In this article, two accounts of the variable use of inflection in adult second
language (L2) acquisition are examined. The Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis
(MSIH) proposes that L2 learners have unconscious knowledge of the functional
projections and features underlying tense and agreement. However, learners sometimes
have a problem with realization of surface morphology, such that they resort to
non-finite forms (e.g. Haznedar and Schwartz, 1997; Prévost and White,
1999). The Impaired Representation Hypothesis (IRH) claims that L2 inflection is
essentially impaired, due to lack of functional categories, features or feature
strength (e.g. Eubank, 1993/94; Meisel, 1997). These views make different
predictions for adult L2 acquisition. Spontaneous production data from two adult
learners of French and two adult learners of German are examined. The data show that
finite forms do not occur in non-finite contexts, that learners exhibit syntactic
reflexes of finiteness and that inflected forms largely show accurate agreement.
These results suggest that adult L2 learners represent finiteness and agreement at
an abstract level, rather than being impaired in this domain, supporting the MSIH.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Auger, J. 1994: Pronominal clitics in Québec colloquial French: a
morphological analysis. Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
2.
Bailey, N.
,
Madden, C.
and
Krashen, S.1974:
Is there a ‘natural sequence’ in adult second language earning?Language Learning24,
235–243
.
3.
Beck, M-L. 1997: Viruses, parasites and optionality in L2 performance. Paper
presented at Second Language Research Forum, Michigan State University, October 1997.
4.
Beck, M-L.1998:
L2 acquisition and obligatory head movement: English-speaking learners of
German and the local impairment hypothesis
. Studies in Second Language Acquisition20,
311–348
.
5.
Borer, H.
and
Rohrbacher, B.
1997:
Features and projections: arguments for the full competence hypothesis
. In
Hughes, E.Hughes, M.
and
Greenhill, A.
, editors, Proceedings of the 21st Annual Boston University Conference
on Language Development. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla
Press,,
24–35
.
6.
Boser, K.
,
Lust, B.
,
Santelmann, L.
and
Whitman, J.
1992:
The syntax of CP and V2 in early child German (ECG): the strong continuity hypothesis
. In
Broderick, K.
, editor, Proceedings of NELS 10. University of
Massachussetts: Graduate Linguistics Students Association,
51–65
.
7.
Chomsky, N.1995:The Minimalist Program.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
8.
Clahsen, H.1988: Parameterized grammatical theory and language acquisition:
a study of the acquisition of verb placement and inflection by children and
adults. In
Flynn, S.
and
O'Neil, W.
, editors,Linguistic theory in second language acquisition.
Dordrecht: Kluwer
, 47–75.
9.
Clahsen, H.
,
Eisenbeiss, S.
and
Penke, M.1996: Lexical learning in early syntactic development.
In
Clahsen, H.
, editor,Generative perspectives on language acquisition: empirical
findings, theoretical considerations, crosslinguistic comparisons.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins
, 129–159.
10.
Clahsen, H.
,
Meisel, J.
and
Pienemann, M.1983:Deutsch als Zweitsprache.
Tübingen: Narr
.
11.
den Besten, H.1983: On the interaction of root transformations and lexical
detective rules. In
Abraham, W.
, editor,On the formal syntax of the West Germania.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins
, 47–131.
12.
Dulay, H.
and
Burt, M.1974:
Natural sequences in child second language acquisition
. Language Learning24,
37–53
.
13.
Epstein, S.
,
Flynn, S.
and
Martohardjono, G.1996:
Second language acquisition: theoretical and experimental issues in
contemporary research
. Brain and Behavioral Sciences19,
677–714
.
14.
Eubank, L.1993/94:
On the transfer of parametric values in L2 development
.Language Acquisition3,
183–208
.
15.
Eubank, L.
and
Beck, M-L.1998: OI-like effects in adult L2 acquisition. In
Greenhill, A.
,
Hughes, M.
,
Littlefield, H.
and
Walsh, H.
, editors, Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Boston University Conference on
Language Development.
Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press
, 189–206.
16.
Eubank, L.
,
Bischof, J.
,
Huffstutler, A.
,
Leek, P.
and
West, C.1997: ‘
Tom eats slowly cooked eggs’: thematic-verb raising in L2 knowledge
. Language Acquisition6,
171–199
.
17.
Ferdinand, A.1996:The development of functional categories: The acquisition of
the subject in French.
The Hague: Holland Academic Graphics
.
18.
Grondin, N.
and
White, L.1996:
Functional categories in child L2 acquisition of French
.Language Acquisition5,
1–34
.
19.
Haegeman, L.1995:
Root infinitives, tense and truncated structures
. Language Acquisition4,
205–255
.
20.
Halle, M.
and
Marantz, A.1993: Distributed Morphology and the pieces of
inflection. In
Hale, K.
and
Keyser, S.J.
, editors, The view from building 20: essays in linguistics in honor of
Sylvain Bromberger.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
, 111–176.
21.
Haznedar, B.
and
Schwartz, B.
1997: ,Are there optional infinitives in child L2 acquisition?
In
Hughes, E.
,
Hughes, M.
and
Greenhill, A.
, editors, Proceedings of the 21st Annual Boston University Conference
on Language Development. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla
Press,
257–268
.
22.
Hoekstra, T.
,
Hyams, N.
and
Becker, M.1997: The underspecification of number and the licensing of root
infinitives. In
Hughes, E.
,
Hughes, M.
and
Greenhill, A.
, editors, Proceedings of the 21st Annual Boston University Conference on
Language Development.
Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press
, 293–306.
23.
Lardiere, D.1998a:
Case and tense in the ‘fossilized’ steady state
. Second Language Research14,
1–26
.
24.
Lardiere, D.1998b:
Dissociating syntax from morphology in a divergent end-state grammar
.Second Language Research14,
359–375
.
25.
Lardiere, D.2000: Mapping features to forms in second language
acquisition. In
Archibald, J.
, editor,Second language acquisition and linguistic theory.
Oxford: Blackwell
, 102–129.
26.
Lardiere, D.
and
Schwartz, B.D.1997:
Feature-marking in the L2 development of deverbal compounds
.Journal of Linguistics33,
327–353
.
27.
Lumsden, J. and Halefom, G. 1998: A minimal theory of inflection. Unpublished
manuscript, Université de Québec à Montréal.
28.
Martohardjono, G.
,
Kessler, K.Finger, I.
and
Argodale, P.2000: Variability in L2 English grammatical morphemes: the
question of functional categories in a performance versus knowledge
paradigm. In
Mizera, G.
and
Juffs, A.
, editors,Proceedings of GASLA IV, Pitt Working Papers in
Linguistics, 4.
29.
Meisel, J.1991: Principles of Universal Grammar and strategies of language
learning: some similarities and differences between first and second language
acquisition. In
Eubank, L.
, editor,Point counterpoint: Universal Grammar in the second
language.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins
, 231–276.
30.
Meisel, J.1997:
The acquisition of the syntax of negation in French and German: contrasting
first and second language development
.Second Language Research13,
227–263
.
31.
Müller, N.1998: UG access without parameter setting. In
Beck, M-L.
editor,Morphology and its interfaces in second language knowledge.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins
, 115–163.
32.
Perdue, C.1984: Second language acquisition by adult immigrants: a field
manual.
Rowley, MA: Newbury House
.
33.
Perdue, C.
editor, 1993:Adult second language acquisition:
crosslinguistic perspectives.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
.
34.
Phillips, C.
1996:
Root infinitives are finite
. In
Stringfellow, A.
,
Cahana-Amitay, D.
,
Hughes, E.
and
Zukowski, A.
, editors, Proceedings of the 20th Annual Boston University Conference
on Language Development. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla
Press,
588–599
.
35.
Poeppel, D.
and
Wexler, K.1993:
The full competence hypothesis of clause structure in early German
. Language69,
1–33
.
36.
Pollock, J.-Y.1989:
Verb movement, Universal Grammar, and the structure of IP
.Linguistic Inquiry20,
365–424
.
37.
Prévost, P. 1997: Truncation in second language acquisition.
Doctoral dissertation, McGill University.
38.
Prévost, P.
and
White, L.1999: Accounting for morphological variation in second language
acquisition: truncation or missing inflection? In
Friedemann, M.-A.
and
Rizzi, L.
, editors, The acquisition of syntax.
London: Longman
, 202–235.
39.
Radford, A.1992: The acquisition of the morphosyntax of finite verbs in
English. In
Meisel, J.
, editor, The acquisition of verb placement.
Dordrecht: Kluwer
, 1–22.
40.
Rizzi, L.1993/94:
Some notes on linguistic theory and language development: the case of root infinitives
. Language Acquisition3,
371–393
.
41.
Sprouse, R.1998: Some notes on the relationship between inflectional
morphology and parameter setting in first and second language
acquisition. In
Beck, M.
, editor, Morphology and the interfaces in second language
knowledge.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins
, 41–67.
42.
Wexler, K.1994: Optional infinitives, head movement and the economy of
derivations. In
Lightfoot, D.
and
Hornstein, N.
, editors, Verb movement.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
, 305–350.
43.
Zobl, H.
and
Liceras, J.1994:
Functional categories and acquisition orders
. Language Learning44,
159–180
.
