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Universal Grammar: Hypothesis space or grammar selection procedures? Is UG affected by Critical Periods?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 1998

Gita Martohardjono
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics and Communication Disorders, Queens College, Flushing, NY 11367, Ph.D. and Program in Linguistics, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10036 gitam@interport.net
Samuel David Epstein
Affiliation:
Program in Linguistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285 sepstein@umich.edu
Suzanne Flynn
Affiliation:
Foreign Languages and Literature, Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 sflynn@mit.edu

Abstract

Universal Grammar (UG) can be interpreted as a constraint on the form of possible grammars (hypothesis space) or as a constraint on acquisition strategies (selection procedures). In this response to Herschensohn we reiterate the position outlined in Epstein et al. (1996a, r), that in the evaluation of L2 acquisition as a UG- constrained process the former (possible grammars/ knowledge states) is critical, not the latter. Selection procedures, on the other hand, are important in that they may have a bearing on development in language acquisition. We raise the possibility that differences in first and second language acquisition pertaining to both attainment of the end-state and course of development may derive from differences in selection procedures. We further suggest that for these reasons age effects in the attainment of nativelike proficiency must necessarily be separated from UG effects.

Type
Authors' Response
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

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