Language Universals and Second Language Acquisition

278 Pages·1984·24.16 MB·English

by  William E. Rutherford (Ed.)

LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS
TYPOLOGICAL STUDIES IN LANGUAGE (TSL)
A companion series to the journal "STUDIES IN LANGUAGE"
Honorary Editor: Joseph H. Greenberg
General Editor: T. Givón
Editorial Board:
Alton Becker (Michigan) Paul Hopper (Binghamton)
Wallace Chafe (Santa Barbara) Margaret Langdon (San Diego)
Bernard Comrie (Los Angeles) Charles Li (Santa Barbara)
Scott DeLancey (Oregon) Johanna Nichols (Berkeley)
Gerard Diffloth (Chicago) Andrew Pawley (Auckland)
R.M.W.Dixon (Canberra) Frans Plank (Konstanz)
John Haiman (Winnipeg) Gillian Sankoff (Philadelphia)
Kenneth Hale (Cambridge, Mass.) Dan Slobin (Berkeley)
Bernd Heine (Köln) Sandra Thompson (Santa Barbara)
Volumes in this series will be functionally and typologically oriented, cove
ring specific topics in language by collecting together data from a wide variety
of languages and language typologies. The orientation of the volumes will be
substantive rather than formal, with the aim of investigating universals of
human language via as broadly defined a data base as possible, leaning
toward cross-linguistic, diachronic, developmental and live-discourse data.
The series is, in spirit as well as in fact, a continuation of the tradition initiated
by C. Li (Word Order and Word Order Change, Subject and Topic,
Mechanisms for Syntactic Change) and continued by T. Givón (Discourse and
Syntax) and P. Hopper (Tense-Aspect: Between Semantics and Pragmatics).
Volume 5
W. E. Rutherford (ed.)
LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS
AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS
AND
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Second edition
Containing the Contributions
to a Conference on Language Universals
and Second Language Acquisition
held at the University of Southern California
February, 1982
edited by
WILLIAM E. RUTHERFORD
University of Southern California
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
Amsterdam/Philadelphia
1987
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Language universals and second language acquisition.
(Typological studies in language, ISSN 0167-7373; v. 5)
Includes bibliographies and indexes.
1. Universals (Linguistics) -- Congresses. 2. Languagge acquisition -- Congresses. 3. Lan
guage and languages -- Study and teaching - Congresses. I. Rutherford, William E. II.
Series.
P204.L34 1984 410 84-9387
ISBN 0-915027-09-7 (U.S. hb.)
ISBN 0-915027-10-0 (U.S. pb.)
ISBN 90-272-2869-8 (European hb.)
ISBN 90-272-2870-1 (European pb.)
® Copyright 1984 - John Benjamins B.V.
Second edition 1987.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or
any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ix
Introduction 1
William Rutherford
Why Linguists Need Language Acquirers 11
Bernard Comrie
1. Introduction 11
2. Relative Clause Formation 14
3. Ergative and Accusative Patterns 21
4. Conclusions 27
Notes 28
References 28
Comments on the Paper by Comrie 30
Josh Ard
Second Language Acquisition and the Ontology of Language Universals 33
Susan Gass and Josh Ard
1. Introduction 33
2. An Overview of the Nature of Language Universals and Their
Potential Influence on Adult Second Language Acquisition 33
3. Test Cases 39
4. Discussion 56
5. Conclusion 63
6. Notes 64
References 65
Comments on the Paper by Gass and Ard 69
Lorraine Kumpf
Reply to Kumpf s Comments 73
Susan Gass and Josh Ard
Universals, Typologies, and Interlanguage 79
Fred R. Eckman
1. Introduction and Purpose 79
VI CONTENTS
2. The Hypothesis 80
3. The Test 86
4. Discussion 97
5. Conclusion 102
Notes 103
References 103
Comments on the Paper by Eckman 106
Carol Lord
Universals of Discourse Structure and Second Language Acquisition 109
T. Givón
1. Introduction 109
2. Topicality and Topic Continuity in Discourse 111
3. Methodology and Data Base 113
4. The Hawaii Korean-English Transcript 114
5. The Hawaii Philippine-English Transcript 120
6. The Spanish-English Transcript 122
7. Discussion 125
Notes 129
References 132
Appendices 134
Comments on the Paper by Givón 137
John H. Schumann
The Language Bioprogram Hypothesis and Second Language Acquisi
tion 141
Derek Bickerton
1. What are Linguistic Universals? 141
2. The Nature of the Language Bioprogram 144
3. Evidence for the Bioprogram 145
4. The Bioprogram and the Critical Period 148
5. Primary Versus Secondary Acquisition 151
6. Can the Bioprogram Influence Secondary Acquisition? 154
Notes 158
References 160
Comments on the Paper by Bickerton 162
Charles A. Ferguson
CONTENTS VII
A Universal Input Condition 167
Jacquelyn Schachter
1. Introduction 167
2. Negative Input: Its Nature and Relevance 168
3. The Availability of Negative Input 172
4. Learner Response to Negative Input 177
5. Conclusion 179
Notes 180
References 181
Uniformity and Source-Language Variation Across Developmental
Continua 185
Helmut Zobl
1. Introduction 185
2. Targeted Change: Negation 190
3. Evolutive Change: Subject Deletion in Fledgling SVO Languages 194
4. Optimalization Processes: The Syntax and Semantics of FOR 204
5. Conclusion 211
Notes 212
References 213
Comments on the Paper by Zobl 219
Carmen Silva-Corvalân
In What Ways Are Language Universals Psychologically Real? 223
Kenji Hakuta
1. Introduction 223
2. The Determination of the n-Dimensional Space 224
3. In Search of Psychological Correspondence 230
4. Implications for Second Language Acquisition Research 233
5. Conclusion 236
References 237
Comments on the Paper by Hakuta 239
Evelyn Hatch
Reply to Hatch's Comments 244
Kenji Hakuta
VIII CONTENTS
Repertoire Universals, Markedness, and Second Language Acquisition 247
Charles A. Ferguson
1. Concepts 247
2. Examples 250
3. Comment 255
Note 256
References 256
dex to References 259
Index to Languages 263
PREFACE
On February 6 and 7,1982, the American Language Institute, University
of Southern California, hosted a conference on Language Universals and Sec
ond Language Acquisition. The conference format called for eleven papers,
submitted by invitation, with comments on each paper offered by a designated
discussant. It is the majority of those papers, together with their discussant re
marks, that comprise the present volume.
Our wish to preserve for this volume as much of the original presenter-
discussant symbiosis as possible posed something of a dilemma. The problem
was that subsequent post-conference revisions of the papers would incorpo
rate some of the very substance of that symbiotic exchange, thereby vitiating a
number of the original discussant comments and criticisms. Our procedure
then has been to send the revised papers back to their original discussants for
updated commentary and then to allow the authors of the papers one final op
portunity to emend if they so wished. This arrangement for rendering a set of
conference proceedings of this kind into a published collection is, we think, an
effective one.
Of the ten original papers presented at the conference, eight appear in
this volume. One of the two papers not available for publication here was
given by Paul Hopper (SUNY Binghamton) and Sandra Thompson (UCLA).
The second was a paper by Shirley Brice Heath (Stanford) which was given in
her absence by Robin Scarcella. One paper, that by Charles Ferguson (Stan
ford), has been added to this collection since the conference took place.
A note needs to be added here concerning the inception of the confer
ence itself. Credit for this goes exclusively to Robin Scarcella, the co-coor
dinator. And only the distractions of re-location, completion of a doctorate in
linguistics, and motherhood have prevented her from assuming co-editorship
of the present volume.
We wish to thank the General Editor, T. Givón, for his enthusiastic sup
port of our efforts. We are also grateful to John and Claire Benjamins for their
interest in publishing the proceedings of this important conference.
William E. Rutherford