Skip to main content

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
Cancel
×
×
Home
  • Home
Article
  • Cited by 28
  • Cited by
    Crossref Citations
    Crossref logo
    This article has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by CrossRef.
    Gurzynski-Weiss, Laura Geeslin, Kimberly L. Long, Avizia Yim and Daidone, Danielle 2017. Expanding Individual Difference Research in the Interaction Approach. Vol. 16, Issue. , p. 226.
    Gurzynski-Weiss, Laura 2017. Expanding Individual Difference Research in the Interaction Approach. Vol. 16, Issue. , p. 152.
    Watorek, Marzena Durand, Marie and Starosciak, Katarzyna 2016. L’impact de l’input et du type de tâche sur la production de la morphologie nominale en polonais par des apprenants francophones débutants. Discours,
    Pozniak, Céline and Hemforth, Barbara 2016. Acquisition des pronoms objets en français langue seconde. Discours,
    Santos, Ana Lúcia and Flores, Cristina 2016. Comparing heritage speakers and late L2-learners of European Portuguese: verb movement, VP ellipsis and adverb placement. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, Vol. 6, Issue. 3, p. 308.
    Tasseva-Kurktchieva, Mila 2015. Can production precede comprehension in L2 acquisition?. Second Language Research, Vol. 31, Issue. 4, p. 493.
    Kapia, Enkeleida 2015. Transfer Effects in Multilingual Language Development. Vol. 4, Issue. , p. 323.
    Razali, Sulia Masturina Che Razawi, Nurul Amilin Muthusamy, Chittra Ghazali, Siti Norliana and Michael, Angelina Subrayan @ 2011. Peer-to-peer Corrective Feedback in a Group Interaction. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 1, Issue. 7,
    Kapatsinski, Vsevolod 2010. What is it I am writing? Lexical frequency effects in spelling Russian prefixes: Uncertainty and competition in an apparently regular system. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, Vol. 6, Issue. 2,
    Belikova, Alyona and White, Lydia 2009. EVIDENCE FOR THE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE HYPOTHESIS OR NOT?. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Vol. 31, Issue. 02, p. 199.
    Dekydtspotter, Laurent 2009. SECOND LANGUAGE EPISTEMOLOGY. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Vol. 31, Issue. 02, p. 291.
    Carrasco, Haydee and Frenck-Mestre, Cheryl 2008. Représentations grammaticales en langue seconde. TIPA. Travaux interdisciplinaires sur la parole et le langage, p. 27.
    2001. Second language acquisition. Lingua, Vol. 111, Issue. 12, p. 895.
    Wolfe-Quintero, Kate 1996. Nativism does not equal Universal Grammar. Second Language Research, Vol. 12, Issue. 4, p. 335.
    Juffs, Alan 1996. Semantics-syntax correspondences in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, Vol. 12, Issue. 2, p. 177.
    Mitchell, Rosamond 1996. Current Trends in Second Language Classroom Research. Southern African Journal of Applied Language Studies, Vol. 4, Issue. 2, p. 1.
    Hamilton, Robert 1996. Against underdetermined reflexive binding. Second Language Research, Vol. 12, Issue. 4, p. 420.
    Juffs, Alan and Harrington, Michael 1995. Parsing Effects in Second Language Sentence Processing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Vol. 17, Issue. 04, p. 483.
    Nakuma, Constancio 1995. The crisis in FL teaching in American colleges: Towards a diagnosis and a remedy. Language, Culture and Curriculum, Vol. 8, Issue. 3, p. 281.
    Flanigan, Beverly Olson 1995. Anaphora and Relativization in Child Second Language Acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Vol. 17, Issue. 03, p. 331.
    Download full list
    ×
  • Get access
    Add to cart USD25.00
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    Log in Register Recommend to librarian

Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar

  • Lydia White (a1)
Abstract

In this article, the motivation for Universal Grammar (UG), as assumed in the principles and parameters framework of generative grammar (Chomsky, 1981a, 1981b), is discussed, particular attention being paid to the logical problem of first language acquisition. The potential role of UG in second language (L2) acquisition is then considered. Three different positions are reviewed: (a) the claim that UG is not available to L2 learners; (b) the claim that UG is fully available; and (c) the claim that the L2 learner's access to UG is mediated by the mother tongue. This raises the issue of what kind of evidence can be used to decide between these three positions. Recent experimental research which argues for one or another of these positions by investigating the L2 status of the Subjacency Principle is reviewed, and the implications of this research are discussed.

Copyright
COPYRIGHT: © Cambridge University Press 1990
References
Hide All
Bley-Vroman, R. (1989). What is the logical problem of second language learning? In Gass, S. & Schachter, J. (Eds.), Linguistic perspectives on second language acquisition (pp. 41–68). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bley-Vroman, R., Felix, S., & Ioup, G. (1988). The accessibility of universal grammar in adult language learning. Second Language Research, 4, 1–32.
Bohannon, J. N., & Stanowicz, L. (1988). The issue of negative evidence: Adult responses to children's language errors. Developmental Psychology, 24, 684–689.
Brown, R., & Hanlon, C. (1970). Derivational complexity and the order of acquisition in child speech. In Hayes, J. R. (Ed.), Cognition and the development of language (pp. 11–53). New York: Wiley.
Chomsky, N. (1981a). Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.
Chomsky, N. (1981b). Principles and parameters in syntactic theory. In Hornstein, N. & Lightfoot, D. (Eds.), Explanation in linguistics: The logical problem of language acquisition (pp. 32–75). London: Longman.
Chomsky, N. (1986a). Barriers. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Chomsky, N. (1986b). Knowledge of language: Its nature, origin, and use. New York: Praeger.
Clahsen, H. (1990). The comparative study of first and second language development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 12, 135–153.
Clahsen, H., & Muysken, P. (1986). The availability of universal grammar to adult and child learners: A study of the acquisition of German word order. Second Language Research 2, 93–119.
Ellis, R. (1985). Understanding second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Flynn, S. (1987). A parameter-setting model of L2 acquisition. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Flynn, S., & O'Neil, W. (Eds.) (1988). Linguistic theory in second language acquisition. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Fodor, J. A. (1983). The modularity of mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Grimshaw, J., & Rosen, S. T. (in press). Knowledge and obedience: The developmental status of the binding theory. Linguistic Inquiry.
Hirsh-Pasek, K., Treiman, R., & Schneiderman, M. (1984). Brown and Hanlon revisited: Mothers' sensitivity to ungrammatical forms. Journal of Child Language, 11, 81–88.
Lightfoot, D. (1982). The language lottery: Toward a biology of grammars. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Martohardjono, G., & Gair, J. (1989). Apparent UG inaccessibility in SLA: Misapplied principles or principled misapplications? Paper presented at the Conference on the Interaction of Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition and Speech Pathology, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
McLaughlin, B. (1987). Theories of second language learning. London: Edward Arnold.
Otsu, Y. (1981). Universal grammar and syntactic development in children: Toward a theory of syntactic development. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, MIT.
Pankhurst, J., Sharwood Smith, M., & Van Buren, P. (Eds.). (1988). Learnability and second languages: A book of readings. Dordrecht: Foris.
Pinker, S. (1984). language learnability and language development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Rizzi, L. (1982). Issues in Italian syntax. Dordrecht: Foris.
Rutherford, W. (1988). Questions of learnability in second language acquisition. Paper presented at the 13th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development.
Schachter, J. (1988a). On the issue of completeness in second language acquisition. Paper presented at the 13th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development.
Schachter, J. (1988b). Second language acquisition and its relationship to Universal Grammar. Applied Linguistics, 9, 219–235.
Schachter, J. (1989). Testing a proposed universal. In Gass, S. & Schachter, J. (Eds.), Linguistic perspectives on second language acquisition (pp. 73–88). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sportiche, D. (1981). Bounding nodes in French. Linguistic Review, 1, 219–246.
Wexler, K., & Culicover, P. (1980). Formal principles of language acquisition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
White, L. (1985). Is there a logical problem of second language acquisition? TESL Canada, 2(2), 29–41.
White, L. (1988a). Island effects in second language acquisition. In Flynn, S. & O'Neil, W. (Eds.), Linguistic theory in second language acquisition (pp. 144–172). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
White, L. (1988b). Universal grammar and language transfer. In Pankhurst, J., Sharwood Smith, M., & Van Buren, P. (Eds.), Learnability and second languages: A book of readings (pp. 36–61). Dordrecht: Foris.
White, L. (1989a). The principle of adjacency in second language acquisition: Do L2 learners observe the subset principle? In Gass, S. & Schachter, J. (Eds.), Linguistic perspectives on second language acquisition (pp. 134–158). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
White, L. (1989b). Universal grammar and second language acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Zobl, H. (1983). Markedness and the projection problem. Language Learning, 33, 293–313.
Recommend this journal

Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this journal to your organisation's collection.

Studies in Second Language Acquisition
  • ISSN: 0272-2631
  • EISSN: 1470-1545
  • URL: /core/journals/studies-in-second-language-acquisition
Please enter your name
Please enter a valid email address
Who would you like to send this to? *

CAPTCHA *

Skip to the audio challenge
×

Metrics

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 281 *
Loading metrics...

Abstract views

Total abstract views: 1823 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between September 2016 - 21st July 2018. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Cancel
Confirm
×