Subjects And Universal Grammar

Author : Yehuda N. Falk
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 222 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2006-08-10
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781139458566

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Subjects and Universal Grammar by Yehuda N. Falk Pdf

The 'subject' of a sentence is a concept that presents great challenges to linguists. Most languages have something which looks like a subject, but subjects differ across languages in their nature and properties, making them an interesting phenomenon for those seeking linguistic universals. This pioneering volume addresses 'subject' nature from a simultaneously formal and typological perspective. Dividing the subject into two distinct grammatical functions, it shows how the nature of these functions explains their respective properties, and argues that the split in properties shown in 'ergative' languages (whereby the subject of intransitive verbs is marked as an object) results from the functions being assigned to different elements of the clause. Drawing on data from a typologically wide variety of languages, including English, Hebrew, Tagalog, Inuit and Acehnese, it explains why, even in the case of very different languages, certain core properties can be found.

Author : Yehuda N. Falk
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 237 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Focus (Linguistics)
ISBN : 0511241798

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Subjects and Universal Grammar by Yehuda N. Falk Pdf

The 'subject' of a sentence presents great challenges to linguists. This volume takes a new approach to subjects, examining them from both a formal and typological perspective. Drawing on data from a wide range of languages, it explains why, even across very different languages, certain core properties can be found.

Author : Usha Lakshmanan
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 175 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 1994-01-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027224750

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Universal Grammar in Child Second Language Acquisition by Usha Lakshmanan Pdf

This book examines child second language acquisition within the Principles and Parameters theory of Universal Grammar (UG). Specifically, the book focuses on null-subjects in the developing grammars of children acquiring English as a second language. The book provides evidence from the longitudinal speech data of four child second language (L2) learners in order to test the predictions of a recent theory of null-subjects, namely, the Morphological Uniformity Principle (MUP). Lakshmanan argues that the child L2 acquisition data offer little or no evidence in support of the MUP s predictions regarding a developmental relation between verb inflections and null-subjects. The evidence from these child L2 data indicates that regardless of the status of null subjects in their first language, child L2 learners of English hypothesize correctly from the very beginning that English requires subjects of tensed clauses to be obligatorily overt. The failure on the part of these learners to obey this knowledge in certain structural contexts is the result of perceptual factors that are unrelated to parameter setting. The book demonstrates the value of child second language acquisition data in evaluating specific proposals within linguistic theory for a Universal principle.

Author : Edward L. Keenan
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 483 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2014-02-03
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781134743353

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Universal Grammar (RLE Linguistics A: General Linguistics) by Edward L. Keenan Pdf

This collection of 15 articles reflects Edward Keenan’s long-standing research interests in the comparative syntax of the languages of the world. It includes two seminal ‘foundation’ articles, Noun Phrase Accessibility and Universal Grammar (with Bernard Comrie) and Towards a Universal Definition of ‘Subject of’. Most of the other articles have appeared in a variety of relatively inaccessible places, and so this book brings together for the first time a large body of work supporting the research directions taken in the foundation articles. In addition, one article of a psycholinguistic sort was specially prepared for this volume.

Author : Lydia White
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2003-03-06
Category : Foreign Language Study
ISBN : 0521796474

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Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar by Lydia White Pdf

Table of contents

Author : Melinda Whong,Kook-Hee Gil,Heather Marsden
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2013-06-26
Category : Education
ISBN : 9789400763623

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Universal Grammar and the Second Language Classroom by Melinda Whong,Kook-Hee Gil,Heather Marsden Pdf

This book proposes that research into generative second language acquisition (GenSLA) can be applied to the language classroom. Assuming that Universal Grammar plays a role in second language development, it explores generalisations from GenSLA research. The book aims to build bridges between the fields of generative second language acquisition, applied linguistics, and language teaching; and it shows how GenSLA is poised to engage with researchers of second language learning outside the generative paradigm. Each chapter of Universal Grammar and the Second Language Classroom showcases ways in which GenSLA research can inform language pedagogy. Some chapters include classroom research that tests the effectiveness of teaching particular linguistic phenomena. Others review existing research findings, discussing how these findings are useful for language pedagogy. All chapters show how generative linguistics can enhance teachers’ expertise in language and second language development. “This groundbreaking volume ably takes on the gap that currently exists between generative linguistic theory in second language acquisition (GenSLA) and second language pedagogy, by gathering chapters from GenSLA researchers who are interested in the relevance and potential application of their research to second/foreign language teaching. It offers a welcome and thought-provoking contribution to any discussion of the relation between linguistic theory and practice. I recommend it not only for language teachers interested in deepening their understanding of the formal properties of the languages they teach, but also for linguists interested in following up on more practical consequences of the fruits of their theoretical and empirical research.” Donna Lardiere, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA

Author : Guglielmo Cinque
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Foreign Language Study
ISBN : 9780521475136

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Italian Syntax and Universal Grammar by Guglielmo Cinque Pdf

This volume of essays offers a wide-ranging comparative analysis of Italian syntax.

Author : Aafke Hulk,Jean-Yves Pollock
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2001-09-20
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780198032564

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Subject Inversion in Romance and the Theory of Universal Grammar by Aafke Hulk,Jean-Yves Pollock Pdf

The Romance Languages document remarkable variations in subject word order in different constructions, and have various restrictions in their occurrence. No consensus has emerged on what the paramaters are for such variations. This volume does not attempt to create a consensus, but tries to represent and bring into dialogue the different sides of the debate.

Author : Aafke Hulk Professor of French Linguistics University of Amsterdam,Jean-Yves Pollock Professor of English Linguistics Universite de Picardie a Amiens
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2001-08-27
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780195349542

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Subject Inversion in Romance and the Theory of Universal Grammar by Aafke Hulk Professor of French Linguistics University of Amsterdam,Jean-Yves Pollock Professor of English Linguistics Universite de Picardie a Amiens Pdf

The Romance Languages document remarkable variations in subject word order in different constructions, and have various restrictions in their occurrence. No consensus has emerged on what the paramaters are for such variations. This volume does not attempt to create a consensus, but tries to represent and bring into dialogue the different sides of the debate.

Author : Anjum P. Saleemi
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 1992-03-26
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0521400759

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Universal Grammar and Language Learnability by Anjum P. Saleemi Pdf

Anjum P. Saleemi argues that the acquisition of language as a cognitive system can properly be understood by pairing the formal approach to learning, often known as learnability theory, with Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar and its claim that human language is innately constrained, with some predefined space for variation. Focusing on specific areas of syntax, such as binding theory and the null subject parameter, Dr Saleemi unites learnability theory's methodology with Chomsky's principles-and-parameters model, and construes acquisition as a function of linguistic principles with largely domain-specific learning procedures, mediated by environmental input. The aim of this study is to show that a self-contained linguistic theory cannot by itself be psychologically plausible, but depends on a compatible theory of learning which embraces developmental as well as formal issues.

Author : Vivian Cook,Mark Newson
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2014-03
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 8126517476

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Chomsky's Universal Grammar by Vivian Cook,Mark Newson Pdf

This new edition introduces the reader to Noam Chomsky's theory of language by setting the specifics of syntactic analysis in the framework of his general ideas. It explains its fundamental concepts and provides an overview and history of the theory.

Author : Edward L. Keenan
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 499 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 1987
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0709931093

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Universal Grammar by Edward L. Keenan Pdf

Author : M. Jaeggli,K. Safir
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789400925403

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The Null Subject Parameter by M. Jaeggli,K. Safir Pdf

Author : Lydia White
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 1989-01-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9789027281814

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Universal Grammar and Second Language Acquisition by Lydia White Pdf

This book explores the relationship between linguistic universals and second language acquisition. Although no knowledge of generative grammar is presupposed, the theoretical framework underlying the work is the principles and parameters approach to Universal Grammar (UG), as realized in Chomsky's Government and Binding theory. In recent research, the question has arisen as to whether the principles and parameters of UG remain available in language acquisition that is non-primary. Within second language acquisition theorizing, hypotheses have ranged from UG playing no role at all to UG operating exactly as in primary language acquisition. In this work the theoretical arguments and data from the whole spectrum are reviewed.

Author : Stephen Crain,Rosalind Thornton
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0262531801

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Investigations in Universal Grammar by Stephen Crain,Rosalind Thornton Pdf

This introductory guide to language acquisition research is presented within the framework of Universal Grammar, a theory of the human faculty for language. The authors focus on two experimental techniques for assessing children's linguistic competence: the Elicited Production task, a production task, and the Truth Value Judgment task, a comprehension task. Their methodologies are designed to overcome the numerous obstacles to empirical investigation of children's language competence. They produce research results that are more reproducible and less likely to be dismissed as an artifact of improper experimental procedure. In the first section of the book, the authors examine the fundamental assumptions that guide research in this area; they present both a theory of linguistic competence and a model of language processing. In the following two sections, they discuss in detail their two experimental techniques.