Cover not available
Part of
Perspectives on Input, Evidence, and Exposure in Language Acquisition: Studies in honour of Susanne E. Carroll
Edited by Lindsay Hracs
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 69] 2024
► pp. 16–51

Chapter 2
Linguistic approaches to language acquisition

Looking back at the formative years of a unified language acquisition theory

| University of Hamburg

Acquisition research is an integral part of contemporary linguistic theorizing. 50 years ago, this was not the case. Change came about following a theoretical reorientation that established linguistics as a cognitive science, defining mental grammars as the prime object of study. Here I review an early proposal for developmental psycholinguistics and show how it shaped subsequent research, inspired by grammatical and acquisition theory. Summarizing analyses of German verb placement by L1 and L2 learners, I argue that this research of the 1970–80s achieved important insights into properties of learner grammars, discovered acquisition orders and established similarities as well as differences between L1 and L2 acquisition.

Keywords: L2 acquisition, L1 acquisition, mental grammars, developmental psycholinguistics, morphosyntax
Article outline
  • Avant-propos
  • 1.Beginnings
  • 2.The cognitive turn
  • 3.Developmental psycholinguistics
  • 4.Towards a unified language acquisition theory
  • 5.Linguistic approaches to language development
    • 5.1Grammatical properties to be acquired: An illustrative example
    • 5.2First language acquisition
    • 5.3Second language acquisition
  • 6.The developmental problem
  • 7.Closure
  • Notes
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
References
Abutalebi, J. & Clahsen, H.
2016 Variability and its limits in bilingual language production. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 19(5): 855–856. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Borges, J. L.
1960 Del rigor en la ciencia. El Hacedor. Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores.Google Scholar
Brown, R.
1973 A First Language: The Early Stages. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, R. & Hanlon, C.
1970 Derivational complexity and order of acquisition in child speech. In Cognition and the Development of Language, J. R. Hayes (ed.), 11–53. New York NY: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Carroll, L.
1893 Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. London: Macmillan. Project Gutenberg, [URL] (15 September 2021).
Carroll, S. E.
1989 Language acquisition studies and a feasible theory of grammar. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 34(4): 399–418. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2001 Input and Evidence: The Raw Material of Second Language Acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017 Exposure and input in bilingual development. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 20(1): 3–16. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N.
1965 Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
1981 Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
1986 Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use. New York NY: Praeger.Google Scholar
1997 Questions – São Paulo. DELTA 13: 123–128.Google Scholar
Clahsen, H.
1982 Spracherwerb in der Kindheit: Eine Untersuchung zur Entwicklung der Syntax bei Kleinkindern. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
1988 Parameterized grammatical theory and language acquisition: A study of the acquisition of verb placement and inflection by children and adults. In Linguistic Theory in Second Language Acquisition, S. Flynn & W. O’Neil (eds), 47–75. Dordrecht: Reidel. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clahsen, H. & Muysken, P.
1986 The availability of universal grammar to adult and child learners: A study of the acquisition of German word order. Second Language Research 2(2): 93–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corder, S. P.
1967 The significance of learner’s errors. International Review of Applied Linguistics 5(1–4): 161–170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Houwer, A.
2009 Bilingual First Language Acquisition. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
de Villiers, P. A. & de Villiers, J. G.
1979 Early Language. London: Fontana/Open Books. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dulay, H. C. & Burt, M. K.
1972 Goofing: An indicator of children’s second language learning strategies. Language Learning 22(2): 235–252. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dulay, H. C., Burt, M. K. & Krashen, S.
1982 Language Two. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
duPlessis, J., Solin, D., Travis, L. & White, L.
1987 UG or not UG, that is the question: A reply to Clahsen and Muysken. Second Language Research 3(1): 56–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dyson, B. P. & Håkansson, G.
2017 Understanding Second Language Processing: A Focus on Processability Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Felix, S. W.
(ed.) 1980 Second Language Development: Trends and Issues. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
1984 Maturational aspects of Universal Grammar. In Interlanguage, A. Davies, C. Criper & A. Howatt (eds), 133–161. Edinburgh: EUP.Google Scholar
Fodor, J. A.
1966 How to learn to talk: Some simple ways. In The Genesis of Language: A Psycholinguistic Approach, F. Smith & G. A. Miller (eds), 105–122. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Gregg, K.
1996 The logical and developmental problems of second language acquisition. In Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, W. C. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (eds), 49–81. San Diego CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Guilfoyle, E. & Noonan, M.
1992 Functional categories and language acquisition, Canadian Journal of Linguistics 37(2): 241–272. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hakuta, K.
1989 An interview with Werner F. Leopold. The Bilingual Research Group Working Papers, 1–17. UC Santa Cruz.Google Scholar
Lado, R.
1957 Linguistics across Cultures. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Leopold, W. F.
1939, 1947, 1949/1970 Speech Development of a Bilingual Child: A Linguist’s Record. Evanston IL: Northwestern University Press. (Reprinted in 1970, New York NY: AMS Press)Google Scholar
MacDonald, D. & Carroll, S. E.
2018 Second language processing of English mass-count nouns by native speakers of Korean. Glossa 3(1): 1–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McNeill, D.
1966 Developmental psycholinguistics. In The Genesis of Language: A Psycholinguistic Approach, F. Smith & G. A. Miller (eds), 15–84. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Meisel, J. M.
1991 Principles of Universal Grammar and strategies of language use. In Point – Counterpoint: Universal Grammar in the Second Language, L. Eubank (ed.), 231–276. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1994 Getting FAT: The role of Finiteness, Agreement and Tense in early grammars. In Bilingual First Language Acquisition: French and German Grammatical Development, J. M. Meisel (ed.), 89–129. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004 The bilingual child. In The Handbook of Bilingualism, T. K. Bhatia & W. C. Ritchie (eds), 91–113. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
2007 On autonomous syntactic development in multiple first language acquisition. In Proceedings of the 31st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, H. Caunt-Nulton, S. Kulatilake & I.-H. Woo (eds), 26–45. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
2011 First and Second Language Acquisition: Parallels and Differences. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meisel, J. M., Clahsen, H. & Pienemann, M.
1981 On determining developmental stages in natural second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 3: 109–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miller, M.
1976 Zur Logik der frühkindlichen Sprachentwicklung: Empirische Untersuchungen und Theoriediskussion. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.Google Scholar
Müller, N.
1994 Parameters cannot be reset: Evidence from the development of COMP. In Bilingual First Language Acquisition: French and German Grammatical Development, J. M. Meisel (ed.), 235–269. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pavlovitch, M.
1920 Le langage enfantin: Acquisition du serbe et du français par un enfant serbe. Paris: Librairie Ancienne H. Champion.Google Scholar
Perdue, C.
(ed.) 1993 Adult Second Language Acquisition: Crosslinguistic Perspectives. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Pienemann, M.
1998 Language Processing and Second Language Development: Processability Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Poeppel, D. & Wexler, K.
1993 The full competence hypothesis of clause structure in early German. Language 69(1): 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Prévost, P. & White, L.
2000 Missing surface inflection or impairment in second language acquisition? Evidence from tense and agreement. Second Language Research 16(2): 103–133. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ronjat, J.
1913 Le développement du langage observé chez un enfant bilingue. Paris: Librairie Ancienne H. Champion.Google Scholar
Saussure, F. de
1916/1975 Cours de linguistique générale. Edited by C. Bally & A. Sechehaye/T. de Mauro. Paris: Payot.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. D. & Sprouse, R. A.
1996 L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model. Second Language Research 12(1): 40–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Slobin, D. I.
1966 Comments on ‘Developmental psycholinguistics’: A discussion of McNeill’s presentation. In The Genesis of Language: A Psycholinguistic Approach, F. Smith & G. A. Miller (eds), 85–91. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
1985 Crosslinguistic evidence for the Language-Making Capacity. In The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition, Vol. 2: Theoretical Issues, D. I. Slobin (ed.), 1157–1256. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Smith, F. & Miller, G. A.
(eds) 1966 The Genesis of Language: A Psycholinguistic Approach. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
1966 Introduction. In The Genesis of Language: A Psycholinguistic Approach, F. Smith & G. A. Miller (eds), 1–13. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Stern, C. & Stern, W.
1907/1975 Die Kindersprache. Leipzig: Barth. (Reprinted in 1975, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft).Google Scholar
Tomasello, M.
2007 Acquiring linguistic constructions. In Handbook of Child Psychology, Vol. II: Cognition, Perception, and Language, W. Damon, R. M. Lerner, D. Kuhn, & R. Siegler (eds.), 255–298. New York NY: Wiley. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsimpli, I.
2014 Early, late or very late? Timing acquisition and bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 4(3): 283–313. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wode, H.
1981 Learning a Second Language. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar