ug & sla

Universal GrammarUniversal GrammarAndAnd

Second Language AcquisitionSecond Language Acquisition

Moulay Ismail UniversityFaculty of Arts and HumanitiesMaster program : Applied Linguistics

THE OUTLINETHE OUTLINEI. Introduction.

II. What is Universal Grammar (UG)?

III.UG and Second Language Acquisition

i. The direct access model

ii. The indirect access model

iii. The no-access mode

iv. The Overall model

INTRODUCTION

The Behaviorists claim that children learn their mother tongue by imitation; listening and repeating what adults

say.

Noam Chomsky: Language acquisition cannot be reduced to the operation of response and stimulus,

every sentence we utter contains a new set of words or a mixture of new words .

Language is regulated by a large number of rules

and principles

WHAT IS UG?

The system of principles, conditions, and rules that are elements or properties of all human languages. The

essence of human language. (Chomsky, 1976)

Children are born with knowledge that are common to all human languages. (Freeman, 2004)

All human beings share part of their knowledge of language; UG is their common possession regardless of

which language they speak. ( Cook, 1996)

PRINCIPLES & PARAMETERS

UG consists of a set of principles and a set of parameters.

The principles are universal.

i.e. they apply to all human languages,

The parameters vary, within certain limits, from one language to another.

i.e. the parameters of the language according to the language input that they receive from the environment.

e.g. Rules of the road in driving (Cook, 1996)

PRINCIPLES

STRUCTURE DEPENDENCE

S - NP, VP, PP, etc

Structure-dependency: Grammatical rules do not depend on the linear ordering of the words in the sentence, but on how

these words are structured within constituents of specific types.

e.g. Subject-auxiliary inversion in English

A) John is a student.

B) John who is a student is smart. A B

√ Is John a student ? √ Is John who is a student smart?

× Is John who a student is smart?“the question formation must be formulated in terms of some structural concept like subject” ( White,1989).

PARAMETERS

XP: X(Head), Complement

Parameter Head-initial (English) Head-final (Japanese, Korean) [read the book] [hon-o yonda] (book read)

VP VP

V(H) NP(C) NP(C) V(H) read the book the book read

HEAD PARAMETERS

THE PRO-DROP PARAMETER

The Null (Ø) Subject Parameter: omitting subject or the head of a sentence without violating the

meaning;

like Spanish and Italian and even Arabic

e.g. Parla francese . (Italian) yatakallamu alfaransiyyah. (Arabic) × Speaks French (English)

OPPOSITION TO THE UG THEORY

“Language approach [i.e. a Chomskyan approach …] sees language acquisition as a logical problem that can be solved in principle without looking at the development of actual children in detail.”

(Cook & Newson 1996, p. 78)

e.g. young English-speaking children frequently drop subjects (in a [- Pro-drop] language!) …

Summary

Chomsky’s theory of language separates lexicon and grammar

Grammar (UG) is innate and maturesIt functions as an independent “black box”UG contains principles and parameters

Principles: universal basic features of grammar e.g. nouns, verbs, structure-dependency

Parameters: grammar “switches” with a small number of options e.g. Pro-Drop, Head direction

Input is needed at the critical period, to learn the lexicon and to set the parameters

Is UG accessible to SLA?

DIRECT ACCESS

SLA is identical to L1 acquisition in respect of the UG operation.

Full-Access hypothesis, UG in its entirety constrains L2 acquisition.

UG is accessible in SLA for adults as well as children; there is no critical period

after which UG ceases to operate (Flynn, 1996)

INDIRECT ACCESS

L2 learners have access to UG through their L1.

Only L1-instantiated principles and L1-instantiated parameter-values of UG are available to the learner.

In white’s study, she compared between French and Spanish learners who learn English as their L2, whereas French is non-pro drop language just like English and Spanish is a pro-drop language. The study showed that Spanish learners produced sentences without subject more than French learners especially at early stage of learning.

Continue

White’s (1989) two significant conclusions:

1) UG is inaccessible but any aspect (principle and parameter) of it available in the L1 can be used in

L2.

2) Initially, L2 learners assume the L1 value of UG parameters, but are still able to tape UG.

NO ACCESS

No access (the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis) (Bley-Vroman, 1989).

L2 learners no longer have access to the principles and parameters of UG.

General learning principles replace UG.

COMPETITION MODEL

L2 learners have access to UG but this is partly blocked by the use of the

problem-solving-system (Felix, 1986).

Universal GrammarUniversal Grammar

Other mental abilities

Other mental abilities

L1grammar

L1grammar

L2 grammar

L2 grammar

Direct accessDirect access

No access

No access

Indirect Access

Indirect Access

UG & SLA

Conclusion

Thank you so much for Thank you so much for your attentionyour attention

REFERENCES

Chomsky, N. (1976). Language and Responsibility. Brighton: Harvester Press.

Cook, V,J (1996). "Chomsky's Universal Grammar: An Introduction". Blackwell Publishers.

Cook, V. J. (1993). Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. Basingstoke: Macmilan.

Cook, V. J. (1997). Inside Language. London: St. Martin's

Freeman, D., & Freeman, Y. (2004). Essential Linguistics. Port smouth: Heinemann. Press.

White, L. (1989). Universal Grammar and Second Language Acquisition.( 1989). Amsterdam: Benjamin.