
Contents
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1. Introduction 1. Introduction
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2. Morphosyntax 2. Morphosyntax
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2.1 Functional Categories and the Development of Morphosyntax 2.1 Functional Categories and the Development of Morphosyntax
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2.2 Wh-Movement: An Enduring Source of Theory Development and Empirical Research 2.2 Wh-Movement: An Enduring Source of Theory Development and Empirical Research
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3. Semantics and the Lexicon 3. Semantics and the Lexicon
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4. Phonology 4. Phonology
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4.1 Segments 4.1 Segments
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4.2 Suprasegmentals 4.2 Suprasegmentals
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5. Methodological Contributions 5. Methodological Contributions
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6. Conclusion 6. Conclusion
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Acknowledgments Acknowledgments
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Notes Notes
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21 Language Transfer and Cross Linguistic Studies: Relativism, Universalism, and the Native Language
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10 Perspectives from Formal Linguistics on Second Language Acquisition
Get accessAlan Juffs is currently Associate Professor and chair of the Department of Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh. He is the director of the English Language Institute at the University of Pittsburgh and coeditor of the Pitt Series in ESL textbooks published by the University of Michigan Press. He is currently vice-president of the University and College Intensive English Programs Consortium (UCIEP) and committee chair of the English as a Second Language Committee of the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. His research interests include the semantics-syntax interface and second language sentence processing. He has published in a variety of scholarly journals, including Language Learning, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Second Language Research, Language Teaching Research, and Transactions of the Philological Society. In addition to more theoretical aspects of SLA, he maintains a keen interest in classroom research, vocabulary teaching, and materials development, as well as advocacy for intensive English programs. He may be reached at http://[email protected].
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Published:18 September 2012
Cite
Abstract
The importance of formal linguistics on second language acquisition is the basis of this article. Before considering the contributions of formal linguistics to the study of second language acquisition, a definition of formal linguistics is necessary. Linguists disagree on the scope of formal linguistics, so any definition of the field will be controversial. For clarity, this article understands formal linguistics to be a theory of natural language that meets the requirements of explanatory adequacy. Linguistic theories have an “essential but not exclusive” role to play in studies of language acquisition. Their position is adopted in this overview—formal theories have a major role to play in one sub domain of a general theory of SLA. Linguistic competence is the tacit knowledge of the abstract properties of the language(s) we speak. Formal linguistics does not address issues of language use directly. Formal linguistic theory has a crucial role in the explanation of second language linguistic competence.
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