGill University.Google Scholar
Leung, Y-K. I. (2003). Failed Features versus Full Transfer Full Access in the Acquisition of a Third Language: Evidence from Tense and Agreement. In Liceras, J. M., Zobl, H., & Goodluck, H. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (pp. 199207). Somerville: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Leung, Y-K. I. (2005). L2 vs. L3 Initial State: A Comparative Study of the Acquisition of French DPs by Vietnamese Monolinguals and Cantonese–English Bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 8(1), 3961.Google Scholar
Leung, Y-K. I. (2007). Third Language Acquisition: Why It Is Interesting to Generative Linguists. Second Language Research, 23(1), 95114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloyd-Smith, A. (2021). The Nature of Syntactic and Phonological CLI beyond the Initial State. Paper presented at the 13th International Symposium on Bilingualism. University of Warsaw, Poland, July 10–14.Google Scholar
Lozano, C. (2002). The Interpretation of Overt and Null Pronouns in Non-native Spanish. Durham Working Papers in Linguistics, 8, 5366.Google Scholar
Lozano, C. (2003). Universal Grammar and Focus Constraints: The Acquisition of Pronouns and Word Order in Non-native Spanish. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Essex.Google Scholar
Montalbetti, M. (1984). After Binding: On the Interpretation of Pronouns. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Paradis, M. (2009). Declarative and Procedural Determinants of Second Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Leroux, A. T., & Glass, W. R. (1999). Null Anaphora in Spanish Second Language Acquisition: Probabilistic versus Generative Approaches. Second Language Research, 15, 220249CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puig-Mayenco, E., González Alonso, J., & Rothman, J. (2020). A Systematic Review of Transfer Studies in Third Language Acquisition. Second Language Research, 36(1), 3164.Google Scholar
Puig-Mayenco, E., Rothman, J., & Tubau, S. (2022). Language Dominance in the Previously Acquired Languages Modulates Rate of Third Language (L3) Development Over Time: A Longitudinal Study. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(5), 16411664.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2008). Why All Counter-Evidence to the Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition Is Not Equal or Problematic. Language and Linguistics Compass, 2(6), 10631088.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2010). On the Typological Economy of Syntactic Transfer: Word Order and Relative Clause High/Low Attachment Preference in L3 Brazilian Portuguese. IRAL, 48(2–3), 245273.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2011). L3 Syntactic Transfer Selectivity and Typological Determinacy: The Typological Primacy Model. Second Language Research, 27(1), 107127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothman, J. (2013). Cognitive Economy, Non-redundancy and Typological Primacy in L3 Acquisition. In Baauw, S., Drijkoningen, F., Meroni, L., & Pinto, M. (Eds.), Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2011: Selected Papers from “Going Romance” (pp. 217248). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2015). Linguistic and Cognitive Motivations for the Typological Primacy Model (TPM) of Third Language (L3) Transfer: Timing of Acquisition and Proficiency Considered. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 179190.Google Scholar
Rothman, J., & Cabrelli Amaro, J. (2010). What Variables Condition Syntactic Transfer? A Look at the L3 Initial State. Second Language Research, 26(2), 189218.Google Scholar
Rothman, J., & Halloran, B. (2013). Formal Linguistic Approaches to L3/Ln Acquisition: A Focus on Morphosyntactic Transfer in Adult Multilingualism. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 33, 5167.Google Scholar
Rothman, J., Iverson, M., & Judy, T. (2011). Introduction: Some Notes on the Generative Study of L3 Acquisition. Second Language Research, 27(1), 519.Google Scholar
Rothman, J., González Alonso, J., & Puig-Mayenco, E. (2019). Third Language Acquisition and Linguistic Transfer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B., & Sprouse, R. (1994). Word Order and Nominative Case in Nonnative Language Acquisition: A Longitudinal Study of (L1 Turkish) German Interlanguage. In Hoekstra, T. & Schwartz, B. (Eds.), Language Acquisition Studies in Generative Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B., & Sprouse, R. (1996). L2 Cognitive States and the Full Transfer/Full Access Model. Second Language Research, 12(1), 4072.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R. (2017). The Scalpel Model of Third Language Acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 651665.Google Scholar
Suhonen, L.-V. (2021). Longitudinal Aspects of Naturalistic L3 Lexical Acquisition. Paper presented at the 13th International Symposium on Bilingualism. University of Warsaw, Poland, July 10–14, 2021.Google Scholar
Vainikka, A., & Young-Scholten, M. (1996). The Early Stages in Adult L2 Syntax: Additional Evidence from Romance Speakers. Second Language Research, 12(2), 140176.Google Scholar
Westergaard, M. (2021). Microvariation in Multilingual Situations: The Importance of Property-by-Property Acquisition. Second Language Research, 37(3), 379407.Google Scholar
Westergaard, M., Mitrofanova, N., Mykhaylyk, R., & Rodina, Y. (2017). Crosslinguistic Influence in the Acquisition of a Third Language: The Linguistic Proximity Model. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 666682.Google Scholar
White, L. 1992: Universal Grammar: Is It Just a New Name for Old Problems? In Gass, S & Selinker, L (Eds.), Language Transfer in Language Learning (pp. 217232). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Williams, S., & Hammarberg, B. (1998). Language Switches in L3 Production: Implications for a Polyglot Speaking Model. Applied Linguistics, 19(3), 295333.Google Scholar
Wrembel, M., Kopečková, R., & Balas, A. (2021). The Relationship between Phonological Awareness, Perceived Foreign Accent as well as Perception and Production of L2/L3 Rhotic Sounds in the First Year of L3 Learning. Paper Presented at the 13th International Symposium on Bilingualism. University of Warsaw, Poland, July 10–14, 2021.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×