The Development of the Grammatical System in Early Second Language Acquisition PDF Download

Author: Anke Lenzing
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027271690
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
Shortlisted for the Christopher Brumfit Award in Applied Linguistics.The Development of the Grammatical System in Early Second Language Acquisition focuses on the acquisition process of early L2 learners. It is based on the following key hypothesis: the initial mental grammatical system of L2 learners is constrained semantically, syntactically and mnemonically. This hypothesis is formalised as the Multiple Constraints Hypothesis. The empirical test of the Multiple Constraints Hypothesis is based on a large database including cross-sectional and longitudinal data from square-one ESL beginners. The study demonstrates that the postulated constraints are relaxed successively as learning progresses. The book is intended for postgraduate students as well as SLA researchers.

Author: Robert Dekeyser
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9781405135818
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Why is learning the grammar of a second language difficult? The present volume brings together insights from leading researchers, published in the past five years of the journal Language Learning, to identify the multiple factors that combine to challenge learners in attaining full proficiency in a second language. An innovative synthesis of recent research on grammar and second language acquisition. Highlights the importance of transparency in form-meaning relations as well as learners' aptitudes and previous language learning experiences. Shows how diminutives facilitate gender acquisition in Russian. Demonstrates how learners make semantic distinctions in acquiring gender distinction in French. Evaluates the role of phonological short-term memory in the acquisition of gender in a semi-artificial linguistic system. A useful collection for a graduate seminar on psycholinguistic aspects of second language acquisition.

Author: Jürgen M. Meisel
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110846063
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
Language acquisition is a human endeavor par excellence. As children, all human beings learn to understand and speak at least one language: their mother tongue. It is a process that seems to take place without any obvious effort. Second language learning, particularly among adults, causes more difficulty. The purpose of this series is to compile a collection of high-quality monographs on language acquisition. The series serves the needs of everyone who wants to know more about the problem of language acquisition in general and/or about language acquisition in specific contexts.

Author: Michael Tomasello
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521374960
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
During the second year of his daughter's life, Michael Tomasello kept a detailed diary of her language, creating a rich database. He made a careful study of how she acquired her first verbs and analysed the role that verbs played in her early grammatical development.

Author: Christine Jourdan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139452517
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Language, our primary tool of thought and perception, is at the heart of who we are as individuals. Languages are constantly changing, sometimes into entirely new varieties of speech, leading to subtle differences in how we present ourselves to others. This revealing account brings together eleven leading specialists from the fields of linguistics, anthropology, philosophy and psychology, to explore the fascinating relationship between language, culture, and social interaction. A range of major questions are discussed: How does language influence our perception of the world? How do new languages emerge? How do children learn to use language appropriately? What factors determine language choice in bi- and multilingual communities? How far does language contribute to the formation of our personalities? And finally, in what ways does language make us human? Language, Culture and Society will be essential reading for all those interested in language and its crucial role in our social lives.

Author: Jessica Narloch
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638618064
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 23

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, University of Duisburg-Essen, course: Language and the Mind, language: English, abstract: There are many ways of talking to children and preverbal infants and also a great variety of opinions about how important the child’s environment is or if it plays a role at all. The question is not only how and why children understand grammatical forms and language (Ochs & Schieffelin 1995: 73), but also which role other aspects, such as Parentese and Baby Talk, play. Are they necessary or totally unimportant? Should parents talk to their children at all or is it senseless because they do not understand what the parents say to them? Some people are of the opinion that Parentese only plays “a minimal role” (Garnica 1977: 63) whereas other people think that the verbal environment is important. In how far is the acquisition of language “the result of a process of interaction between mother and child” (Snow 1977: 31)? By explaining some aspects of talk to children, such as Parentese, Baby Talk, expansion, correction, imitation and by giving examples of children being socialized through language, the question about which role these aspects really play in first language acquisition should be answered.

Author: Jürgen M. Meisel
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027224706
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The contributions in this volume are based on an analysis of data from bilingual children acquiring French and German simultaneously. The longitudinal studies started at approximately age one year and six months and continued till age six. The papers focus on the development of specific grammatical phenomena; explanations are given within the framework of the Principle and Parameter approach. The study is primarily concerned with the acquisition of so-called 'functional categories' and the consequences of their acquisition for the development of grammar. Specific points dealt with in these papers include: gender, number and case and their internal structure (DP vs NP); inflection and its consequences for agreement marking; and word order phenomena (subject-raising constructions (incl. passives), word order in subordinate clauses). The basic hypothesis underlying this study is that early child grammars consist only of lexical categories and that functional categories are implemented later in the child's grammar. How this happens exactly is the central issue explored in this book.

Author: Misha Becker
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262043580
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
An introduction to the study of children's language development that provides a uniquely accessible perspective on generative/universal grammar–based approaches. How children acquire language so quickly, easily, and uniformly is one of the great mysteries of the human experience. The theory of Universal Grammar suggests that one reason for the relative ease of early language acquisition is that children are born with a predisposition to create a grammar. This textbook offers an introduction to the study of children's acquisition and development of language from a generative/universal grammar–based theoretical perspective, providing comprehensive coverage of children's acquisition while presenting core concepts crucial to understanding generative linguistics more broadly. After laying the theoretical groundwork, including consideration of alternative frameworks, the book explores the development of the sound system of language—children's perception and production of speech sound; examines how words are learned (lexical semantics) and how words are formed (morphology); investigates sentence structure (syntax), including argument structure, functional structure, and tense; considers such “nontypical” circumstances as acquiring a first language past infancy and early childhood, without the abilities to hear or see, and with certain cognitive disorders; and studies bilingual language acquisition, both simultaneously and in sequence. Each chapter offers a summary section, suggestions for further reading, and exercises designed to test students' understanding of the material and provide opportunities to practice analyzing children's language. Appendixes provide charts of the International Phonetic Alphabet (with links to websites that allow students to listen to the sounds associated with these symbols) and a summary of selected experimental methodologies.

Author: Camilla Bettoni
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1329427653
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Processability Theory is Manfred Pienemann's highly cited psycholinguistic theory of Second Language Acquisition offering a transitional paradigm that accounts specifically for the development of grammar. This volume expands on PT's explicit (falsifiable) and universal definition of developmental stages, and proposes (a) fresh interpretations of earlier achievements; (b) explicit treatment of the development of syntax and its interface with discourse-pragmatic motivations and (c) numerous pointers for future studies.Part I of the volume introduces the editors' new approach to the theory. In part II it offers a finer-grained staging of L2 development with reference to three typologically different languages: English, Italian and Japanese. Part III explores languages (Russian, Serbian), issues (Spanish differential object marking, German V2 in declaratives vs questions), populations (L2 in autistic learners), and applications (L2 teaching through CALL) not previously treated in PT.

Author: Teun Hoekstra
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027281750
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 415

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Book Description
This is a collection of essays on the native and non-native acquisition of syntax within the Principles and Parameters framework. In line with current methodology in the study of adult grammars, language acquisition is studied here from a comparative perspective. The unifying theme is the issue of the 'initial state' of grammatical knowledge: For native language, the important controversy is that between the Continuity approach, which holds that Universal Grammar is essentially constant throughout development, and the Maturation approach, which maintains that portions of UG are subject to maturation. For non-native language, the theme of initial states concerns the extent of native-grammar influence. Different views regarding the continuity question are defended in the papers on first language acquisition. Evidence from the acquisition of, inter alia, Bernese, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian and Japanese, is brought to bear on issues pertaining to clause structure, null subjects, verb position, negation, Case marking, modality, non-finite sentences, root questions, long-distance questions and scrambling. The views defended on the initial state of (adult) second language acquisition also differ: from complete L1 influence to different versions of partial L1 influence. While the target language is German in these studies, the native language varies: Korean, Spanish and Turkish. Analyses invoke UG principles to account for verb placement, null subjects, verbal morphology and Case marking. Though many issues remain, the volume highlights the growing ties between formal linguistics and language acquisition research. Such an approach provides the foundation for asking the right questions and putting them to empirical test.