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Access To Universal Grammar

This document discusses Noam Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar and its application to second language acquisition. [1] Chomsky believed that language is innate and governed by universal principles, rejecting the behaviorist view that language is learned through imitation alone. [2] Research has examined whether second language learners have direct access to Universal Grammar, indirect access through their first language, or no access at all. [3] Different studies have found evidence for both direct access, such as Japanese learners of English rejecting ungrammatical word order, and indirect access, such as Spanish learners initially applying rules from their first language.

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Yavuz Karadağ
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267 views3 pages

Access To Universal Grammar

This document discusses Noam Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar and its application to second language acquisition. [1] Chomsky believed that language is innate and governed by universal principles, rejecting the behaviorist view that language is learned through imitation alone. [2] Research has examined whether second language learners have direct access to Universal Grammar, indirect access through their first language, or no access at all. [3] Different studies have found evidence for both direct access, such as Japanese learners of English rejecting ungrammatical word order, and indirect access, such as Spanish learners initially applying rules from their first language.

Uploaded by

Yavuz Karadağ
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Access to Universal Grammar

Behaviourists claim that children learn their mother tongue by simple imitation;
listening and repeating what adults say, during the first half of the 20th century. Later this
claim became questioned by the American linguist Noam Chomsky. For Noam Chomsky,
language acquisition cannot be reduced to the operation of response and stimulus, since every
sentence we utter contains a new set of words or a mixture of new words. In other words,
when we speak we combine a finite number of elements to create an infinite number of
structures and sentences. Moreover, language is regulated by a large number of rules and
principles, “the system of principles, conditions and rules that are properties of all human
languages… the essence of human language” (Chomsky, 1976). Since Chomsky refutes the
behaviourist view of language acquisition, his theory – Universal Grammar (UG) – suggests
that linguistic ability is innate, born with human being. In other words, linguistic ability
already exist on human mind, we don’t need to teach it, and that there are properties that all
natural human languages share. UG, then, claims that language knowledge consists of
principles which are universal to languages and parameters which vary from one language to
another. The Universal Grammar theory claims that first language acquisition is based on
implicit learning since all that is necessary is the provision of appropriate input to the child in
the form of actual sentences of the language. Second Language Acquisition research has tried
to examine whether L2 grammars consist of principles and parameters and whether L2
learning has 'access' to the UG, the evidence being in favour of indirect access via the L1 or
partial access.

ACCESSIBILITY OF UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR TO


SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Access to UG is perhaps the main topic of research concerning those interested in


applying principles and parameters theory to second language learning (SLL). Some
researches did not provide a clear answer to the question; “what is the role of UG in L2
acquisition?” cook (1985) clarifies this as a choice between three possibilities.

Direct access
The first is that learners have direct access to UG and uninfluenced by the L1. In other words,
they may set the parameters and employ principles without any reference to their L1 values.
Showing that L2 learners know principles and parameters they could not have learnt. This
indicates that L2 learners have direct access to UG say Japanese as L2 learners of English
who do not have movement rule in their language;

‘Is Sam is the cat that brown’.


They reject this sentence which contains movement rule. This indicates that they do not refer
to their L1. That means have direct access to UG.

Indirect access
According to White, learners have partial access to UG (1989). It appears to have a
controversy that: on the one hand L2 knowledge in indirect access relies on L1 knowledge, it
can’t stand alone. For instance, Spanish learners at first use the rule that subject is dropped
which occurs in L1. And they generalize the rule to L2. On the other hand UG seems to be
absent since L2 learners access new principles and parameters.

No access
It is cited that learners may acquire L2 through other means that is not natural. It can be
through other faculties of mind. L2 learners do not use UG since L2 can be learnt grammar
books or from drills without having any connection to UG. Clahsen found different sequences
of acquisition for L2 and L1 learning of German: L1 learners start with the correct underlying
subject-object-verb (SOV) order say “ Sam cake likes”; while L2 learners start with the
correct surface subject-verb-object (SVO) order seen in “Sam likes cake”.

Competition model
This model suggests that through the help of UG, children find it easy to acquire their first
language. So, children start evolving problem solving-strategy as they grow older. This step
goes hand in hand with the desire of acquiring L2.

UG plays an important role in L2 acquisition. During this humble assignment which


turns about two main ideas; the principles and parameters of UG and its accessibility to
second language acquisition. I - as beginner in the field – tried to show the role of UG and its
contributions to facilitate learning for L2 learners.
As a conclusion, some researchers say that it is accessible, as they gave tangible
examples to argue their view while some others says UG is not accessible at all.

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