Universal-Hypothesis-SLA

Chapter8TheuniversalHypothesisandSecondLanguageAcquisitionWhatistheuniversalHypothesis?The‘universalhypothesis’statesthatlanguageacquisitionisgovernedbythewayinwhichnaturallanguageareorganized.Thatis,certainuniversallinguisticpropertiesinfluencetheorderinwhichtherulesofaspecificlanguageareacquired.Accordingtotheuniversalhypothesis,then,itislinguisticratherthangeneralcognitivefactorsthatdetermineacquisition.Twoapproachesoflearnerprocessinginput1.Usinggeneralcognitivestrategieswhicharepartoftheirproceduralknowledgeandwhichareusedinotherformsoflearning.Thesestrategiesareoftenreferredtoaslearnerstrategies.2.UsingaspeciallinguisticfacultythatenablesthemtooperateontheinputdatainordertodiscovertheL2rulesinmaximallyefficientways.ThislinguisticfacultyisreferredtoasUniversalGrammar.(P13)Thepurposeofthischapter:Theimportanceofstudyoflinguisticuniversals.ThecontentsofthischapterLinguisticUniversals(UniversalGrammar–typologicaluniversals)TheroleofuniversalsinL1acquisitionTheroleoflinguisticuniversalsinSLAeffectongrammarformationeffectonL1transferTheproblemsoftheUniversalHypothesisLinguisticUniversalsIngeneralsenseAlinguisticuniversalisastatementthatistrueforalllanguages.LinguisticUniversals(fromFromkin&Rodman,1988,p.18-19,ascitedindeValenzuela,1998,pp.125-6)1.Whereverhumansexist,languageexists.2.Therearenoprimitivelanguages--alllanguagesareequallycomplexandequallycapableofexpressinganyideaintheuniverse.Thevocabularyofanylanguagecanbeexpandedtoincludenewwordsfornewconcepts.3.Alllanguageschangethroughtime.4.Therelationshipbetweenthesoundsandmeaningsofspokenlanguagesandbetweenthegestures(signs)andmeaningsofsignlanguagesareforthemostpartarbitrary.5.Allhumanlanguagesutilizeafinitesetofdiscrete(不连续的)sounds(orgestures)thatarecombinedtoformmeaningfulelementsorwords,whichthemselvesformaninfinitesetofpossiblesentences..6.Allgrammarscontainrulesfortheformationofwordsandsentencesofasimilarkind..7.Everyspokenlanguageincludesdiscretesoundsegmentslikep,n,ora,whichcanbedefinedbyafinitesetofsoundpropertiesorfeatures.Everyspokenlanguagehasaclassofvowelsandaclassofconsonants.8.Similargrammaticalcategories(forexample,noun,verb)arefoundinalllanguages..9.Therearesemanticuniversals,suchasmaleorfemale,animateorhuman,foundineverylanguageintheworld..10.Everylanguagehasawayofreferringtopasttime,formingquestions,issuingcommands,andsoon..11.Speakersofalllanguagesarecapableofproducingandcomprehendinganinfinitesetofsentences.Syntacticuniversalsrevealthateverylanguagehasawayofformingsentencessuchas:Linguisticsisaninterestingsubject.Iknowthatlinguisticsisaninterestingsubject.YouknowthatIknowthatlinguisticsisaninterestingsubject.CeciliaknowsthatyouknowthatIknowthatlinguisticsisaninterestingsubject.IsitafactthatCeciliaknowsthatyouknowthatIknowthatlinguisticsisaninterestingsubject?12.Anynormalchild,bornanywhereintheworld,ofanyracial,geographical,social,oreconomicheritage,iscapableoflearninganylanguagetowhichheorsheisexposed.Thedifferenceswefindamonglanguagescannotbeduetobiologicalreasons.universality1Alllanguageshavenounsandverbs.E.g..languagesverbsnounsEnglishSit;smileRose;tearsChinese坐；观看花；历史Japanese書く；始める季節；地下鉄universality2Allspokenlanguageshaveconsonantsandvowels.languagesconsonantsvowelEnglishdlaieiChinesezcsiüJapaneseこともあいうえおuniversality3Alllanguagesareguidedbysomehiddenfundamentalprinciples-----universalgrammaragrammaticalrule(orotherlinguisticfeature)thatisfoundinalllanguagesClassification1ofLinguisticUniversalsTwotypes:1.absoluteorstatisticaluniversals2.implicationalortrueuniversalsClassification1ofLinguisticUniversalsType1:absoluteuniversalstrendsthatappearinpatterningthatlikelycomeaboutthroughhistoricalchangeundertheinfluenceofanynumberofforcesexamples:IfalanguageisSOV,theniftheadjectiveprecedestheN,thenthegenitiveprecedestheN.’1.Alllanguageshavepronouns.2.universalsarepropertiesofalanguagethataidcommunication;Classification1ofLinguisticUniversalsType2:implicationalortrueuniversalsIUstendtobemuchmorecloselyfollowed,andmakepredictivestatementsthatsayifalanguagehasfeatureX,it’llalmostassuredlyhavefeatureYaswell.Classification2ofLinguisticUniversalsdividingbythepartsofalanguagethattheyaffect------2typesType1:Phonetic/phonologicaluniversalsinvolvethesoundsandsoundchangesthatalanguagegoesthroughType2:morphologicaluniversalsinvolvewordstructureandmorphemesLinguisticTypologyDefinitioningeneralsense:theinvestigationoflinguistictypes.Linguistictypesappearwhenthelinguisthasclassifiedlinguisticentitiesbyvirtueofasimilarity.Definitioninanarrowsense:Linguistictypologyisacross-linguisticdescriptionandexplanationoftheunityanddiversityoflanguageswithrespecttolinguisticformortherelationbetweenlinguisticformandmeaning/function.ClassificationoflinguistictypologyThreetypes:Type1:morphological(wordstructure)Type2:syntactic(wordorder)Type3:phonological(soundpatterns).morphologicallevelType1:morphologicallevelLanguagesmaybeclassifiedmorphplogicallyaccrodingtothenumbersofmorphemeswithinawordClassificationLTfrommorphologicall