Second Language Acquisition Flashcards
interlanguage
intermediate grammar that evolves as a learner acquires an L2
error analysis
attempts to identify patterns in interlanguage forms
contrastive analysis
1950-60s, attempted to account for learner errors by examining differences and similarities between the L1 and L2
hierarchies of difficulty
predictions about the ease with which a particular L2 structure could be acquired, given facts about the L1
negative transfer
some property of L1 impedes L2 acquisition
positive transfer
some property of L1 promotes L2 acquisition
area with most negative transfer
phonology
area with least negative transfer
syntax
projection problem
hypothesis that language learners (L1 and L2) acquire linguistic principles that cannot be inferred solely from the data they are exposed to (proof of language universals)
implicational language universal
a property whose presence implies some other property (if a language has property X, it also has property Y)
nonimplicational language universal
a property whose presence doesn’t imply the presence or absence of any other property
absolute universal
a language universal that is without exception
statistical universal
properties that occur frequently but do have exceptions
parametric universal
a two-value property such that all languages have one value or the other
markedness
properties consistent with universals (common) are unmarked, while those inconsistent with universals are marked (rare)
markedness differential hypothesis
of those structures not shared by the L1 and L2, difficulty increases with markedness (rarity)
developmental processes
an L2 learner appears to go through the same stages that L1 speakers go through when acquiring their native language as children
development processes: phonology
consonant clusters are simplified
development processes: morphology
lexical morphemes acquired before grammatical ones
inflectional affixes acquired before derivational ones
temporary absence of verb morphology
development processes: syntax
Wh-movement acquired before I-movement
phonotactic constraints
restrictions on the permissible sequences of segments in a language
often transferred from an L1 to L2
deceptive transparency
morphemes that lead to a misinterpretation of a word (outline vs. out of line)
subcategorization
restrictions on syntactic categories that can co-occur with a particular lexical item, causing negative transfer (ex: verbs that are subcategorized for prepositions in some languages and not subcategorized in others)
circumlocutions
substituting a descriptive phrase for a word that a learner has not acquired or cannot retrieve
polysemes
one form with related meanings (ex: mouth, one used for eating or opening of a river)
nonlinguistic influences on L2 acquisition
age, cognitive style, personality traits, social-psychological forces
field independence
style of learning where the individual is able to focus on specific data and analyze individual parts (typically more successful)
field dependence
style of learning where the individual attempts to analyze all data at once
integrative motivation
desire to learn a language to become part of the community or culture (seen as more important component)
instrumental motivation
desire to learn a language for some practical purpose (such as work)
