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This article proposes a formal model of the human language faculty that accommodates the possibility of 'attrition' (modification or loss) of morphosyntactic properties in a first language. Modeling L1 grammatical attrition entails a quite fundamental paradox: if the structure of the language faculty in principle allows for attrition of morphosyntax, why is it apparently so heavily constrained and rarely attested? We demonstrate that the attrition paradox can be resolved with a model that integrates a formally explicit generative grammar (eschewing classical parameters in favor of functional feature assemblies; see Chomsky, 2000, 2001) into a generalized model of language acquisition that decouples linguistic input from acquisitional intake (following Lidz and Gagliardi, 2015). This implementation makes specific predictions about the input and intake conditions that favor and disfavor L1 attrition. We explore these predictions for one of the most widely studied areas of attrition, namely the realization of pronominals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extensive literature on subject expression in Spanish makes for rich comparisons between generative (formal) and usage-based (functional) approaches to language acquisition. This article explores how the problem of subject expression has been conceptualized within each research tradition, as well as unanswered questions that both approaches must consider in order to strengthen and refine their positions. The discussion focuses on convergence between the approaches, which stems from the contemporary interest in the syntax-pragmatics interface and some methodological overlap that results from a joint focus on discourse data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A generative approach to language acquisition is no different from any other in assuming that target language input is crucial for language acquisition. This discussion note addresses the place of input in generative second language acquisition (SLA) research and the perception in the wider field of SLA research that generative SLA ‘ignores’ the input. This impression may have arisen because generative SLA researchers have tended not to systematically study quantitative distribution of input properties, nor qualitative properties of the input available to learners. We argue that precisely these sorts of studies would be at least beneficial, if not indispensable, to the development of a comprehensive (generative) theory of SLA. Furthermore, a welcome side-effect of more systematic engagement with input would be potential for greater accessibility for generative SLA in the wider field of second language (L2) studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the editor discusses miscellaneous topics related to the journal "Second Language Research." Topics discussed include departure of the editor at the beginning of 2015; development of the journal which was founded in 1985; history of the journal which was started by Albert Valdman of the Indiana University; and topics of the first issue such as interlanguage and contrastive generative grammar; and elicitation, lateralization and error analysis.

Mastery of grammatical gender is difficult to achieve in a second language (L2). This study investigates whether persistent difficulty with grammatical gender often observed in the speech of otherwise highly proficient L2 learners is best characterized as a production-specific performance problem, or as difficulty with the retrieval of gender information in real-time language use. In an experimental design that crossed production/comprehension and online/offline tasks, highly proficient L2 learners of Spanish performed at ceiling in offline comprehension, showed errors in elicited production, and exhibited weaker use of gender cues in online processing of familiar (though not novel) nouns than native speakers. These findings suggest that persistent difficulty with grammatical gender may not be limited to the realm of language production, but could affect both expressive and receptive use of language in real time. We propose that the observed differences in performance between native and non-native speakers lie at the level of lexical representation of grammatical gender and arise from fundamental differences in how infants and adults approach word learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies testing the knowledge of syntactic properties have resulted in two potentially contrasting proposals in relation to third language acquisition (TLA); the Cumulative Enhancement Model (Flynn et al., 2004), which proposes that previously learned languages will positively affect the acquisition of a third language (L3); and the ‘second language (L2) status factor’ hypothesis (Bardel and Falk, 2007), which proposes that the primacy of the L2 can block the potential positive effects that may be transferable from the first language (L1). This article attempts to extend these hypotheses to the domain of morphosyntax, in relation to the TLA of the properties of grammatical number and gender concord marking on German attributive adjectives; these properties not present in the L1 of Japanese, or the L2 of English. Two further factors are of interest in the current study; first, the performance of the learners according to their L3 and their L2 proficiency levels, a variable not discussed in the above-mentioned studies; and, second, the role that the type of task has on the performance of these learners. Three groups of Japanese native speakers (matched for proficiency within each German group), but with differing English proficiencies, completed a carefully balanced gap-filling task, together with two oral elicitation tasks in the form of games; both of these elicited tokens of adjectival inflection. Initial results offer partial support for weaker versions of the two hypotheses mentioned above. However, neither of the L3 models tested can fully account for the results obtained, which are more consistent with a feature-based account of the organization of grammar in the domain of morphosyntax, such as that of Distributed Morphology (DM) (Halle and Marantz, 1993). DM is a model for language acquisition which — coupled with a view that the Subset Principle proposed by this account is not observed by non-primary language learners — has recently been proposed to explain the optionality observed in L2 learners’ production (Hawkins et al., 2006). The data presented here suggest that it could be extended to L3 learners’ production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]