L1 vs L2

Is L2 Acquisition the Same as L1 Acquisition?

With some exceptions, adults do not simply pick up a second language. It usually
requires conscious attention, if not intense study and memorization, to
become proficient in a second language.
Again, with the exception of some
remarkable individuals, adult second-language learners (L2ers) do not often
achieve native-like grammatical competence in the L2, especially with respect
to pronunciation.
Studies have shown that Romance speakers acquire German word order in
pieces. During the first stage they use German words but the S-Aux-V-O word
order of their native language, as follows:
Stage 1: Mein Vater hat gekauft ein Buch.
‘My father has bought a book.’
At the second stage, they acquire the VP word order Object-Verb.
Stage 2: Vor Personalrat auch meine helfen.
in the personnel office [a colleague] me helped
‘A colleague in the personnel office helped me.’
At the third stage they acquire the rule that places the verb or (auxiliary) in
second position.
Stage 3: Jetzt kann sie mir eine Frage machen.
now can she me a question ask
‘Now she can ask me a question.’
Ich kenne nich die Welt.
I know not the world.
‘I don’t know the world.’



Native Language Influence in L2 Acquisition

One respect in which L1 acquisition and L2 acquisition are clearly different
is that adult L2ers already have a fully developed grammar of their first
language.

Similarly, English speakers may have difficulty with unfamiliar sounds in
other languages. For example, in Italian long (or double) consonants are phonemic.
Italian has minimal pairs such as the following:
ano ‘anus’ anno ‘year’
pala ‘shovel’ palla ‘ball’
dita ‘fingers’ ditta ‘company’
for example, on New Year’s Eve, when instead of
wishing people buon anno (good year), you wish them buon ano.



The Creative Component of L2 Acquisition

It would be an oversimplification to think that L2 acquisition involves only
the transfer of L1 properties to the L2 interlanguage. There is a strong creative
component to L2 acquisition. Many language-specific parts of the L1 grammar
do not transfer. Items that a speaker considers irregular, infrequent, or semantically
difficult are not likely to transfer to the L2. For example, speakers will not
typically transfer L1 idioms such as He hit the roof meaning ‘He got angry.’ They
are more likely to transfer structures in which the semantic relations are transparent.
For example, a structure such as (1) will transfer more readily than (2).
1. It is awkward to carry this suitcase.
2. This suitcase is awkward to carry.
Wenn ich geh zuruck ich arbeit elektriker in der Türkei.
if I go back, I work (as an) electrician in Turkey
(Cf. Wenn ich zuruck geh ich arbeit elektriker, which is grammatically correct
German.)




Heritage Language Learners

Heritage language learners are a particular kind of adult language learner.
A heritage language learner is someone who was raised with a strong cultural
connection to a language through family interaction—for example, a language
such as Polish spoken by grandparents who were immigrants—and who decides
at some point to study that language more formally, for example, in college.
The heritage language learner may have no prior linguistic knowledge of
the language, or he may be bilingual to some degree in the heritage language
(his weaker language) and the dominant language, that is the language of the
broader community, for example, English. Often heritage language learners are
exposed to the heritage language in childhood and then switch to another dominant
language later in life: for example, when they enter school. At this point
they may begin to lose the heritage language—a process known as language
attrition. On the other hand, the heritage language may be maintained if the
speaker continues to use it alongside the dominant language, in his home or
community. Sometimes a heritage language learner may speak the language,
but be unable to either read or write it because he was educated only in the
dominant language.




Is There a Critical Period for L2 Acquisition?

Age is a significant factor in L2 acquisition. The younger a person is when
exposed to a second language, the more likely she is to achieve native-like
competence.
In a classic study of the effects of age on ultimate attainment in L2 acquisition,
researchers tested several groups of Chinese and Korean speakers who
had acquired English as a second language. The subjects, all of whom had
been in the United States for at least five years, were tested on their knowledge
of specific aspects of English morphology and syntax. They were asked to
judge the grammaticality of sentences such as:
·                    The little boy is speak to a policeman.
·                    The farmer bought two pig.
·                    A bat flewed into our attic last night.




Summary

When children acquire a language, they acquire the grammar of that language—
the phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic rules. They
also acquire the pragmatic rules of the language as well as a lexicon. Children
are not taught language. Rather, they extract the rules (and much of the lexicon)
from the language(s) spoken around them.
The ease and rapidity of children’s language acquisition and the
uniformity
of the stages of development for all children and all languages,
despite
the poverty of the stimulus they receive, suggest that the language
faculty is innate and that the infant comes to the complex task already
endowed
with a Universal Grammar. UG is not a grammar like the grammar
of English
or Arabic, but represents the principles and parameters to which all human languages conform. Language acquisition is a creative process.


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