This article reports on the first results of a large-scale research programme that aims to define and circumscribe the construct of phraseological complexity and to theoretically and empirically demonstrate its relevance for second language theory. Within this broad agenda, the study has two main objectives. First, it investigates to what extent…

In recent second language (L2) research it has been proposed that unlike linguistic phenomena pertaining to internal interfaces, those at external interfaces pose greater difficulty to adult L2 learners and may not be fully acquired. It has further been pointed out that such problematic acquisition at the interface level should not be attributed…

French gender marking errors made by 23 Anglophones and 20 Lusophones are analyzed. The observation is made that the errors noted are due to frequent arbitrariness of this particular aspect of the language. It is concluded that the arbitrary portions of this feature of the language are subject to remaining indeterminate in second language…

Discusses the "null prep phenomenon" reported in studies of the second language (L2) development of extraction constructions. Reviews a proposal that null prep grammars represent a generalized procedure in L2 development, that of early reliance on A-bar binding construals when the target grammar requires wh-movement. Offers an…

Investigates how semantic properties of functional categories are acquired by second language (L2) learners in an instructional setting. Findings suggest that L2 learners are able to acquire interpretable formal features not transferable from their native language. (Author/VWL)

An examination of the extent to which the polylectal grammar, a unified grammar constructed by a listener that subsumes the dialect differences that he has to cope with in a multidialectal situation, is an appropriate means of modelling listeners' receptive command of dialects other than their native one presents evidence that cross-dialectal…

Describes a linguistic analysis computational system that responds to highly complex queries about morphosyntactic and semantic structures contained in large sets of language acquisition data by identifying, displaying, and analyzing sentences that meet the defined linguistic criteria. (30 references) (Author/CB)

Considers the interplay between source and target language in relation to two points made by Klein and Perdue: (1) the argument that the analysis of the target language should not be used as the model for analyzing interlanguage data; and (2) the theoretical claim that under the technical assumptions of minimalism, the Basic Variety is a "perfect"…

A longitudinal study of a Japanese-speaking learner of English as a second language (ESL) analyzed the learner's article system and found that it was not target-like but also not totally random. (Author/CB)

Analyzes the grammatical outcome of the conflict speakers of a head-final first language (L1) (Southern Quechua) face when learning a head-initial target (Standard Spanish) language in a naturalistic setting. Proposes that interlanguage sentential word orders reflect a transfer of two independent parameters from the L1: the possibility of having…

Lexical semantics and contrastive lexical semantics can serve as a background discipline to describe and, to some extent, to explain errors in interlanguage. Two developments in lexical semantics that are relevant in this area are the description of sense-relationships and componential analysis. Contrastive lexical semantics involves mapping the…

Investigates the role of topic-comment structure and the frequency of topic-prominence in the oral interlanguage of Chinese- Japanese-, Korean-, Arabic-, Farsi-, and Spanish-speaking adult students of English as a second language. Results indicate that second language learning is generally characterized by an early topic-comment stage, independent…

A discussion of the field of contrastive linguistics (CL) begins by defining the relationship between theoretical and applied CL in terms of the concept of finalization, which originated in the philosophy of science. Then, the historical development of CL in the United States and Europe is sketched. This development is seen as characterized by a…

Reports the results of an analysis of conversations among bilingual adults designed to determine the nature of code switching. Categories for the analysis are proposed, syntactic constraints on code switching are discussed, and code switching as a conversational strategy is considered. (24 references) (CFM)

The validity of 2 implicational universals regarding constituent order in questions is tested in the English speech of 14 native speakers of Japanese, Turkish, and Korean. The interlanguage evidence is found to be generally supportive of the 2 universals. (31 references). (Author/VWL)