Outside the core grammar, the set of "peripheral" or marked properties of a language include exceptions or relaxations of the settings of core grammar and the idiosyncratic features of the language governed by particular lexical items. The core/peripheral distinction has direct implications for grammatical development in children. The…

Discusses the results of an error analysis of 100 English compositions written by university students in Iran. It is suggested that mistakes are not primarily due to interference from the native language, but to developmental errors, similar to errors made in first language acquisition. (Author/AMH)

A study examined the acquisition order of English article functions, and attempts to explain the results in terms of transfer and language universals. Subjects were French, German, Japanese, and Korean students, aged 10-15 years, studying English as a second language in schools in Seoul, Korea. All were administered a test consisting of 18…