UG-and-SLA

LinguisticuniversalsandsecondlanguageacquisitionLinguisticbasisforsecondlanguageacquisitionAccesstoUniversalGrammarLinguisticbasisforSLAContrastiveanalysis(pre-Chomskyanstructuralism)UniversalsandcontrastiveanalysisUniversalsandSLAContrastiveanalysisThelanguagelearnerdoesnotstartwithafabularasa.Asstudiesoverthepastthirtyyearshaveshown,eventheacquisitionofthefirstlanguagepresupposessomedegreeofpreprogrammingorinnatelanguage-specificcapacity,representableasahypothesizeduniversalgrammar.Contrastiveanalysisworkedinastructuralmodel;itassumed(beforeChomsky)akindofcompetencemodelinwhichonesetofknowledge(thelearner’sfirstlanguage)cameintocontactthroughthelearningprocesswithasecondsetofknowledge(thetargetlanguage).Wherethetwostructuresmatched,learningwaseasy;wheretheydiffered(informoruse),adifficultyarosethatneededtobeovercome.Theprinciplemaybestatedinagenerallanguagedistancecondition.Languagedistancecondition:theclosertwolanguagesaretoeachothergeneticallyandtypologically,thequickeraspeakerofonewilllearntheother.Thisgeneralconditionassumestwospecificconditions,asfollows:Sharedfeaturecondition:whentwolanguagesshareafeature,learningisfacilitated.Contrastivefeaturecondition:differencesbetweentwolanguagesinterferewhenspeakersofonesetouttolearntheother.UniversalsandcontrastiveanalysisEckman’sviewmaybeinterpretedasaproposaltoaddtothesharedfeatureconditionandthecontrastivefeatureconditionacodificationthatappliestocontrastivefeatures:Markednessdifferentialcondition:markedfeaturesaremoredifficulttolearnthanunmarked.Definitions:Contrastiveanalysis:~isasetofproceduresforcomparingandcontrastingthelinguisticsystemsoftwolanguagesinordertoidentifytheirstructuralsimilaritiesanddifferences.Universalgrammar:~isatermusedbyChomskytorefertotheabstractknowledgeoflanguagewhichchildrenbringtothetaskoflearningtheirnativelanguage,andwhichconstrainstheshapeoftheparticulargrammartheyaretryingtolearn.~consistsofvariousprincipleswhichgoverntheformgrammaticalrulescantake.Someoftheseprinciplesareparameterized(i.e.arespecifiedasconsistingoftwoormoreoptions).UniversalsandSLAWemighttrytoexpressCook’sviewsinaconditionexpressingtheeffectofuniversalgrammaronSLASharedparametercondition:whenbothnativeandtargetlanguagehavethesamesettingforsomeparameterofuniversalgrammar(=havethesamerule),minimalexperiencewillbeneededtotriggerthecorrectformofthegrammar.Whenthereisadifferencebetweentheparametersinthetwolanguages,however,werequirepreferenceconditions;thethirdfollowsfromChomsky’srecognitionoftherelevanceoffrequencytoacquisition:Unmarkedparametercondition:prefertousetheunmarked(core,universalgrammar)settingoftheparameter.Nativelanguageparametercondition:prefertousethenativelanguagesettingoftheparameter.Mostfrequentparametercondition:prefertousethemostfrequentsettingoftheparameter.DefinitionsMarkedness:variousdefinitionsoflinguisticmarkedessexist.Thetermreferstotheideathatsomelinguisticstructuresare‘special’or‘lessnatural’or‘lessbasic’thanothers.Forexample,theuseof‘break’in‘shebrokemyheart’canbeconsideredmarkedinrelationtotheuseof‘break’in‘shebrokeacup’.Parameter:thisisatermusedinChomsky’stheoryofuniversalgrammar.Someuniversalprinciplesareparameterized:thatis,theypermitafinitesetofoptionswhichindividuallanguagesdrawonandwhichthusdefinehowlanguagesdiffer.Alanguagelearnerneedstodiscoverwhichparametersettingsapplyinthetargetlanguage.Principle:thisisatermusedinChomsky’stheoryofuniversalgrammar.Itreferstohighlyabstractpropertiesofgrammarwhichunderlietherulesofspecificlanguages.Principlesarethoughttoconstraintheformthatgrammaticalrulescantake.Theyconstitutepartofachild’sinnateknowledgeoflanguage.AccesstoUGThereis,infact,noagreementastowhetheradult-L2learnershaveaccesstoUG.Wewillbrieflyexamineanumberoftheoreticalpositions.1CompleteaccessItisarguedthatlearnersbeginwiththeparametersettingsoftheirL1butsubsequentlylearntoswitchtotheL2parametersettings.Anassumptionisthatfulltarget-languagecompetenceispossibleandthatthereisnosuchthingasacriticalperiod.2NoaccessTheargumenthereisthatUGisnotavailabletoadultL2learners.Theyrelyongenerallearningstrategies.Accordingtothisposition,L1andL2acquisitionarefundamentallydifferent.AdultL2learnerswillnormallynotbeabletoachievefullcompetenceandtheirinterlanguagesmaymanifestimpossiblerules(i.e.rulesthatwouldbeprohibitedbyUG).3PartialaccessAnothertheoreticalpossibilityisthatlearnershaveaccesstopartsofUGbutnotothers.Forexample,theymayhaveaccesstoonlythoseUGparametersoperativeintheirL1.However,theymaybeabletoswitchtotheL2parametersettingwiththehelpofdirectinstructioninvolvingerrorcorrection.Inotherwords,L2acquisitionispartlyregulatedbyUGandpartlybygenerallearningstrategies.4DualaccessAccordingtothisposition,adultL2learnersmakeuseofbothUGandgenerallearningstrategies.However,theuseofgenerallearningstrategiescan‘block’theoperationofUG,causinglearnerstoproduce‘impossible’errorsandtofailtoachievefullcompetence.ThispositionassumesthatadultlearnerscanonlybefullysuccessfulprovidingtheyrelyonUG.TheexistenceofsuchcontradictorypositionsshowsthattheroleofUG