Second Language Syntax: A Generative Introduction - Softcover

Hawkins, Roger

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0631191844 ISBN 13: 9780631191841

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 2001

Synopsis

Adopting the objectives of Chomsky's Principles and Parameters approach to Universal Grammar, Second Language Syntax takes the reader through the main research findings in second language grammatical development. For each area, empirical findings are linked to proposals made by linguists working within the Principles and Parameters framework, with the aim of developing a theory of second language syntax.

About this title

About the Author

Roger Hawkins is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex. He is the author of Approaches to Second Language Acquisition and French Grammar and Usage (both written in collaboration with Richard Towell).

From the Back Cover

• How do second language learners come to know the combinatorial properties of words and phrases -- the syntax - of the languages they are learning?
  
• Do they develop knowledge systematically or randomly?
  
• Can they acquire the same range of syntactic knowledge as native speakers of their target language?
  
• What effects might different kinds of exposure to the second language have on their knowledge?
• 
  

Adopting the objectives of Chomsky's Principles and Parameters approach to Universal Grammar, Second Language Syntax takes the reader through the main research findings in second language grammatical development. For each area, empirical findings are linked to proposals made by linguists working within the Principles and Parameters framework, with the aim of developing a theory of second language syntax.

Second Language Syntax presupposes that readers have some knowledge of the aims of linguistic enquiry, but does not assume that they are familiar with either research on second language syntax or the Principles and Parameters framework. Each chapter includes a set of exercises to promote assimilation of the material, as well as suggestions for further reading.

From the Inside Flap

• How do second language learners come to know the combinatorial properties of words and phrases -- the syntax - of the languages they are learning?
  
• Do they develop knowledge systematically or randomly?
  
• Can they acquire the same range of syntactic knowledge as native speakers of their target language?
  
• What effects might different kinds of exposure to the second language have on their knowledge?
• 
  

Adopting the objectives of Chomsky's Principles and Parameters approach to Universal Grammar, Second Language Syntax takes the reader through the main research findings in second language grammatical development. For each area, empirical findings are linked to proposals made by linguists working within the Principles and Parameters framework, with the aim of developing a theory of second language syntax.

Second Language Syntax presupposes that readers have some knowledge of the aims of linguistic enquiry, but does not assume that they are familiar with either research on second language syntax or the Principles and Parameters framework. Each chapter includes a set of exercises to promote assimilation of the material, as well as suggestions for further reading.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0631191844
• ISBN 13: 9780631191841
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408