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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]

This special issue assembles empirical work on second language teaching and learning from a generative linguistic perspective. The focus is on properties that constitute grammar–meaning interaction that differ in the native and target language grammars, and that have not been highlighted in the pedagogical literature so far. Common topics address whether and how learners acquire grammatical meanings in the second language, including difficult misalignments between native and target-language constructions and functional morphemes. We propose that teaching and learning a second language can be enhanced by focusing on the relationship between grammatical forms and their meanings, as elucidated by contemporary linguistic theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the clitic left dislocation (CLLD) construction in L2 Spanish to investigate whether generative SLA has valuable insights to contribute to language teaching. Although CLLD is a structure that is commonly used by native speakers, as reported anecdotally and in at least one corpus, we found that native-Spanish and native-English teachers of Spanish have little metalinguistic knowledge of it. Crucially, we also found that CLLD does not appear consistently in Spanish textbooks. Additionally, it appears to be infrequent in the classroom input that learners receive, as we found in three lectures we recorded and tallied for CLLD usage rates. At the same time, study results show that the construction is learnable. Study abroad, that is, exposure to naturalistic input, appears to be a significant factor. Based on these collective findings, we suggest that learners at intermediate proficiency levels should be exposed to CLLD and that generative SLA is valuable to teachers in identifying such gaps in instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article brings together an experimental study involving L2 knowledge of negation in English and an analysis of how English language textbooks treat negation, in order to consider whether textbook explanations of negation could better exploit linguistic insights into negation. We focus on the English negative polarity item any, whose distribution is contingent on negation, whether through the explicit negator not or through lexical semantic negators (e.g. hardly). Our experiment compares Chinese-speaking learners with existing data from Arabic-speaking learners, finding lower accuracy on any with lexical semantic negators in both groups. Our textbook analysis reveals an approach to negation that is limited to form, focusing on the explicit negator not without explicit treatment of other types of negation. We propose that emphasizing the meaning of negation, with explicit treatment of the full range of negative forms could facilitate more complete acquisition across a range of grammatical properties where negation plays a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim and research question: The aim of this study is to test Macswan's ((1999). A minimalist approach to intrasentential code switching. New York, NY: Garland; (2000). The architecture of the bilingual language faculty: Evidence from intrasentential code-switching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 3, 37-54; (2005). Codeswitching and generative grammar: A critique of the MLF model and some remarks on "modified minimalism". Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 8, 1-22.) PF Disjunction Theorem (PFDT), which was proposed based on Chomsky's ((1995). The minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.) minimalist programme, to answer the following question: Is code-switching (CS) behaviour governed by CS-specific grammar or an innate mechanism that produces monolingual and bilingual utterances in our language faculty? Methodology: A quantitative approach was adopted to test the PFDT with the Southern Min/Mandarin CS data. Data and analysis: 811 lexical items extracted from 343 bilingual clauses in my Southern Min/Mandarin CS corpus, and almost no violation against this model (i.e., a word-internal switch) was found, except one example that was regarded as the informant's slip of tongue. Findings/conclusions: The results of this study confirm the prediction of the PFDT that phonological systems cannot be mixed within a word. Originality: Although the morphosyntactic structures and in some cases the pronunciations of morphemes are identical, tonal differences of these two languages still prohibit word-internal switches. Significance/implications: This study thus supports the PFDT and argues that CS behaviour is governed by a single innate mechanism that governs both monolingual and bilingual language production and that the so-called CS-specific grammar/mechanism is not necessary. [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.

This study examines the potential effects of crosslinguistic influence in the acquisition of subject–verb inversion in Spanish matrix and embedded wh-questions among Spanish heritage language learners living in the United States. The results from an acceptability judgment task and a written production task administered to 17 US-born heritage speakers indicate crosslinguistic influence effects. The effects are more evident with embedded interrogatives than with matrix questions. A follow-up study with the heritage speakers also shows less inversion behavior with embedded questions in oral production but higher performance levels than in written production. The findings are discussed in relation to interface vulnerability approaches and current debates on the selective nature of crosslinguistic influence in L2 and bilingual development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This article uses text alteration to illuminate literary style, the creation of the fictional world within literary texts, and the connections between textual features and interpretation. After briefly examining some previous uses of this technique, it discusses some recent work on how the world of the text is created and understood and then argues that altering texts can help us to understand text world creation and mind style. A series of changes of different kinds in the opening paragraph of Henry James's The Ambassadors illustrates some of the uses of text alteration in the characterization of authorial style. The results are sometimes surprising and suggest that making focused alterations in texts can be an effective analytic tool for stylistic study more generally. Finally, I briefly re-examine the question of the connection between stylistic features and interpretation through the lens of text alteration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Dover Beach' is an iambic text which has four different lengths of line. I apply the Bracketed Grid theory of metrical form to the text and show that the four lengths of line can all be generated by a variant form of the iambic pentameter rules, and thus are all related at a more abstract level. I then show that the text is organized in a way which, in relevance theoretic terms, implicates that it is iambic pentameter in the conventional sense, and that this implicated form partially competes with the determinate metrical form generated by the metrical rules. I conclude that the possibility of competition between two distinct kinds of literary form, as illustrated by 'Dover Beach', can be a characteristic source of complexity in a literary text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article cites a study that examines the general semanto-phonological principle of conjunct ordering in English, UNMARKED-BEFORE-MARKED, as a freezing principle. Known under a variety of names, fixed coordinates, irreversible binomials, freezes or fixed conjuncts have attracted analysts' attention to their etymology, lexico-phraseological status, linguistic or communicative function, and internal ordering. First, the author discusses some aspects of markedness and phonostatistics, then coordinate freezes are analyzed from the point of view of their semantic and phonological markedness as well as lexical frequency. He also looks at the phonological constraints governing the ordering of conjuncts in non-coordinate rhyme freezes, and finally, non-coordinate ablaut freezes are examined.

Examines whether pre-lexical phonological recoding becomes automatic with stimulus repetitions. Elimination of a pseudohomophone effect over the course of stimulus repetitions; Relation between the size of the pseudohomophone effect to reading ability of the subjects; Significance of the theory of Automatic Information Processing in Reading.

Focuses on the lexical decisions on words with regular or irregular spelling-to-sound correspondence. Association of words as pseudohomophones; Nature of the access code; Impact of phonemic processing.

The article presents a developmental study of transformational complexity and sentence difficulty. Two studies investigated the validity of an index of transformational complexity in predicting the difficulty of sentence recall and completion by young children. During the past decade numerous studies have investigated the development of young children's abilities to imitate and produce various types of sentences. The central theoretical interest of the research has been to evaluate the relevance of formal linguistic concepts to the explanation of how linguistic knowledge develops. Hence predictions concerning the difficulty of sentence recall by children have been frequently based on current models of transformational generative grammar.

Switching languages in input requires an observable amount of time, that the input language switch is automatic since added cues resulted in longer, rather than shorter, response times, that the input and output switches operate independently, and that bilinguals do not translate from their weaker to their stronger language except during initial stages of becoming bilingual or when a particular problem is met. The hypothesized effect of switching languages at different places in sentences was clearly demonstrated by the visually presented material. The auditorily presented material failed to yield significant results.

The permutational test of grammaticality employs the notion of a kernel sentence, defined as subject-verb-object-qualifier (SVOQ). The permutational test of grammaticality relies strongly on the presuppositions underlying generative grammar. The protocols were examined to look for judges who had failed to mark any of the SVOQ sentences. The statistical analysis of the results was based on the scores of the remaining 20 judges. With respect to permutations with a high index of disruption, the experiment was not successful in that factors forcing grammatical judgments out of line with predictions made from the index of disruption were not discovered.

Investigates the effect of surface structure complexity, transformational sentence type and sentence length on a sentence imitation task with pre-school children. Similarity of sentence imitation and sentence comprehension; Interaction between Yngve depth and transformational sentence type; Significance of transformation grammar.

Focuses on the review of previously developed psycholinguistic notions of syntactic complexity involving depth, degree of nesting and node/terminal node ratio. Presentation of a system based on transformational generative grammar; Use of quantitative unit measurement; Problems germane to theoretical foundations and practical applications of the system.

Describes the syntactical system as used by two groups of children. Use of sentence transformations; Utilization of auxiliary verb; Maturity in linguistic competence.

Focuses on the effect of question format at time of recall test. Formulation of grammatical rules for questions; Transformation component of the grammar; Basis for expecting a comparable effect for positive questions.

The article presents a study which focuses on the role of hesitation phenomena in the communication process and typewriting. The study also discusses relationship between hesitation phenomena and different aspects of encoding behavior. There are certain hesitation types and syntactic considerations which have been included in the study. They are comparative assessments of syntactic constraint, a computer parsing programme, and stochastic analysis of phrase structures. Verbatim transcripts of the spoken messages were made as a part of the study.

Memory for the "content" or gist of a sentence or passage is better than verbatim memory; indeed ordinarily, outside the laboratory, only the former is called for. Evidence consistent with the preceding very obvious observation may be found in Welborn and English. There is some recent work on memory for simple sentences which suggests one possible way in which these might be stored and recalled. It has been suggested that given a simple sentence a listener may factor it into its kernel form, plus some kind of a tag or signal indicating the grammatical transformations undergone by the kernel.