Language Acquisition 

About: Language Acquisition is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Language acquisition & Grammar. It has an ISSN identifier of 1048-9223. Over the lifetime, 417 publications have been published receiving 16485 citations.

The Structural Sources of Verb Meanings

Abstract: If we will observe how children learn languages, we will find that, to make them understand what the names of simple ideas or substances stand for, people ordinarily show them the thing whereof they would have them have the idea; and then repeat to them the name that stands for it, as 'white', 'sweet', 'milk', 'sugar', 'cat', 'dog'.

Children's Knowledge of Locality Conditions in Binding as Evidence for the Modularity of Syntax and Pragmatics

Abstract: We report three experiments concerning English-speaking children's knowledge of locality conditions in the binding of reflexives and pronouns (Principles A and B). The children tested were between the ages of 2;6 and 6;6. By age 6, children know that a reflexive must be locally bound. At the same age, however, they appear to not know that a pronoun may not be locally bound. We suggest that children are missing a pragmatic principle, not the syntactic Principle B. This hypothesis predicts that children will not accept a local antecedent for a pronoun that is a bound variable. Experiment 4 confirms this prediction. We conclude that children know the grammatical principles of binding but do not know a relevant pragmatic principle. We suggest that such dissociation in children might be a useful tool in the study of linguistic theory.

Some Notes on Linguistic Theory and Language Development: The Case of Root Infinitives

Abstract: Around the age of 2, language learners typically produce main declaratives with verbs in the infinitival form. It is claimed that such root infinitives are truncated structures, arising from the option of "stripping off" external clausal layers. The basic properties of the construction are shown to be amenable to the Truncation Hypothesis: Root infinitives are incompatible with wh-elements, subject critics, auxiliaries, and so forth. The virtual nonoccurrence of the construction in early Italian follows from the Truncation Hypothesis in conjunction with independent properties of Italian infinitives with respect to V-to-I movement. The Truncation Hypothesis also relates root infinitives to other properties of early grammatical systems, such as the option of omitting subjects in root contexts.

Article semantics in l2 acquisition: the role of specificity

Abstract: Studies of second-language (L2) acquisition have often addressed the issue of parameter-setting among L2 learners. Much work has been done on the setting of syntactic parameters in L2 acquisition-e.g., the verb-raising parameter (see White (1990/1991), among others), the V2-parameter (see Robertson and Sorace (1999), among others), and the Governing Category Parameter (GCP) (see Finer and Broselow (1986), among others). A major question addressed by these studies concerns L2 learners' ability to acquire parameter values that are not present in their first language (L1). In this article, we examine L2 learners' ability to acquire a new value for a semantic parameter-the Article Choice Parameter. To do this, we first establish the settings of this parameter. Examining the behavior of articles in English and Samoan, we argue that there is parametric variation in the lexical specifications of articles: We propose that articles cross-linguistically can encode the feature [+definite] or the feature [+specific]....

Portraits of the L2 User

Abstract: 1. Background to the Second Language User Perspective - Vivian Cook (University of Essex) 2. Lexical Representation and Lexical Processing in the Second Language User - Annette de Groot (University of Amsterdam) 3. The Phonology of the Second Language User - Roy Major (University of Arizona) 4. A Minimalist Approach to the Second Language Solves a Dilemma of Universal Grammar - Suzanne Flynn (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Barbara Lust (Cornell University) 5. Development of Second Language Functional Use - Clive Perdue (University of Paris) 6. Cognitive Processes of Second Language Users - Ellen Bialystok (York University) 7. Portrait of the Bilingual Child - Fred Genesee (McGill University) 8. The Neurolinguistics of Bilingual Language Users - Franco Fabbro (Istituto Scientifico "E Medea", Italy) 9. Individual Differences on Second Language Fluency: The Effect of Neurobiological Correlates - Jean-Marc Dewaele (Birkbeck College, London) 10. Language Attrition: tests. Self-assessments and Perceptions - Kees de Bot and Madeleine Hulsen (University of Nijmegen) 11. Poststructuralist Approaches to the Study of Social Factors in Second Language Learning and Use - Aneta Pavlenko (Temple University) 12. Second Language Learner's Rights - Francisco Gomes-da-Matos (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brasil) 13. Language Teaching Methodology and the L2 User Perspective - Vivian Cook (University of Essex)