CONTENTS
List of Figures = xii
List of Tables = xiii
Preface = xv
Acknowledgements = xvii
1 A Framework for Studying Second Language Syntax = 1
1.1 Introduction = 1
1.2 What is syntax? = 2
1.3 What is a grammar? = 4
1.4 Evidence that the mechanisms which underlie grammarbuilding are innate = 4
1.5 Investigating the nature of mental grammars independently of other types of knowledge = 7
1.6 Studying second language syntax = 10
1.6.1 The acquisition of unstressed object pronouns in L2 French and English = 10
1.6.2 A principle and two parameters of Universal Grammar relating to phrase structure = 13
1.6.3 Applying the principles and parameters framework to explaining the L2 observations = 16
1.7 Acquiring or learning syntax? Second language acquisition in naturalistic and classroom environments = 18
1.8 Second language syntactic development is similar in child and adult learners = 22
1.9 The nature of the data available to second language researchers = 22
1.10 Summary of chapter 1 = 24
1.11 Exercises = 25
1.12 Further reading = 32
2 The Second Language Acquisition of Grammatical Morphology = 34
2.1 Introduction = 34
2.2 Lexical and grammatical forms in language = 35
2.3 What are morphemes? = 36
2.4 Early studies of the L2 acquisition of grammatical morphemes = 38
2.4.1 L2 learners find the same morphemes difficult = 38
2.4.2 L1 influence on the difficulty of L2 morphemes = 40
2.4.3 Similarities between children and adults in the acquisition of L2morphemes = 43
2.4.4 Summary of section 2.4 = 43
2.5 Linking L2 accuracy profiles on grammatical morphology to the building of a mental grammar = 44
2.6 The category Infl and phrase structure = 49
2.6.1 Infl = 49
2.6.2 Infl and phrase projection = 50
2.6.3 Summary of section 2.6 = 53
2.7 The role of VP and IP in the L2 acquisition of English verbal morphology : a first sketch = 54
2.8 Comparing the accuracy profiles of individual Spanish and Japanese learners of English = 55
2.9 Summary of the findings in sections 2.4-2.5 and 2.7-2.8 = 59
More Advanced Discussion = 60
2.10 The role of VP and IP in the L2 acquisition of English verbal morphology : a second sketch = 60
2.11 Placing the account in the context of more general theories of L2 syntactic development = 67
2.11.1 'Minimal trees' (Vainikka and Young-Scholten, 1994, 1996a, 1996b) = 68
2.11.2 'Valueless features' (Eubank, 1993/94, 1994a, 1996) = 69
2.11.3 'Full access' theories (Schwartz and Sprouse, 1994, 1996 ; Epstein, Flynn and Martohardjono, 1996 ; Grondin and White, 1996) = 71
2.11.4 A composite 'working theory' of L2 syntactic development : modulated structure building = 73
2.12 Summary of chapter 2 = 74
2.13 Exercises = 76
2.14 Further reading = 80
3 The Second Language Acquisition of Negation and Verb Movement = 82
3.1 Introduction = 82
3.2 Negation in English and a second language descriptive generalization = 83
3.3 The category Neg in English, Spanish and French = 88
3.3.1 Distributional properties = 89
3.3.2 The category Neg = 90
3.3.3 Strong and weak inflections in I = 93
3.3.4 Principles and parameters in relation to negation = 94
3.3.5 Summary of the syntactic properties associated with negation = 95
3.4 The L2 acquisition of sentential negation as the acquisition of NegP and IP = 96
3.5 Placing the account in the context of the 'modulated structure building' theory of L2 syntactic development = 101
More Advanced Discussion = 103
3.6 Considering verb movement in more detail = 103
3.7 Summary of chapter 3 = 113
3.8 Exercises = 114
3.9 Further reading = 122
4 The Second Language Acquisition of Word Order = 124
4.1 Introduction = 124
4.2 Location of verbs in German = 125
4.3 The second language acquisition of verb location in German = 127
4.4 The category Complementizer, its projection CP and the structure of German clauses = 130
4.4.1 The basic word order of German = 130
4.4.2 'Verb second' in main clauses = 132
4.4.3 The 'verb separation' effect = 133
4.4.4 Embedded clauses = 135
4.5 Explaining the second language acquisition of German word order as grammar-building = 136
4.6 Refining the account of grammar-building in the acquisition of German word order = 139
4.7 Summary of the grammar-building account of the acquisition of German word order = 144
More Advanced Discussion = 146
4.8 The second language acquisition of English questions = 146
4.8.1 The role of CP in question formation, and a parametric difference between languages = 147
4.8.2 The L2 acquisition of English questions as the acquisition of CP = 151
More Advanced Discussion = 154
4.9 The second language acquisition of relative clauses = 154
4.9.1 The structure of relative clauses in English = 154
4.9.2 A parametric difference between languages in the construction of relative clauses = 157
4.9.3 The second language acquisition of restrictive relative clauses and the 'modulated structure building' theory of syntactic development = 159
4.10 Summary of chapter 4 = 162
4.11 Exercises = 164
4.12 Further reading = 171
5 The Second Language Acquisition of Subjects, Objects and Other Participants in Clauses = 173
5.1 Introduction = 173
5.2 Some cross-linguistic differences in the syntactic realization of event structure = 175
5.3 Argument structure and thematic roles = 177
5.3.1 Arguments and adjuncts = 177
5.3.2 Arguments structure = 178
5.3.3 Case assignment and the Case Filter = 181
5.3.4 The interaction of Case assignment and argument structure : unaccusative and unergative verbs = 182
5.3.5 Summary of section 5.3 = 184
5.4 The second language acquisition of unaccusative verb constructions = 184
5.4.1 Evidence that awareness of the unaccusative/unergative distinction guides grammar building = 184
5.4.2 Persistent difficulty in establishing the syntactic realization of argument structure = 189
5.4.3 Summary of section 5.4 = 195
5.5 Null subjects in Greek, Italian and Spanish and second language acquisition = 196
5.5.1 The licensing and identification of null subjects = 197
5.5.2 The pro-drop parameter = 199
5.5.3 Resetting the pro-drop parameter in SLA = 202
More Advanced Discussion = 208
5.6 Difficulties with parameter resetting as a potential source of divergence between L2 and native mental grammars = 208
More Advanced Discussion = 209
5.7 Null subjects and objects in Chinese, Japanese and Korean and second language acquisition = 209
5.7.1 Null subjects and topicalization in Chinese-type languages = 210
5.7.2 Differences between speakers of Chinese-type languages and Greek-type languages in the acquisition of English = 214
5.8 Summary of chapter 5 = 220
5.9 Exercises = 222
5.10 Further reading = 228
6 The Second Language Acquisition of Nominal Phrases = 231
6.1 Introduction = 231
6.2 Studies of the second language acquisition of the English articles the, a, ø = 232
6.2.1 The distribution and interpretation of English articles = 232
6.2.2 Two studies of the second language acquisition of English articles = 236
6.3 The structure of English determiner phrases = 240
6.4 Grammar-building in the second language acquisition of DPs = 244
6.4.1 Incremental development in the acquisition of DP = 244
6.4.2 L1 influence on the building of grammatical representations for DP = 246
More Advanced Discussion = 248
6.5 L1 influence and the functional category Num(ber) = 248
More Advanced Discussion = 253
6.6 A persistent difficulty for L2 speakers in constructing a representation for the DP = 253
6.7 Summary of chapter 6 = 258
6.8 Exercises = 259
6.9 Further reading = 264
7 Constraints on Syntactic Representations and Second Language Acquisition = 267
7.1 Introduction = 267
7.2 The early treatment of constraints on the movement of constituents : subjacency and bounding nodes = 270
7.2.1 Constructions which give rise to violations of subjacency = 272
7.2.2 Subjacency is only a constraint on movement = 273
7.3 The investigation of subjacency in second language acquisition = 275
7.3.1 Establishing that L2 speakers are sufficiently advanced to test for subjacency = 275
7.3.2 Early studies of the involvement of subjacency in the construction of L2 mental grammars = 276
More Advanced Discussion = 288
7.4 More recent accounts of constraints on movement = 288
7.4.1 Degrees of ungrammaticality induced by moving constituents too far = 289
7.4.2 The Empty Category Principle and Relativized Minimality = 293
More Advanced Discussion = 295
7.5 Reconsidering whether L2 speakers' mental grammars are sensitive to constraints on movement = 295
7.5.1 Findings showing that L2 learners are sensitive to 'strong' and 'weak' constraints on movement = 297
7.5.2 An argument that L2 learners may be having difficulty with parameter settings = 300
7.5.3 Summary of the findings of studies of L2 learners' knowledge of constraints on movement = 303
More Advanced Discussion = 304
7.6 Binding constraints on anaphors = 304
7.6.1 The descriptive facts of the binding of anaphors in English = 304
7.6.2 Binding domains and binding principle A = 307
7.6.3 Anaphor binding in second language grammars = 311
7.6.4 Summary of section 7.6 = 316
7.7 Summary of chapter 7 = 317
7.8 Exercises = 318
7.9 Further reading = 322
8 The Construction of a Theory of Second Language Syntax : Some Issues and Controversies = 325
8.1 Introduction = 325
8.2 Modularity and the interpretation of L2 performance data = 328
8.2.1 The modularity of the language faculty = 328
8.2.2 How different interpretations of the syntax-lexicon relation can affect the interpretation of L2 development = 333
8.2.3 Significant and insignificant properties of performance data = 334
More Advanced Discussion = 335
8.3 Issues concerning initial-state L2 grammars = 335
8.3.1 Weak continuity and 'bootstrapping' accounts of the initial state = 336
8.3.2 Strong continuity and 'full access' accounts of the initial state = 338
8.3.3 Summary of section 8.3 = 342
More Advanced Discussion = 343
8.4 Issues concerning transitional-state L2 grammars = 343
8.4.1 Two aspects of transitional-state grammars in need of explanation = 343
8.4.2 Theories which highlight the significance of overt morphology in transitional-state grammars = 344
8.4.3 Theories which question the significance of overt morphology in transitional-state grammars = 348
8.4.4 Summary of section 8.4 = 352
More Advanced Discussion = 353
8.5 Issues concerning final-state L2 grammars = 353
8.5.1 A critical period for language acquisition? = 353
8.5.2 Differing views on a critical period for UG-determined knowledge in second languages = 355
8.5.3 Summary of section 8.5 = 359
8.6 Summary of chapter 8 = 359
8.7 Conclusion = 360
8.8 Exercises = 361
8.9 Further reading = 362
References = 365
Index = 378