Second-language acquisition

Second-language acquisition, second-language learning, or L2 (language 2) acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition (often abbreviated to SLA) is also the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process. The field of second-language acquisition is a subdiscipline of applied linguistics, but also receives research attention from a variety of other disciplines, such as psychology and education.

A central theme in SLA research is that of interlanguage, the idea that the language that learners use is not simply the result of differences between the languages that they already know and the language that they are learning, but that it is a complete language system in its own right, with its own systematic rules. This interlanguage gradually develops as learners are exposed to the targeted language. The order in which learners acquire features of their new language stays remarkably constant, even for learners with different native languages, and regardless of whether they have had language instruction. However, languages that learners already know can have a significant influence on the process of learning a new one. This influence is known as language transfer.

Second language

A person's second language or L2, is a language that is not the native language of the speaker, but that is used in the locale of that person. In contrast, a foreign language is a language that is learned in an area where that language is not generally spoken. Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas.

More informally, a second language can be said to be any language learned in addition to one's native language, especially in context of second language acquisition, (that is, learning a new foreign language).

A person's first language is not necessarily their dominant language, the one they use most or are most comfortable with. For example, the Canadian census defines first language for its purposes as "the first language learned in childhood and still spoken", recognizing that for some, the earliest language may be lost, a process known as language attrition. This can happen when young children move, with or without their family (because of immigration or international adoption), to a new language environment.

Disco Inferno (band)

Disco Inferno was an English experimental rock band active in the late 1980s and the 1990s. Although at root a standard rock trio of guitar, bass guitar and drums, and initially writing songs in an identifiable post-punk style, the band pioneered a dynamic use of extensive digital sampling in addition to standard rock instruments. While commercially unsuccessful during their existence, the band is considered to be a key post-rock band.

History

Origins

Disco Inferno was formed in Essex in the late 1980s, by schoolboy musicians Ian Crause (guitar and vocals), Paul Wilmott (bass), Rob Whatley (drums) and Daniel Gish (keyboards). Initially Crause shared the guitar playing/singing role with a fifth (and unnamed) group member who was eventually ousted . Gish left shortly afterwards to join Bark Psychosis, leaving the band as the trio lineup they would retain until the end of their career.

The band took on the name Disco Inferno as a joke, naming themselves after the classic dancefloor track by The Trammps, which was as far from the sound of the band themselves as could be imagined. (Years later, when established as a credible alternative rock act in Britain, the band found themselves losing potential American bookings due to American agents being discouraged by the name. Crause would later describe this situation as "a joke which had long since gone sour.")

Language acquisition

Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate. Language acquisition is one of the quintessential human traits, because non-humans do not communicate by using language. Language acquisition usually refers to first-language acquisition, which studies infants' acquisition of their native language. This is distinguished from second-language acquisition, which deals with the acquisition (in both children and adults) of additional languages.

The capacity to successfully use language requires one to acquire a range of tools including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and an extensive vocabulary. Language can be vocalized as in speech, or manual as in sign. The human language capacity is represented in the brain. Even though the human language capacity is finite, one can say and understand an infinite number of sentences, which is based on a syntactic principle called recursion. Evidence suggests that every individual has three recursive mechanisms that allow sentences to go indeterminately. These three mechanisms are: relativization, complementation and coordination. Furthermore, there are actually two main guiding principles in first-language acquisition, that is, speech perception always precedes speech production and the gradually evolving system by which a child learns a language is built up one step at a time, beginning with the distinction between individual phonemes.

Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics

Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics is an American peer-reviewed journal in psycholinguistics that has been published quarterly since 1990. It is mainly devoted to studies of language acquisition that are informed by, and relevant to, current research in generative linguistics. Its founding co-editors were Robert Berwick, Thomas Roeper, and Kenneth Wexler. From 2003 to 2011 it was co-edited by Diane Lillo-Martin and William Snyder (both from University of Connecticut). The current editor is Jeffrey Lidz from the University of Maryland. The journal, which is available online with subscription, was published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates from 1990 until 2007, and is now published by Psychology Press, part of the Taylor & Francis Group.