Theories and hypotheses Flashcards
(70 cards)
structural conformity hypothesis
all universals that are true for primary languages are also true for IL
concept oriented approach
function –> form, assumption that learners have the need to express a given concept in which the investigation begins with the identification of one function or concept and follows the way it’s expressed through development
aspect hypothesis
form –> function, initially influenced by the inherent semantic aspects of verbs or predicates in the acquisition of tense and aspect markers associated with those verbs
prototype theory
there are good members and marginal members in the category, learners start with prototypical examples and extend outward
discourse hypothesis
form-to-function approach - learners use emerging verbal morphology to distinguish foreground from background in narratives
cross linguistic influence
creative process in which learners actively select features of other known languages to hypothesize about TL
transfer to somewhere principle
L1 doesn’t have influence in the beginning (similarities not recognized), when similarities recognized knowledge is consciously applied
markedness differential hypothesis
more common forms are unmarked and easy, less common forms are marked and more difficult
fundamental difference hypothesis
what happens in child LA is not the same as what happens in adult SLA
access to UG hypothesis
the innate language faculty is alive in SLA and constraints the grammar of L2 learners as it does for L1 children
L1 is the basis of the initial state - which 2 hypotheses?
full transfer/full access, minimal trees
UG is the initial state - 2 hypothesis
initial hypothesis of syntax, full access without transfer
representational deficit hypothesis
the only features and categories available to L2 learners are those that are present in their L1
prosodic transfer hypothesis
one of the reasons the Lerners don’t acquire L2 morphology is because of the transfer of L1 phonological representations
missing surface inflectional hypothesis
no representational deficit, but the only issue is difficulty of mapping intact representations onto the surface morphology of the L2
feature reassembly hypothesis
learners complete a process where they reconfigure features from their L1 onto different lexical items in the L2
shallow structure hypothesis
processing by L2 learners involves less detail in their syntactic representations during sentence comprehension
full transfer
starting point is the L1 grammar, but full access to UG
minimal trees
both L1 and UG are available
full access
starting point is UG, disconnect between L1 and L2
bottleneck hypothesis
learners are able to acquire syntax and semantics but inflectional morphemes and formal features might be problematic
interface hypothesis
structures that involve an interface between syntax and another cognitive domain are more difficult to acquire
similarity differential rate hypothesis
rate difference between the acquisition of similar vs dissimilar sounds
processing approaches
concern with the processing mechanisms and capacities of the human brain for comprehending and producing language