handout chapter 7

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English 6329 Handout 7 - Chapter Seven 1

Chapter 7: TYPOLOGICAL AND FUNCTIONAL APPROACHES

SYNOPSIS: This chapter begins with a discussion of typological universals and their role in

research on second language acquisition. Three specific examples are examined: TheAccessibility Hierarchy, question formation and voiced vs. voiceless consonants. In each case

specific data from previous studies are explored in detail. The next issue presented is functional

approaches illustrated with three specific examples: the Aspect Hypothesis, the Discourse

Hypothesis, and the concept-oriented approach.

CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS:

Universal design features of human languageAll languages:

relate sounds (or gestures) and meaning in a largely arbitrary way. use a finite set of sounds (or gestures) to form meaningful elements, which themselves

form an infinite set of possible sentences.

are structured hierarchically. have similar grammatical categories (verbs, nouns, etc)

can express past time reference, negation, commands, and other basic functions.

Two kinds of linguistic universals

Typological universals Universal grammar (UG) universals

Typological universals

Features that are common across languages. They are based on analysis of representative samples of languages.

Kinds of typological universals

Can be absolute (they always hold) or a tendency. Can be non-implicational - existing independent of other properties of the language orthey can be implicational.

Typological combinationsAbsolute Tendency

Non-implicational All languages have verbs No VOS order

Implication If: VSO then Preposition SOV then Postposition

(Welsh) (Counter: Persian)

Universal grammar (UG)

Innate linguistic knowledge that constrains (first) acquisition. It provides a principled and independent means to account for language acquisition. UG consists of a set of abstract principles. UG is a biological capacity.Wanna contraction: Do you wanna dance?

1a I want to go.

1b I wanna go.

2a Do you want to feed the dog?2b Do you wanna feed the dog?

3a Do you want to succeed?


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3b Do you wanna succeed?

4a Who do you want to feed the dog?

4b *Who do you wanna feed the dog?

5a Who do you want to succeed?

5b. ??Who do you wanna succeed?

i. Who do you want [you] to succeed?Who do you want to follow after?

ii. Who do you want [someone else] to succeed?

Who do you want to be successful?

Match the approach to language with the approach to universals:APPROACH UNIVERSAL

Functional Typological

Structural UG

Approaches to UniversalsTypological versus Universal Grammar

Neutral to origin of universals Innate biological basisCross-linguistic analysis Analysis of individual languages

Observed regularities Abstract principles

Why are universals relevant to SLA?

Constraints that govern natural languages (L1) should also govern learner languages. All universals that are true for primary languages are also true for interlanguages.

(Eckman, Moravcsik & Wirth, 1989, in Gass & Selinker, p143)

How do universals affect interlanguage development?

They determine what forms could possibly appear, i.e., there are no wild grammars. They can affect acquisition orders. They can interact with other factors to determine the shape of the interlanguage

development.

Typological universalsThe study of typological universals stems from work in linguistics by Greenberg (1963). In this

approach to the study of universals, linguists attempt to discover similarities/differences in

languages throughout the world. That is, the attempt is to determine linguistic typologies or whattypes of languages are possible. One of the most important discoveries of this approach is that

one can generalize across unrelated and geographically nonadjacent languages regarding the

occurrence and co-occurrence of structures. Many of the typological universals are expressed in

terms of implications, such that, if a language has featureX, it will also have feature Y.

Assuming that interlanguages are subject to the same constraints, what can we expect? The mostimportant test case would come from speakers whose NL differs from the TL with regard to the

specific universal in question, because if the two languages in question were similar, one could

claim that it was only a matter of language transfer. That is, to test the hypothesis that universals

are at stake, one must eliminate the possibility that the universal in question came from the NL.

To take a hypothetical example, if a native speaker of a language with postpositions learns Italian,we would expect that once the learner has learned that Italian has prepositions, she or he would

know that the genitive must follow the noun.


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There are many ways in which universals can be expected to affect the development of second

language grammars:

(a) They could absolutely affect the shape of a learners grammar at any point in time. If thisis correct, there would neverbe any instance of a violation of a given universal evident in

second language grammars.(b) They could affect acquisition order, whereby more marked forms would be the last to be

acquired, or, in the case of implicational universals, one could expect fewer errors in the

less marked forms.

(c) They could be one of many interacting forces in determining the shape of learnersgrammars.

Here are three test cases in which typological/implicational universals are investigated from an

SLA perspective. Perhaps the most widely discussed implicational universal is one dealing with

relative clause formation. The universal itself, known as the Accessibility Hierarchy (AH), was

discussed at length by Keenan and Comrie (1977). The basic principle is that one can predict the

types of relative clauses that a given language will have based on the following hierarchy:

Accessibility Hierarchy (AH)

Noun accessibility hierarchy (AH) (Gass, 1979)Subject relative clause SU

Thats the man [who ran away].

Direct object relative clause DO

Thats the man [whom I saw yesterday].

Indirect object relative clause IO

Thats the man [to whom I gave the letter].

Object of preposition relative clause OPREP

Thats the man [whom I told you about].

Genitive relative clause GEN

Thats the man [whose sister I know].Object of the comparative OCOMP

Thats the man [whom I am taller than].

AH as an implicational hierarchyThe types of relative clauses that a given language will have is based on a hierarchy:

SU > DO > IO > OPREP > GEN > OCOMP

High Low

The presence of a clause type implies the presence of all higher types, e.g. IO implies DO and SU,

but not the presence of lower types, e.g. OPREP.

Does the AH predict learning outcomes?If AH reflects relative ease of relativization, then the order should be reflected in L2 learning.

Two claims are important here. First, all languages have subject relative clauses; and second,predictions can be made such that if a language has a relative clause of the type X, then it will

also have any relative clause type higher on the hierarchy, or to the left of typeX.


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A second test case of the relationship between universals and second language acquisition comes

from data on the acquisition of questions. Eckman, Moravcsik, and Wirth (1989) return to some

of the early Greenbergian universals (1963) to determine whether these universals, developed on

the basis of natural language data, could also be said to be valid for second language learner data.

Eckman, Moravcsik, and Wirth stated the two universals and their SLA interpretation as

follows (pp. 175, 188):

1 Wh- inversion implies wh- fronting: Inversion of statement order (in Wh- questions) so

that verb precedes subject occurs only in language where the question word or phrase is

normally initial.

la. Reinterpreted for learner languages as: The relative frequency of occurrence ofsubjectverb inversion in whquestions is never larger than the relative frequency of

occurrence of the fronting of the wh- word.

2 Yes/No inversion implies wh- inversion: This same inversion (i.e., inversion of

statement order so that verb precedes subject) occurs in yes/no questions only if it also

occurs in interrogative word questions.

2a. Reinterpreted for learner languages as: The relative frequency of occurrence of

subjectverb inversion in yes/no questions is never larger than the relative frequency of

occurrence of subjectverb inversion in whquestions.

A third study that we discuss in the context of language universals comes from the domain of

phonology. The data presented in Eckman (1981a, 1981b) are from speakers of Spanish and

Mandarin Chinese learning English. The area of investigation is word-final voiced and voiceless

consonants. The production of word final voiced obstruents in English cause problems for

Spanish L1 and Mandarin L1 speakers.

Why?

Neither language has a voice contrast in the word final position.What do they do?

Spanish L1 learners devoice the final obstruent.English target Interlanguage

[prawd] >>> [prawt] proud

conforms to NL constraint on voicing contrastsMandarin L1 learners insert a schwa after the final obstruent

English target Interlanguage

[rab] >>> [rabe ] rob

conforms to NL constraint on non-final obstruents and TL use of schwaMarkedness differential hierarchy (MDH)voiced/voiceless distinction

initial (bit*pit) > medial (biding*biting)> final (eyes*ice)

MDH or Voice Contrast Hierarchy

Languages that maintain a voice contrast in initial, medial and final positions.English, Arabic Swedish & Hungarian

Languages that maintain a voice contrast in initial and medial positions, but fail tomaintain this contrast in final position.

German, Polish, Japanese & Russian


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Languages that maintain a voice contrast in initial position, but fail to maintain thiscontrast in medial and final positions.

Corsican, Sardinian

Languages that maintain no voice contrast in initial, medial, or final positions.Korean

Markedness predictions1. Those areas of the L2 which differ from the L1 and are more marked than the L1 will bedifficult

> Germans learning final voice/voiceless distinction in consonants (obstruents)

2. Those areas of the L2 which are different from the L1, but are not more marked than the L1,

will not be difficult

> English speakers have no difficulty dropping the most marked distinction

FalsifiabilityIn the history of SLA research, what has the mechanism been for dealing with linguistic

counterexamples? Within the domain of typological universals, researchers have weakened their

strong claims to probabilistic ones or frequency claims, as we saw with regard to question

formation in the case of the Structural Conformity Hypothesis in particular. A second related wayis to claim that the interlanguage itself is shown in the variation, compared to what native

speakers do (Selinker, 1966). A third common means has been the attempt to explain the

exceptions, generally with recourse to the NL or the TL, or to the methodology used in data

collection.

Functional approachesThe major concern in this section is how different forms are used to express different functions,

in other words, how form and function relate to one another. Whereas in the preceding chapters

we considered isolated parts of language (e.g., syntax, morphology), functional approaches,

because they consider meaning as central, simultaneously take into account many aspects of

language, including pragmatics, semantics, syntax, morphology, and the lexicon. In other words,

multiple levels of language are considered simultaneously.

Functional versus structuralFunctional approaches

Structure of language reflects what people use language for. Communication is the main reason language has evolved. We cant understand language structure without understanding what it is used for.

Functionalists maintain that the communicative situation motivates, constrains, or otherwise

determines grammatical structure.. Nichols, J. (1984, p 97). Functional theories of grammar.

Annual Review of Anthropology, 13, 97-117.

Structuralist (also formal or generative) approach. Primary function of language, if there is one, is to serve as vehicle for rational thought Language/grammar should be understood independent of function, as a system in its own

right.

Aspect Hypothesis


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first and second language learners will initially be influenced by the inherent semantic aspect of

verbs or predicates in the acquisition of tense and aspect markers associated or affixed to these

verbs (Andersen & Shirai, 1994, p. 133)

AspectA verbal category that marks the way a situation takes place in time (punctual, repetition).

He dove in the pool. punctualHe swam in the pool. activity

TenseThe time of an event or action, usually marked by inflectional morphology.

He dove in the pool. past

He is swimming in the pool. present continuous

The semantics-syntax interfaceFindings from research on tense-aspect:

Past/perfective morphology emerges from punctual verbs and verbs indicatingachievements and accomplishments. The morphology then extends to verbs expressing

activities and states.jumped, kicked, built >>> chase, knows, play He played golf on Wednesday.

Imperfective morphology emerges with durative and/or stative verbs (i.e., activities andstates), then gradually spreads to achievement/accomplishment and punctual verbs.

Even then, he played golf on Wednesday.

Progressive morphology is strongly associated with durative and dynamic verbs (i.e.,activities).

singing

The Discourse HypothesisAnother way of looking at the acquisition of tense/aspect is not to consider lexical meaning, as

with the Aspect Hypothesis, but to look at the structure of the discourse in which utterances

appear. In general, there are two parts to discourse structure: background and foreground.Foreground information is generally new information that moves time forward. Background

information is supporting information. Unlike foregrounded material, it does not provide new

information but might serve the purpose of elaborating on the information revealed through the

foregrounded material. Within the context of the Discourse Hypothesis, it is claimed thatlearners use emerging verbal morphology to distinguish foreground from background in

narratives (Bardovi-Harlig, 1994, p. 43).

Concept-oriented approachThe concept-oriented approach begins with the assumption that learners begin with the need toexpress a given conceptfor example, an event in the past. Thus, basic to this approach is the

need to map certain functions that the learner wants to express to the form that she or he needs to

express it.

KEY TERMS

aspect A verbal category that marks the way a situation takes place in time (e.g.,continuous, repetitive). (See also tense.)


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aspect hypothesis The claim that first and second language learners will initially beinfluenced by the inherent semantic aspect of verbs or predicates in the acquisition oftense and aspect markers associated with or affixed to these verbs.

concept-oriented approach An approach that maps language functions that a learnerwants to express to the form that she or he needs to express it.

implicational universals Common hierarchies across the worlds languages in whichparticular language elements are predicted by the existence of other language elements.(See also typological universals.)

tense The time of an event or action, often indicated by an inflectional category. (Seealso aspect.)

typological universals Universals derived from an investigation of the commonalities ofthe worlds languages. The goal is to determine similarities in types of languages,

including implicational universals. (See also implicational universals.)

Structural Conformity Hypothesis The notion that all universals that are true forprimary languages are also true for interlanguages.

DISCUSSION QUESTION What is the important impact of universals (both typological and UG-based) on

the formation of second language grammars?

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