Overview

The focus of this collection is on important themes in L2 acquisition, the nature of grammatical systems developed by language learners in L1 acquisition, third language acquisition, and bilingualism and language attrition. The chapters present an interesting mix of theoretical contributions, overview studies, and experimental designs exploring various research questions, such as learnability and access to UG, L1 influence, the nature of initial and endstate grammars, and variability. The linguistic domains investigated are also extremely diverse: morphosyntax, phonology, the lexicon, argument realization, language processing, and interface phenomena. This book, edited and written by McGill University alumni, is intended as a tribute to Lydia White's contribution to the field of generative second language acquisition. The authors present current work on language acquisition which further investigates several themes developed by White's research. Through these state-of-the-art contributions the reader will be able to identify important new directions in which generative language acquisition is developing and expanding.

Full Product Details

Author:   Roumyana Slabakova (University of Iowa) ,  Silvina Montrul (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) ,  Philippe Prévost (Laval University)
Publisher:   John Benjamins Publishing Co
Imprint:   John Benjamins Publishing Co
Weight:   0.810kg
ISBN:  

9789027232328

ISBN 10:   9027232326
Pages:   363
Publication Date:   05 April 2006
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

1. Inquiries in linguistic development: Studies in honor of Lydia White (by Slabakova, Roumyana); 2. I. Learnability and parameter setting; 3. 'Passive' unaccusative errors in L2 English revisited (by Hirakawa, Makiko); 4. Manner-of-motion verbs with locational/directional PPs in L2 English and Japanese (by Inagaki, Shunji); 5. A semantic parameter with a syntactic trigger in the L2 acquisition of Italian (by Slabakova, Roumyana); 6. Investigating the L2 initial state: Additional evidence from the production and comprehension of Afrikaans-speaking learners of German (by Gruter, Theres); 7. L1 phonotactic knowledge and the L2 acquisition of alternations (by Pater, Joe); 8. II. Variability; 9. Morphological variability in the development of L2 French morphosyntax: The issues of impairment and L1 influence (by Prevost, Philippe); 10. Full transfer vs. partial transfer in L2 and L3 acquisition (by Leung, Yan-kit Ingrid); 11. A representational licensing-based account of asymmetries in the L2 acquisition of place (by Steele, Jeffrey); 12. Processing reduced relative versus main verb ambiguity in English as a Second Language: A replication study with working memory (by Juffs, Alan); 13. Formalism and functionalism working together?: Exploring roles for complementary contributions in the domain of child null arguments (by Allen, Shanley E.M.); 14. III. Incomplete ultimate attainment; 15. L2 acquisition of pragmatic and syntactic constraints in the use of overt and null subject pronouns (by Gurel, Ayse); 16. L2 end state grammars and incomplete acquisition of Spanish CLLD constructions (by Valenzuela, Elena); 17. Knowledge of clitic doubling in Spanish: Evidence against pattern learning (by Bruhn de Garavito, Joyce); 18. Incomplete acquisition as a feature of bilingual and L2 grammars (by Montrul, Silvina A.); 19. Index

Reviews

This volume is unmatched in terms of presenting a wide range of innovative experiments designed to isolate and empirically test specific predictions of linguistic and language acquisition theory among (mainly) adult language learners. The study of formal linguistic analysis and its predictions and implications for acquisition is a hallmark of White's own intellectual approach to SLA research, and that rich legacy is amply reflected in this volume. -- Donna Lardiere, Georgetown University, in Studies in Second Language Acquisition 30(1), 2008

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