The Influence of Principles of Universal Grammar on Second Language Acquisition

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Abstract Narrative This project is an investigation of the relevance of theories of universal grammar to the acquisition of phonology and syntax in a second language. Earlier studies have suggested that certain patterns of errors displayed by second language learners are not directly attributable to either the native or the target language grammars, but are nonetheless consistent with principles that have been independently proposed as defining possible human languages. The investigation will focus on two such types of error patterns: those involving anaphor binding, and those involving syllabic organization. The interest of this project lies not only in its potential to add to the fairly scanty data available on second language acquisition, but also in its relation to central issues in linguistic theory. Much recent work in linguistics has been concerned with developing a theory that can provide a unified account of the range of variation across natural languages and the patterns of acquisition of the child language learner. The formulation of this theory is still in the preliminary stages, and it is still an open question whether the principles of universal grammar play any role in the acquisition of a second language. This study bears crucially on both the nature of second language acquisition and the nature of universal principles of linguistic organization. The investigators are well qualified to undertake the proposed research. The Principal Investigator is a recent Ph.D. who has been active in research in syntactic and phonological theory. The Co-Principal Investigator has also been working productively in phonological and morphological theory, and, for the last few years, in the emerging field of scientific research on second language acquisition. Both have been very productive, and their complementary skills portend well for a successful outcome of the project.