THE ASYMMETRIC ACQUISITION HYPOTHESIS IN THE INITIAL STAGES OF CHILD AND ADULT L2 DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The purpose of the current paper is to contribute to L2A research by exploring the age effects in the initial stages of L2 morphosyntactic development. It predominantly assumes the generative framework of grammar and language acquisition, where direct L2 child-adult comparison has been a neglected area of research, producing several theoretical assumptions, supported by rare and contradictory empirical work. In the current paper, the initial age effects are investigated in the light of learners’ morphosyntactic L2A. More specifically, the [± strong] Infl parameter of UG, V-raising in particular, is taken as the linguistic element of investigation, since it assigns different values in English [- strong] and in Macedonian [+ strong].
The participants in the experiment are a group of children (age 8-11) and a group of adults (age 20-60), all native speakers of Macedonian and beginners of L2 English. They were tested after a four-week exposure to specifically designed instruction on English V-raising.
In the paper, it is argued that L2 children and adults share both similarities and qualitative differences in the early stages of L2A. The two age groups are similar in the syntactic L2 development, while they differ in the acquisition of inflectional morphology on thematic verbs, where only L2 adults show considerable difficulties (supporting the Asymmetric Acquisition Hypothesis). They both seem to differ from children acquiring English as their mother tongue.
Downloads
Article Details
Copyright © 2014 Blaže Koneski Faculty of Philology, Skopje
Journal of Contemporary Philology (JCP)
Современа филологија
References
Bisschop, J. (1998). Verschille in verwerving: Adjectivale flexie bie eerste en tweede taalverwervers an het Nederlands [Differences in acquisition: Adjectival inflection in first and second language learners of Dutch]. MA thesis. Utrecht: University of Utrecht.
Bloom, L. and Lahey, М. (1978). Language development and language disorders. New York: John Wiley.
Chomsky, N. (1986). Knowledge of language: its nature, origin and use. New York: Praeger.
Culicover, P. W. (1997). Principles and parameters: An introduction to syntactic theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
De Bot, K. (2014). The effectiveness of early foreign language learning in the Netherlands. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 4(3): 409–18.
Epstein, S., Flynn, S. and Martohardjono, G. (1996). Second language acquisition: theoretical and experimental issues in contemporary research. Brain and Behavioral Sciences, 19: 677–758.
Haegeman, L. (1994). Introduction to government and binding theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hilles, S. (1991). Access to Universal Grammar in second language acquisition. In L. Eubank (ed.). Point counterpoint: Universal Grammar in second language acquisition, 305–338. Amsterdam: John Benjamin Publishers.
Immelmann, K. and Suomi. S. (1981). Sensitive phases in development. In K. Immelmann et al. (eds.) Behavioral development, 395–431. The Bielefelt interdisciplinary project. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Krashen, S. D., Long, M. and Scarcella, R. C. (1979). Age, rate and eventual attainment in second language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 13: 573–82. Reprinted in Krashen, S. D., R. C. Scarcella and M. Long (eds.). (1982). Child-adult differences in second language acquisition. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers, Inc.
Krashen, S. D., Scarcella, R. C. and Long, M. (eds.) (1982). Child-adult differences in second language acquisition. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers, Inc.
Lamendella, J. (1977). General principles of neurofunctional organisation and their manifestation in primary and non-primary language acquisition. Language Learning, 27: 155–96.
Lenneberg, E. (1967). Biological Foundations of Language. New York: Wiley.
Long, M. (1990). Maturational constraints on language development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 12: 251–285.
Newport, E. (1990). Maturational constraints on language learning. Cognitive Science, 14: 1–28.
Nikolov, M. and Mihaljević Djigunović, J. (2006). Recent research on age, second language acquisition and early foreign language learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 26: 234–260.
Patkowski, M. S. (1990). Age and accent in a second language: a reply to James Emil Flege. Applied Linguistics, 11: 73–89.
Penfield, W. and Roberts, L. (1959). Speech and brain mechanisms. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Pollock, J-Y. (1989). Verb movement, UG and the structure of IP. Linguistic Inquiry, 20: 365– 424.
Punt, L. (1998). Adjectivale flexie en verwerving: De verschillen tussen eerste en tweede taalverwervers van het Nederlands [Adjectival inflection and acquisition: The differences between first and second language learners of Dutch, summary in English by Sharon Unsworth]. MA thesis. Utrecht: University of Utrecht.
Radford, A. (1990). Syntactic theory and the acquisition of English syntax. London: Basil Blackwell Ltd.
Radford, A. (1992). The acquisition of the morphosyntax of finite verbs in English. In J. M. Meisel (ed.). The acquisition of verb placement, 23–62. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Schaeffer, J. (2000). Direct object scrambling and clitic placement: Syntax and pragmatics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Schwartz, B. D. (1992). Testing between UG-based and problem-solving models of L2A: Developmental sequence data. Language Acquisition, 2: 1–19.
Schwartz, B. D. (2003). Child L2 acquisition: Paving the way. In B. Beachley et al. (eds.). Proceedings of the 27th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, 26–50. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Singleton, D. (2005). The critical period hypothesis: A coat of many colours. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 43: 269–285.
Unsworth, S. (2002a). Differences and similarities in developmental patterns in child L1, child L2 and adult L2 acquisition. Paper presented at Experimental Linguistics Talks, Utrecht.
Unsworth, S. (2002b). Young (and older) L2 learners and Dutch scrambling. In M. Cazzoli Goeta, S. Pourcel and L. Van Espen (eds.). Proceedings of the Fifth Durham Postgraduate Conference in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, 205–214. Durham: School of Linguistics and Language.
Weerman, F. (2002). Dynamiek in taal en de explosie van de Neerlandistiek [Dynamics in language and the explosion of Dutch (booklet for inaugural professional lecture, English translation by Sharon Unsworth)]. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam.
White, L. (1990/1991). The verb movement parameter in second language acquisition. Language Acquisition, 1: 337–60.
White, L. (1992). Long and short verb movement in second language acquisition. Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 37: 273–86.
White, L. (1996). Universal Grammar and second language acquisition: Current trends and new directions. In W. C. Ritchie and T. K. Bhatia (eds.). Handbook of second language acquisition, 85–116. USA: Academic Press.
White, L. (2003). Second language acquisition and Universal Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.