Full Description
This volume explores how a second language is acquired and what learners must do in order to achieve proficiency. The paperback edition is a collection of original essays that approaches second language acquisition from a linguistic rather than a sociological, psychological, or purely pedagogical perspective. A wide range of viewpoints and approaches is represented. The essays in this book provide an incisive analysis of how a second language is acquired and what the second language learner must do mentally to achieve proficiency in another language. The chapters are arranged topically from those covering the broad area of theories of acquisition to those focusing specifically on syntax, semantics, pragmatics, lexicon, and phonology in another language.
Contents
Series editors' preface; Introduction Susan M. Gass and Jacquelyn Schachter; Part I. Theories of Acquisition: 1. Second language acquisition theory: the case for a generative perspective Kevin R. Gregg; 2. What is the logical problem of foreign language learning? Robert Bley-Vroman; Part II. Syntax: 3. Testing a proposed universal Jacquelyn Schachter; 4. The role of the head-initial/head-final parameter in the acquisition of English relative clauses by adult Spanish and Japanese speakers Suzanne Flynn; 5. On some properties of the 'pro-drop' parameter: looking for missing subjects in non-native Spanish Juana M. Liceras; 6. The adjacency condition on case assignment: do L2 learners observe the Subset Principle? Lydia White; Part III. Semantics/Pragmatics: 7. Interlanguage and pragmatic word order William Ruthford; 8. How do learners resolve linguistic conflicts? Susan M. Gass; Part IV. Lexicon: 9. Canonical typoligical structures and ergativity in English L2 acquisition Helmut Zobl; 10. Semantic theory and L2 lexical development Wesley Hudson; Part V. Phonology: 11. A constructivist perspective on non-native phonology Josh Ard; 12. Stress assignment in interlanguage phonology: an analysis of the stress system of Spanish speakers learning English Jane Lowenstein Mairs; Index.
