Universal Grammar in Child Second Language Acquisition
Null subjects and morphological uniformity
Author
This book examines child second language acquisition within the Principles and Parameters theory of Universal Grammar (UG). Specifically, the book focuses on null-subjects in the developing grammars of children acquiring English as a second language. The book provides evidence from the longitudinal speech data of four child second language (L2) learners in order to test the predictions of a recent theory of null-subjects, namely, the Morphological Uniformity Principle (MUP). Lakshmanan argues that the child L2 acquisition data offer little or no evidence in support of the MUP’s predictions regarding a developmental relation between verb inflections and null-subjects. The evidence from these child L2 data indicates that regardless of the status of null subjects in their first language, child L2 learners of English hypothesize correctly from the very beginning that English requires subjects of tensed clauses to be obligatorily overt. The failure on the part of these learners to obey this knowledge in certain structural contexts is the result of perceptual factors that are unrelated to parameter setting. The book demonstrates the value of child second language acquisition data in evaluating specific proposals within linguistic theory for a Universal principle.
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders, 10] 1994. x, 162 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
-
Acknowledgements | p. viii
-
1. Syntactic Theory and Child Second Language Acquisition | p. 1
-
2. Theoretial Framework | p. 27
-
3. Null Subjects in Developing Grammars | p. 47
-
4. Morphological Uniformity and Null Subjects in Child L2 Grammars | p. 71
-
5. Discussion and Conclusions | p. 118
-
-
Index | p. 159
“This volume is a welcome addition to the field of second language acquisition research. Lakshmanan’s use of second language acquisition data to contribute to debates in linguistic theory is particularly commendable, bolstering as it does the pivotal role second language acquisition research can play in theoretical research. A particular strength of the book is its serious consideration of individual differences in language learners and it succesfully conveys the complexity of interactions between Universal Grammar and individual learner differences.”
Susan Foster-Cohen, British Institute in Paris
Cited by
Cited by 35 other publications
Antonova-Ünlü, Elena
Austin, Jennifer R., Liliana Sánchez & Silvia Perez-Cortes
2017. Chapter 10. Null subjects in the early acquisition of English by child heritage speakers of Spanish. In Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 11 [Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory, 11], ► pp. 209 ff. 
Ballester, Elisabet Pladevall
Ballester, Elizabet Pladevall
Davies, William D.
Fleta Guillén, M. Teresa
Fumero, Keisey & Carla Wood
Gonçalves, Perpétua
Haznedar, Belma
2013.
Child second language acquisition from a generative perspective. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 3:1 ► pp. 26 ff. 
Jiang, Binbin & Phyllis Kuehn
Lakshmanan, Usha
Lakshmanan, Usha & Larry Selinker
Marinis, Theodoros & Vasiliki Chondrogianni
Meisel, Jürgen
MEISEL, JÜRGEN M.
Mitkovska, Liljana & Eleni Bužarovska
Miyamoto, Yoichi & Kazumi Yamada
Paradis, Johanne
PARADIS, JOHANNE & ELMA BLOM
PARADIS, JOHANNE, MABEL L. RICE, MARTHA CRAGO & JANET MARQUIS
Park, Hyeson
Rothman, Jason & Michael Iverson
Sharwood Smith, Michael & John Truscott
Truscott, John
van de Craats, Ineke & Roeland van Hout
Wakabayashi, Shigenori
White, Lydia
2016. Pro-drop then and now. In Language Acquisition Beyond Parameters [Studies in Bilingualism, 51], ► pp. 17 ff. 
Xiao, Yun
[no author supplied]
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 march 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects & Metadata
BIC Subject: CF – Linguistics
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General