This paper presents an experimental study of the rarely explored question of how input through instruction interacts with L2 acquisition at the level of modular linguistic knowledge. The investigation focuses on L2 knowledge of the English polarity item "any," whose properties are only partially covered by typical language-teaching…

This corpus study brings a second language (L2) research perspective, insights from generative grammar, and new empirical evidence to bear on a long-accepted claim in the World Englishes literature--namely, that inversion with "wh"-movement in colloquial Indian English is obligatory in embedded clauses and impossible in main clauses. It…

This article examines how changes in linguistic theory affect the debate between the fundamental difference hypothesis and the access-to-Universal Grammar (UG) approach to SLA. With a focus on subjacency (Chomsky, 1973), a principle of UG that places constraints on "wh"-movement and that has frequently been taken as a test case for verifying…

Foreign language learning contrasts with native language development in two key respects: It is unreliable and it is nonconvergent. At the same time, it is clear that foreign languages are languages. The fundamental difference hypothesis (FDH) was introduced as a way to account for the general characteristics of foreign language learning. The FDH…

This experimental study on the acquisition of the double-object construction in Spanish as a second language (L2) by a group of first language (L1) English adults investigates the role of Universal Grammar (UG) and its interaction with L1 in two modules of grammar: morphosyntax and semantics. The double-object construction in Spanish differs from…

Explores research and theory regarding the relation between second-language acquisition and language universals research with respect to three phenomena: extraction; structure dependence; and the distribution of overt reflexives. (Author/CB)

Discusses the motivation for Universal Grammar (UG), as assumed in the principles and parameters framework of generative grammar (Chomsky, 1981), focusing on the logical problem of first-language acquisition and the potential role of UG in second-language acquisition. Recent experimental research regarding the second-language status of the…

Argues for a shift in emphasis in the investigation of universals in second-language acquisition. To construct a psycholinguistically plausible theory of acquisition, research must proceed simultaneously on the elaboration of several theories regarding computation consistent with human biology, structural universals and variation, meaning, and…

Reviews recent research in universal grammar-based child second language acquisition (SLA) research, arguing that child SLA studies can better explore the role of biological factors in language acquisition and strengthen the links between SLA and linguistic theory. (129 references) (MDM)

Revisits Felix's (1988) and Birdsong's (1994) theories regarding universal grammar. Birdsong's criticism of Felix is upheld by consideration of a statistical model of the data. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the minimal requirements that any serious theory of language acquisition must meet, including the particular properties of the human language processor and linguistic and nonlinguistic input. A review of literature regarding the role of Universal Grammar in second-language acquisition suggests alternative theories to investigate for…

Examines the role of functional approaches to linguistics in understanding second-language acquisition (SLA), focusing on central premises, tenets, and theoretical problems. It is concluded that functional universals are too insufficiently grounded theoretically and empirically to contribute more than heuristic guidance to SLA theory. (141…

This article surveys the development of second language (L2) phonology over the last 40-50 years. Research in this area has grown from analyzing learners' errors in terms of Contrastive Analysis to proposals explaining L2 sound patterns in terms of constraints on interlanguage grammar. Although native language transfer has endured as one source of…

Theoretical assumptions and consequences of the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH) are compared with the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis, and empirical evidence favoring the former is reviewed. Pedagogical implications of the MDH, a strategy for interlanguage-intervention, and several problems revealed in the literature are discussed. (MSE)

It has been suggested that tense and aspect distributions are very difficult to learn in a second language (L2), they are prone to fossilize universally, and their interpretive properties are subject to a critical period (Coppieters, 1987). This study focuses on the acquisition of the semantic implications of the preterite-imperfect contrast in…