Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-jtdwj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T22:40:43.963Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Origins of Complex Syntax in Interlanguage Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Charlene J. Sato
Charlene J. Sato
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii, Manoa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This study examines the emergence of complex syntax in interlanguage (IL) development through a functionalist analysis of longitudinal, conversational IL data from two Vietnamese learners of English. The study focuses on discourse-pragmatic factors in the learners′ production and acquisition of complex syntax, specifically on their reliance on collaboration by interlocutors in the production of complex syntactic structures. Its findings offer a test of the utility of Givón's functionalist approach in SLA studies, and of claims by Hatch and others to the effect that “syntax develops out of conversation.” The interdependence of different linguistic levels in IL development is demonstrated, and the use of a variety of analytical units is shown to be critical in characterizing prepositional encoding in IL speech.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , October 1988 , pp. 371 - 395
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Bloom, L., Lahey, M., Hood, L., Lifter, K., & Fiess, K. (1960). Complex sentences: Acquisition of syntactic connectives and the semantic relations they encode. Journal of Child Language, 7, 235–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowerman, M. (1979). The acquisition of complex sentences. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (Eds.), Language acquisition (pp. 285–301). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, G., & Yule, G. (1983). Discourse analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brugman, C., & Macaulay, M. (Eds.). (1984). Proceedings of ihe tenth annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Linguistics Society.Google Scholar
Clark, R. (1974). Performing without competence. Journal of Child Language, 1, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D'Anglejan, A., & Tucker, R. (1975). The acquisition of complex English sentences by adult learners. Language Learning, 25, 281–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frawley, W. (1981, 12). The complement hierarchy: Evidence for language universals from L2. Paper presented at the winter meeting of the Linguistics Society of America, New York, NY.Google Scholar
Gass, S. (1982). From theory to practice. In Hines, M. & Rutherford, W. (Eds.), On TESOL ′81 (pp. 129–140). Washington, DC: TESOL.Google Scholar
Givón, T. (1979a). From discourse to syntax: Grammar as a processing strategy. In Givón, T. (Ed.), Syntax and semantics: Vol. 12. Discourse and syntax (pp. 81–114). New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Givón, T. (1979b). On understanding grammar. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Givón, T. (1981). Typology and functional domains. Studies in Language, 5, 163–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Givón, T. (1983a). Topic continuity in discourse: An introduction. In Givón, T. (Ed.), Topic continuity in discourse: A quantitative cross-language study (pp. 1–42). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Givón, T. (1983b). Topic continuity in discourse: A quantitative cross-language study. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Givón, T. (1984). Universals of discourse structure and second language acquisition. In Rutherford, W. (Ed.), Language universals and second language acquisition (pp. 109–136). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Givón, T. (1985). Function, structure and language acquisition. In Slobin, D. (Ed.). The cross-linguistic study of language acquisition (pp. 1005–1028). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Hatch, E. (1978). Discourse analysis and second language acquisition. In Hatch, E. (Ed.), Second language acquisition: A book of readings (pp. 401–435). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Huang, J., & Hatch, E. (1978). A Chinese child's acquisition of English. In Hatch, E. (Ed.), Second language acquisition: A book of readings (pp. 118–131). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Huebner, T. (1983). A longitudinal analysis of the acquisition of English. Ann Arbor: Karoma.Google Scholar
Ioup, G. (1983). Acquiring complex sentences in ESL. In Bailey, K. M., Long, M. H., & Peck, S. (Eds.), Second language acquisition studies (pp. 41–55). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Ioup, G., & Kruse, A. (1977). Interference versus structural complexity in second language acquisition: Language universals as a basis for natural sequencing. In Brown, H. D., Yorio, C. A., & Crymes, R. H. (Eds. ), On TESOL ′77: Teaching and learning English as a second language (pp. 159–171). Washington, DC: TESOL.Google Scholar
Karmiloff-Smith, A. (1979). Language development after five. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (Eds.), Language acquisition (pp. 307–323). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Keenan, E. O., & Bennett, T. (Eds.). (1977). Discourse across time and space. Southern California Occasional Papers in Linguistics, 5. Los Angeles: University of Southern California.Google Scholar
Kelley, P. (1983). The question of uniformity in interlanguage development. In Bailey, K. M., Long, M. H., & Peck, S. (Eds.), Second language acquisition studies (pp. 83–92). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Kumpf, L. (1983). A case study of temporal reference in interlanguage. In Campbell, C., Flashner, V., Hudson, T., & Lubin, J. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Los Angeles Second Language Research Forum (Vol. 2, pp. 179–192). Los Angeles: University of California, Dept. of English, TESL Section.Google Scholar
Lawton, D. (1963). Social class differences in language development: A study of some samples of written work. Language and Speech, 6, 120–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loban, W. (1976). Language development: Kindergarten through grade twelve (Research Report No. 18). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.Google Scholar
Long, M. H. (1981). Input, interaction and second language acquisition. In H. Winitz (Ed.), Native language and foreign language acquisition. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 379, 259–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, M. H. (1983). Linguistic and conversational adjustments to non-native speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 5, 177–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, M. H. (1988). Instructed interlanguage development. In Beebe, L. (Ed.), Issues in second language acquisition: Multiple perspectives (pp. 115–141). Cambridge, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics (Vol. 2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Meisel, J. (1987). Reference to past events and actions in the development of natural second language acquisition. In Pfaff, C. (Ed.), First and second language acquisition processes (pp. 206–224). Cambridge, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Menyuk, P. (1977). Language and maturation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ochs, E. (1979). Planned and unplanned discourse. In Givón, T. (Ed.), Syntax and semantics: Vol. 12. Discourse and syntax (pp. 51–80). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ochs, E., Schieffelin, B., & Platt, M. (1979). Propositions across utterances and speakers. In Ochs, E. & Schieffelin, B. (Eds.), Developmental pragmatics (pp. 251–268). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Pavesi, M. (1984). The acquisition of relative clauses in a formal and in an informal setting: Further evidence in support of the markedness hypothesis. In Singleton, D. M. & Little, D. G. (Eds. ), Language learning in formal and informal contexts (pp. 151–164). Dublin: Irish Association for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Romaine, S. (1984). The language of children and adolescents: The acquisition of communicative competence. London: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Rutherford, W. (1983). Language typology and language transfer. In Gass, S. & Selmker, L. (Eds.), Language transfer in language learning (pp. 358–370). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Sankoff, G., & Brown, P. (1980). The origins of syntax in discourse: A case study of Tok Pisin relatives. In Sankoff, G., The social life of language (pp. 211–256). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sato, C. J. (1986). Conversation and interlanguage development: Rethinking the connection. In Day, R. (Ed.), Talking to learn (pp. 23–45). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Sato, C. J. (in press). The syntax of conversation in interlanguage development. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Scarcella, R., & Higa, C. (1982). Input and age differences in second language acquisition. In Krashen, S., Scarcella, R., & Long, M. (Eds.), Child-adult differences in second language acquisition (pp. 175–201). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Schachter, J., & Hart, B. (1979). An analysis of learner production of English structures. Georgetown University Papers on Languages and Linguistics, 15, 18–75.Google Scholar
Schachter, J., & Rutherford, W. (1979). Discourse function and language transfer. Working Papers on Bilingualism, 19, 1–12.Google Scholar
Schumann, J. (1980). The acquisition of English relative clauses by second language learners. In Scarcella, R. & Krashen, S. (Eds.), Research in second language acquisition (pp. 118–131). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Schumann, J. (1982). Simplification, transfer and relexification as aspects of pidgimzation and early second language acquisition. Language Learning, 32, 337–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumann, J. (1983, 11). The expression of temporality in basilang speech. Paper presented at the Los Angeles Second Language Research Forum, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Schumann, J. (1984). Non-syntactic speech in the Spanish-English basilang. In Andersen, R. (Ed.), Second languages (pp. 355–374). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Schumann, J. (1987). Utterance structure in basilang speech. In Gilbert, G. (Ed.), Pidgin and creole languages: Essays in memory of John E. Reineckf. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Scollon, R. (1976). Conversations with a one year old. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stauble, A.-M. (1978). The process of decreolization: A model for second language development. Language Learning, 28, 29–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stauble, A.-M. (1984). A comparison of a Spanish-English and a Japanese-English second language continuum: Negation and verb morphology. In Andersen, R. (Ed.), Second languages: A cross-linguistic perspective (pp. 323–354). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Stauble, A.-M., & Schumann, J. (1983). Toward a description of the Spanish-English basilang. In Bailey, K. M., Long, M. H., & Peck, S. (Eds.), Second language acquisition studies (pp. 68–82). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Tannen, D. (Ed.). (1982). Spoken and written language: Exploring orality and literacy. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Wagner-Gough, J. (1975). Comparative studies in second language learning (CAL-ERIC/CLL Series on Languages and Linguistics 26). Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Zobl, H. (1985). Grammars in search of input and intake. In Gass, S. & Madden, C. (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 329–344). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar