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.