Explores the validity of Labov's (1969) "Observer Paradox," and the five axioms describing the problems involved in linguistic research, for interlanguage research. Methodological remedies are suggested. (AM)

Argues for a reconceptualization of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research in order to enlarge the ontological and empirical parameters of the field. Claims that methodologies, theories, and foci within SLA reflect an imbalance between cognitive and mentalistic orientations, and social and contextual orientations to language, the former…

Examines three experimental studies deriving from contrastive analysis predictions and error analysis insights into deviances from expected target language forms. Each of these studies predate the Interlanguage hypothesis. (CB)

Responds to a reanalysis of study findings that refute the claim that negative evidence can lead to parameter setting in second-language acquisition, presenting empirical evidence from French learners of English, suggesting that positive second-language acquisition data do not guarantee the loss of native language parameter settings. (26…

Argues that, when considering subject pronouns, one must examine the input to the learner. English transcripts by two Spanish native speakers demonstrate that the pattern of learner-language pronoun use closely parallels native speaker use. Data suggest that considering principles of Universal Grammar devoid of contest is insufficient for…

Reports on two studies that sought to identify the rhetorical preferences of native speakers when reading inter-English and to compare these with their rhetorical preferences when reading authentic English. (66 references) (JL)

Previous investigations of the variable marking of past time by the L2 learner have given rise to a number of hypotheses which predict the patterns of acquisition and use of past time markers in interlanguage (IL). However, given the complicity between their predictions, it has been previously noted that hypotheses such as the aspect and discourse…

This study deals with the development and recoverability of word-final codas in Chinese-Swedish interlanguage. The relation between consonant deletion and vowel epenthesis is investigated from both a developmental perspective and a grammatical-functional one. Longitudinal, conversational data from three Chinese beginner learners of Swedish were…

In traditional classifications of languages by inflectional subsystems, both creole languages and the results of untutored SLA (interlanguages) are classified as isolating. We focus on remnants of verbal inflectional morphology in French-related creoles and ask: (a) Can the properties of verbal morphology be attributed to SLA, and (b) what does…

Recent unrelated studies reveal what appears to be a common acquisitional pattern in second language acquisition (SLA). While some findings show that advanced learners can indeed achieve convergent, native-like competence with formal syntactic properties (even when these are underdetermined by the input), other findings suggest that they can…

In this article, we argue against the Representational Deficit Hypothesis, according to which second language (L2) speakers can never acquire functional categories or features that are absent in the first language (L1), suggesting that fossilization is inevitable. Instead, we support the Prosodic Transfer Hypothesis, which argues that the ultimate…

A study investigated whether markedness relationships within a target language influence the degree of difficulty in acquisition. The Intralingual Markedness Hypothesis was developed, stating that if structures in the target language differ from those in the native language, and if those structures in the target language are in a markedness…

Research on the role of the first language (L1) in second language (L2) learning is reviewed, offering historical background but focusing primarily on work within the last two decades. Attention is given mainly to two aspects of the L1-L2 relationship: positive transfer of knowledge from L1 in the process of learning L2, and negative transfer, or…

A study was carried out in Kenya to investigate the oral lexical production of learners of English as a Second Language with different native languages. The overall results revealed a clear difference between the Kenya language speakers on the one hand and native speakers on the other: native speakers showed an overwhelming preference for manner…

The first contacts between linguistics and second language acquisition date from the period of contrastive analysis of languages, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. When contrastive analysis failed as an explanatory model, linguists lost interest in second language research and descriptive/contrastive studies declined, resulting in a changed…