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Ultimate Attainment in Second Language Acquisition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

David Birdsong
David Birdsong*
Affiliation:
University of Texas at Austin
*
Department of French & Italian, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712
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Abstract

On the prevailing view of ultimate attainment in second language acquisition, native competence cannot be achieved by postpubertal learners. The present study offers convergent experimental evidence which suggests there are exceptions to this generalization. At the same time, early arrival in the host country—even if past puberty—correlates with attainment of native norms on a variety of measures. Also investigated are the loci of competence differences in the syntax of the target language (French). Contrary to findings by Coppieters 1987, experimental performance is not predicted by the status of a given linguistic variable as within or outside the theoretical domain of Universal Grammar.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 68 , Issue 4 , December 1992 , pp. 706 - 755
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by Linguistic Society of America

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Footnotes

*

Portions of this paper were presented at the 1991 meetings of the Second Language Research Forum, the Applied Linguistics at Michigan State Conference, and the Boston University Conference on Language Development. The paper has profited from discussions with Alan Beretta, Randy Diehl, Lynn Eubank, Jim Lantolf, Richard Meier, Bill Rutherford, Bonnie Schwartz, Antonella Sorace, and Lydia White. I wish to acknowledge the contributions of audiences at several universities: Concordia, Cornell, Florida, McGill, Southern California, and Texas. The comments of two anonymous reviewers for Language are also appreciated.

I extend sincere thanks to David Johns, who contributed to the data analysis; Michèle Roberts, who transcribed many of the think-alouds; and John Bro and Dalila Ayoun, who assisted in data elicitation. The coöperation of all subjects is also greatly appreciated. I am especially indebted to Steve Pinker and to Susana Franck and Jacques Mehler of the Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique in Paris for their assistance during the data collection phase of the project.

This study was supported in part by a Research Development Award from the Division of Sponsored Research, University of Florida, DSR 89021023.

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