INTERLANGUAGE: The Abstract Level in Language Acquisition

“This book differs in distinctive and – more importantly- convincing ways form much of the current literature in SLA studies…Wei’s extensive examples of interlanguage from different language pairs, will give other researchers much to think about…his innovative analysis of interlanguage (IL), a study of the theoretical basis of the acquisition of both second and third languages…provides new perspective in how researchers and students of SLA might approach explanations of the basis of second and third language learning.”
-Dr. Carol Myers-Scotton,
Professor Emerita,
University South Carolina

“The real contribution is its fresh look at interlanguage development, something that was studied more aggressively in the past and yet is in need of new attention… Wei examines it in the fresh light of language contact as well as code switching, both quite popular at the moment, not only among theorists, but also among practitioners… a novel contribution to the field.”
-Dr. Carolyn Gascoigne,
University of Nebraska at Omaha

“This book on Interlanguage (IL) is a welcome addition to both the fields of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and the study of language in contact and multilingualism more generally. It offers a fresh perspective which is both theoretically sophisticated and empirically supported. In addition to providing a framework for analyzing IL structure, it also provides readers with an introduction to a theory of language processing and production which has much broader applications.”
-Dr. Janet Fuller,
Professor of Anthropology,
Southern Illinois University

“This work moves forward the study of IL in several ways. The motivations for Wei’s proposals are clear and can be extended and tested in other SLA and L3 acquisition studies. .. Wei’s model of IL as a composite developing system makes clear the relationship of IL to other language contact phenomena and places it squarely within cognitive approaches to language in general…this work is a significant contribution to Il studies and suggests a fruitful approach to further research.”
-Dr. Janice Jake,
Distinguished professor, English Department,
Midlands Technical College

FOREWORD BY CAROL MYERS-SCOTTON
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
CHAPTER 1: TOWARD A NEW APPROACH TO INTERLANGUAGE STUDIES
1.1 Second Language Morpheme Acquisition: A Starting Point
1.2 An Overview of the Matrix Language Frame Model
1.3 Theoretical Rationale
1.4 General Questions to Be Addressed
1.5 First Language Influence and Interlanguage Systematicity
1.6 Interlanguage Influence in Third Language Acquisition
1.7 Summary and Intentions
1.8 The Coming Chapters
CHAPTER 2: MODELS OF CODESWITCHING: STRUCTURAL PRINCIPLES AND CONSTRAINTS
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Surface-Based Models
2.3 Government and Binding Models
2.4 Sub-Categorization Models
2.5 The Matrix Language Frame Model
2.6 The Minimalist Model
2.7 Features of the Matrix Language Frame model and Their Relevance to Interlanguage Studies
2.8 The Theoretical Framework for Interlanguage Studies
CHAPTER 3: PREVIOUS STUDIES OF LEARNER ERRORS AND INTERLANGUAGE THEORY
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Constructive Analysis: Motivations and Challenges
3.3 Error Analysis and Its Limitations
3.4 Essential Notions of Interlanguage
3.5 Challenges to an Explanatory Theory of Interlanguage
3.6 Linguistic Universals and Second Language Acquisition
3.7 L1 Effects on Interlanguage; Revisiting Language Transfer
CHAPTER 4: STRUCTURAL PRINCIPLES GOVERNING INTERLANGUAGE CONSTRUCTIONS
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Central Principles of the Matrix Language Frame Model and Their Implications for Interlanguage Systems
4.3 Abstract Complex Lexical Structure
4.3.1 Subsystems of lexical structure
4.3.2 Types of morphemes
4.4 Complex Abstract Lexical Structure and Its Relevance to Interlanguage Studies
4.5 Content versus System Morphemes in IL: An Overview
4.6 Matrix Language versus Embedded Language in IL: An Overview
4.7 General Hypotheses about Interlanguage Processes and Constraints
4.8 Mechanisms in Interlanguage Development
CHAPTER 5: SECOND LANGUAGE MORPHEME ACQUISITION ORDER AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERLANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Morpheme Acquisition Order Studies
5.3 Observational Data for Second Language Studies
5.4 Redefining English Morphosyntactic Categories
5.4.1 Inflections on lexical verbs
5.4.2 Pronouns
5.4.3 Determiners
5.4.4 Verbs under INFL
5.5 The Mental Lexicon
5.6 The Study
5.6.1 Research questions
5.6.2 Subjects
5.6.3 Data collection, instrumentation, and statistical testing
5.6.4 Error identification and frequency count
5.6.5 Statistical test results
5.7 Conclusion
CHAPTER 6: INTERLANGUAGE AS A COMPOSITE DEVELOPING LINGUISTIC SYSTEM
6.1 Introduction
6.2 The Bilingual Mental Lexicon
6.3 Assumptions of the Composite Model
6.4 Complex Lexical Structure and its Implications for Interlanguage Constructions
6.5 Lexical Structure in the Composite Matrix Language
6.5.1 First language predicate-argument lexical-conceptual structure in the composite matrix language
6.5.2 First language predicate-argument structure in the composite matrix Language
6.5.3 First language morphological realization patterns in the composite matrix Language
6.6 Content vs. System, Morphemes in Interlanguage Production
6.6.1 Unequal acquisitions of system morphemes
6.6.2 Unequal acquisition of content morphemes
6.7 Second language Acquisition as a language-contact Phenomenon
6.8 Conclusion
CHAPTER 7: INTERLANGUAGE TRANSFER
7.1 Introduction
7.2 The Multilingual Mental Lexicon
7.3 Language Transfer
7.4 Interlanguage Transfer
7.5 Interlanguage Transfer Phenomena
7.6 Lemma transfer in Third language Learning
7.6.1 Lemma transfer in lexical-conceptual structure
7.6.2 Lemma transfer in predicate-argument structure
7.6.3 Lemma transfer in morphological realization patterns
7.7 Conclusion
CHAPTER 8: CONCLUDING REMARKS
8.1 Conclusions from Interlanguage in perspective
8.2 Implications of Interpreting Interlanguage in the Light of Language Contact; Consequences for the Composite Developing System
8.3 Implications of Second Language Morpheme Acquisition Order for Interlanguage Systematicity
8.4 Implications of Second Language Morpheme Acquisition order for Interlanguage Constructions
8.5 Implications of the Multilingual Mental lexicon for Interlanguage Transfer
REFERENCES
AUTHOR INDEX
SUBJECT INDEX

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