scholarly journals Existential quantifiers in second language acquisition

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kook-Hee Gil ◽  
Marsden Heather
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Polarity Item ◽  
Feature Sets ◽  
Feature Reassembly ◽  
Explanatory Account ◽  
Feature Based

Lardiere’s (2005, 2008, 2009) Feature Reassembly Hypothesis proposes that L2 acquisition involves reconfiguring the sets of lexical features that occur in the native language into feature bundles appropriate to the L2. This paper applies the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis to findings from recent research into the L2 acquisition of existential quantifiers. It firstly provides a feature-based, crosslinguistic account of polarity item any in English, and its equivalents — wh-existentials — in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. We then test predictions built on the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis, about how learners map target existential quantifiers in the L2 input onto feature sets from their L1, and how they then reassemble these feature sets to better match the target. The findings, which are largely compatible with the predictions, show that research that focuses on the specific processes of first mapping and then feature reassembly promises to lead to a more explanatory account of development in L2 acquisition.

scholarly journals Second Language Acquisition of Quantifiers by Arabic Speakers of English: Feature Reassembly Approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rashidah Albaqami
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Feature Reassembly ◽  
Semantic Concepts ◽  
Sentence Matching ◽  
Arabic And English

This paper reports on an experimental study addressing second language acquisition of English quantifiers by Arabic speakers. Due to several differences found between Arabic and English regarding types, meanings and functions of quantifiers, Arabic learners encounter challenges in mastering them properly. Unlike English, Arabic does not make lots of distinctions among the different meanings that each quantifier might bear; using the same quantifier to bear two or several meanings at the same time. Arabic, for instance, does not differentiate between countable and non-countable nouns using the same modifier in contrast to English. According to the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (Lardiere 2005, 2009; Choi & Lardiere, 2006), second language (L2) speakers must successfully reassemble existing features of their first language (L1) into the L2 feature-based sets in order to accommodate the L2 grammar. The researcher tests the validity of this prediction for the L2 acquisition of English quantifiers, which requires Arabic learners of English to remap semantic concepts of quantity onto new and different morpholexical configurations. Data from 40 L1 Arabic learners of English at different levels of proficiency and 20 native speakers who completed a picture/sentence matching task suggest that only the meanings which require different and new semantics-morphology remapping is difficult.

Existence and consequences of dormant features: Evidence from L2 acquisition of Chinese object ellipsis

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832110662
Author(s):  
Lulu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
L2 Chinese ◽  
Disconfirming Evidence ◽  
L1 English

The current study investigates second language acquisition of Chinese object ellipsis to probe the development of features transferred from learners’ native language without robust confirming or disconfirming evidence in the second language (L2) input. It is argued that Chinese allows object ellipsis licensed by a verb with a [VCase] feature but not by a verb with a [Vnon-Case] feature. In contrast, Korean allows object ellipsis to be licensed by both types of verbs, whilst English prohibits both. An acceptability judgement task was conducted among first language (L1) English and L1 Korean L2 Chinese learners from elementary to advanced levels, with the results showing that the [Vnon-Case] feature was assembled in the Chinese grammars of English and Korean elementary L2 learners; however, it gradually lost its vigour and licensing power for object ellipsis in intermediate L2 grammars and was successfully removed from licensing object ellipsis in advanced L2 grammars. These findings support predictions by Yuan regarding a feature’s dormant status and modify Yuan’s predictions regarding a dormant feature’s consequences.

scholarly journals The second language acquisition: problems and challenges for Georgian Deaf community

2021 ◽  
Vol X (3) ◽  
pp. 95-100
Author(s):  
Tamar Makharoblidze ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Native Language ◽  
The State ◽  
Short Paper ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
State Language

As stated in the title, the paper is devoted to the issue of second language acquisition by Deaf people in Georgia, describing the current situation and the challenges. There are about 2500 Deaf and hard of hearing residents in Georgia. Being the linguistic minority in the country, these people communicate with each-other in the Georgian Sign Language – GESL. The second native language for local Deaf and hard of hearing people is the Georgian spoken language – the State language. In many countries Deaf people are bilingual, while it is hard to consider the local Deaf and hard of hearing people bilingual, as the knowledge of spoken Georgian on the level of a native language among the Deaf residents is not observed. Unfortunately in Georgia there are no studies concerning the second language acquisition for Deaf and hard of hearing people. The main problems are the agrammatism in written communication on the state language and the ignorance of deferent hierarchical levels of spoken Georgian. This short paper offers the key issues for the plan of strategy of spoken Georgian acquisition for local Deaf and hard of hearing residents.

scholarly journals Age and Second Language Acquisition in Adulthood: The Learning Experiences and Perceptions of Women Immigrants

1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Wang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Language Curriculum ◽  
The Social

Although considerable evidence indicates that age of onset for second language acquisition is related to second-language proficiency outcomes among adult learners Jew studies have actually looked at how adult learners of different ages experience and perceive second language acquisition. This study presents 30 women immigrant learners' accounts of their experiences and perceptions of learning English as a second language in the Canadian context. Findings from this study reveal the complexity of adult L2 acquisition, which involves factors pertaining not only to the learners themselves, but also to the social context in which the second language is learned. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the second language curriculum development and classroom practice.

Appreciating the poverty of the stimulus in second language acquisition

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 742-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rex A. Sprouse
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Cognitive Structures ◽  
Compelling Evidence ◽  
Central Thesis ◽  
Primary Form ◽  
Adult Second Language Acquisition

AbstractThe most compelling evidence for Epstein et al.'s central thesis that adult second language acquisition is constrained by the innate cognitive structures that constrain native language acquisition would be evidence of poverty of the stimulus. Although there are studies that point to such evidence, Epstein et al.'s primary form of argumentation, targetlike performance by second-language acquiring adults, is much less convincing.

Making Use Of Students’ Native Language Potential Strategy To Increase Second Language Acquisition

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Gultom
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Alternative Learning ◽  
Potential Strategy

<p>Alternative learning strategies, in the concept of second language acquisition (SLA), concern more on the identification of second language students’ characteristic. One of the alternative learning strategies that will be discussed in this paper is about the role of native language (L1) with a demonstration of Papuan Malay language possessive pronouns and noun phrases in the context of teaching English as a foreign language (FL) in Jayapura, Papua. The discussion about the structure of Papuan Malay language possessive pronouns and noun phrases might give insight for second language (L2) teachers in Papua on making use their students’ L1 as a potential strategy to help them to increase their second language acquisition.</p>

How cognitive typology affects second language acquisition: A study of Japanese and Chinese learners of English

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Spring ◽  
Kaoru Horie
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Learning Curves ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Language Type

AbstractThis study looks at the effect of one's first language type, as proposed by Talmy (2000) and Slobin (2004), on their second language acquisition. Talmy (2000) gives an account of languages as being either verb-framed or satellite-framed based on how path and manner of motion are encoded in motion events. Meanwhile, Slobin (2004) argues for a third language type, which he calls equipollently-framed. This study compares and contrasts the learning curves of equipollently-framed language (Mandarin Chinese) native speakers and verb-framed language (Japanese) native speakers as they learn a satellite-framed language (English). It examines not only the learner's pattern preferences, but also their manner of motion encoding preferences and deictic verb usage to show that there is a clear difference in how the two groups of learners acquire a second language of a different type from their own native language.

Some Theoretical and Pedagogical Implications of the Markedness Differential Hypothesis

1985 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred R. Eckman
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Language Universals

This paper is intended as a programmatic contribution to the work of a number of scholars in second language acquisition (SLA) who are attempting to explain various facts about SLA in terms of an interaction between native-language transfer and language universals (Gass & Selinker, 1983). In the present paper, some of the theoretical assumptions and consequences of the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH) (Eckman, 1977) are discussed in comparison with the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis. Crucial differences between the two hypotheses are presented, and empirical evidence in favor of the MDH is reviewed. Pedagogical implications of the MDH are then taken up, and a strategy for interlanguage-intervention is discussed in light of an empirical study. Finally, several problems for the MDH which have been proposed in the literature are considered.

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