Language Processing and Second Language Development
Processability theory
1st Edition
Published on 15. July 1998
XVIII, 366 pages
978-90-272-8553-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book marks a new development in the field of second language acquisition research. It explores the way in which language processing mechanisms shape the course of language development. Language Processing and Second Language Development thus adds one major psychological component to the search for a theory of second language acquisition.
The core of the book is Pienemann's Processability Theory which spells out which second language forms are processable at which developmental stage. The theory is based on recent research into language processing and is formalised within Lexical-Functional Grammar.
The predictions of the theory are applied to the second language development of English, German, Japanese and Swedish. The theory is also tested in on-line experiments. In addition, Processability Theory has major implications for interlanguage variation (including task variation) and age-related differences in language acquisition. All of these issues are explored from a processing perspective with theoretical and empirical rigor.
The core of the book is Pienemann's Processability Theory which spells out which second language forms are processable at which developmental stage. The theory is based on recent research into language processing and is formalised within Lexical-Functional Grammar.
The predictions of the theory are applied to the second language development of English, German, Japanese and Swedish. The theory is also tested in on-line experiments. In addition, Processability Theory has major implications for interlanguage variation (including task variation) and age-related differences in language acquisition. All of these issues are explored from a processing perspective with theoretical and empirical rigor.
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Content
- LANGUAGE PROCESSING AND SECOND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT PROCESSABILITY THEORY
- Editorial page
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Table of contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface: A brief overview
- Chapter 1. Explanatory issues in SLA
- 1.1 Introduction: The thematic focus
- 1.2 An outline of the proposed theory
- The wider context
- The core of Processability Theory
- The scope of Processability Theory - 'hypothesis space'
- Dynamic systems
- Form-function relationships
- Interlanguage variation and the steadiness hypothesis
- Age differences
- Teachability
- Processability and strategies
- 1.3 Three competing approaches
- Parametrisation
- The 'minimalist program' and other generative approaches
- Functionalism
- Constructivism: Genetic epistemology
- A modular approach towards a theory of SLA
- Some distant relatives
- The cognitive connection
- The position assumed in this book
- Chapter 2. Language processing and language acquisition
- 2.1 Introduction: The wider context
- 2.2 Explaining SLA through processing strategies
- Clahsen's strategies
- Explanatory scope
- Application to teachability
- 2.3 Limitations of the strategies approach
- The role of grammar
- Restriction to movement
- Comprehension and Production
- Extendibility
- Positive points
- 2.4 Grammatical encoding
- Levelt's model
- Psychological constraints
- Grammaticalinformation storage
- The lexicon
- Syntactic procedures
- 2.5 Processing procedures for the acquisition of L2 grammar
- Language-specific processing procedures
- Exchange of grammatical information
- A hierarchy of processing procedures
- Summary and evaluation
- Chapter 3. Processing procedures and the development of grammar
- 3.1 Reasons for implementing processability into a theory of grammar
- Interfaces between explanatory modules
- Psychological and typological plausibility
- 3.2 A sketch of Lexical-Functional Grammar
- Constituent structures
- Lexical entries
- Functional structures
- Well-formedness conditions
- Unification
- 3.3 Word order revisited
- Basic word order patterns
- 'Split verbs'
- Verb-second
- Verb-final
- Word order and processing procedures
- 3.4 Lexical, phrasal and inter-phrasal morphemes
- Phrasal morphemes
- Inter-phrasal morphemes
- Summing up sections 3.3 and 3.4
- Chapter 4. Empirical and theoretical issues in processability theory
- 4.1 A test case: German morphology
- Word order
- Morphology
- Summary and reflection
- 4.2 Dynamic systems and acquisition criteria
- Overview
- The theory-data interface
- The problem
- Implicational analysis
- Rank order of accuracy
- Distributional analysis
- Variable rules, interlanguage variation and the Multi-dimensional Model
- The emergence criterion and morphology
- Applying the emergence criterion
- Operationalisation of the emergence criterion
- 4.3 Form-function relationships and processability
- Processability and morphology
- Form-function relationships
- Testing the processability hierarchy
- Factorising diacritic features
- A post script on the perceived target-language orientation of Processability Theory
- Chapter 5. Cross-linguistic validity and on-line evidence
- 5.1 Typological plausibility
- 5.2 English as L2
- The structures
- A processability hierarchy for English
- Word order
- Testing the predictions: Johnston (1985
- Child ESL
- 5.3 Swedish as L2
- Swedish morphology
- The noun phrase
- Lexical morphemes
- Phrasal morphology
- Inter-phrasal morphology
- Verbal morphology
- Syntax
- Word order
- Placement of negation
- Testing the predictions
- Acquisition of morphology
- Acquisition of the noun phrase
- Acquisition of verbal morphology
- Acquisition of syntax
- Acquisition of negation placement
- Summary and conclusion
- 5.4 Application to Japanese
- Japanese as a second language
- Japanese verbal morphology and word order
- A Japanese processability hierarchy
- Huter's and Kawaguchi's studies
- 5.5 Evidence from on-line experiments: the procedural skill hypothesis
- The objective of this section
- On-line experiments in SLA research
- Reflection: the focus on processing
- Experimental design
- Results
- Chapter 6. Hypothesis space
- 6.1 Introduction
- 6.2 Interlanguage variation and the developmental problem
- The structure of variational features
- Tarone and Ellis
- An a priori definition of variational features
- A brief postscript on variation and communication strategies
- Developmental gaps or "trailers" as variational features
- 6.3 Teachability is constrained by processability
- Theoretical significance: more about "developmental trailers
- The teachability hypothesis - a brief overview
- Replication studies and further evidence
- Teachability and markedness
- 6.4 Effects of formal intervention on IL variation
- The copula - a critical self-review
- The use of ADV
- The omission of subject-NPs
- 6.5 Task variation: The steadiness hypothesis
- Overview
- Background
- The study
- Testing the steadiness hypothesis
- Variation as an adjustment to expressive needs
- Summary
- 6.6 Developmental dynamics and generative entrenchment
- Introduction
- Fundamental differences between L1 and L2 acquisition
- Processing similarities
- Generative entrenchment
- Generative entrenchment as a constraint on language development
- Ultimate attainment and fossilisation
- The 'good choices' of L1 learners
- Chapter 7. Epilogue
- Genetically specified linguistic knowledge
- Transfer
- Induction of form, function and procedures
- Notes
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
- The series Studies in Bilingualism
