Language is governed by a set of highly abstract principles that provide parameters which are given particular settings in different languages.

1. Identifying Errors
1- I ate my dinner quick.
2- I ate my dinner quickly.

2. 1- Emily moved to a new house in 12th
street.
2- Emily moved to a new house on 12th
street.

3. 1- Every girl in the party tried to look
their best.
2- Every girl in the party tried to look her
best.

4. 1- Last summer, the heat brought
hundreds of people to the ocean.
2- Last summer, the heat will have
brought hundreds of people to the ocean.

5. 1- If I was to see a movie with Mom and
Dad, I would risk my reputation.
2- If I were to see a movie with Mom and
Dad, I would risk my reputation.

6. Universal Grammar
Language is governed by a set of highly abstract
principles that provide parameters which are
given particular settings in different languages.
Noam Chomsky

7. “The actress blamed herself.”
A S V RP
English permits “local – binding”
“Emily knew the actress would blame herself.”
S V A DO M V RP
English prohibits “long – distance binding”

8. But cross – linguistically,
Japanese Translation:
“Sono eiga star wa jibunga warui to omotteiru
that actress -self bad blame
koto o nga Emily ga shitemasu.”
about Emily knows

9. Result: Japanese learners of L2 English need to
learn that reflexive in English permit only local
binding.
Trivial issue: Whether learners whose L1 permits
both local and long – distance binding of
reflexives can learn that a language like English
permits only local binding.
Real Issue: Is L2 learnable?

10. Learnability
English to
Japanese?

11. Poverty Of The Stimulus (POTS) –
insufficiency of input or innate knowledge of
language
“You are happy.”
“Are you happy?”
Both rules have the same result.

12. Positive Evidence – provides information
about what is grammatical in the language
Negative Evidence - input that provides
direct evidence of what is ungrammatical in a
language

13. “Is anyone who interested can see me later?”
“Can anyone who is interested see me
later?”
1 is ungrammatical
2 is grammatical

14. CRITICAL PERIOD
HYPOTHESIS
Period during which
language acquisition is
easy and complete

15. People who lost their linguistic abilities due
to accident regain language before puberty
Deprived childhood
Young immigrants who achieve much
higher level of grammar fluency
Not all learners are subject to critical
period

16. Access to Language Fluency
Complete Access
can switch from L1 – L2
No Access
UG is not available to adult L2 learners
Partial Access
have access to part of UG but not others
Dual Access
make use of both UG and gen. learning strategies

17. Markedness
– general idea that some structures are more
natural than the other structures
Marked Structure Unmarked Structure
-lie outside UG -common in the
world’s languages
-governed by UG