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Part of
Current Perspectives on Generative SLA - Processing, Influence, and Interfaces: Selected proceedings of the 16th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference
Edited by Marta Velnić, Anne Dahl and Kjersti Faldet Listhaug
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 70] 2024
► pp. 316–348

Chapter 13
UG-as-Guide in selection and reassembly of an uninterpretable feature in L2 acquisition of wh-questions

Evidence from islands and scope

| Utsunomiya University
| Chuo University
This study explores Universal Grammar (UG) in second language (L2) acquisition, focusing on uninterpretable features. We present the UG-as-Guide (UGG) model, which contends that UG plays a pivotal role in eliminating UG-incompatible properties. We investigated L2 English wh-questions in Chinese-speaking and Japanese-speaking learners through an acceptability judgment task and an elicited production task. The data revealed that lower-intermediate learners transfer optional movement operations from their native languages, and apply these operations obligatorily, contrary to UG principles, while upper-intermediate learners display a shift towards the relevant syntactic knowledge of native speakers. This supports the UGG model, indicating that initially adopted UG-incompatible operations are subsequently adjusted to align with UG principles, underscoring the interplay between UG and interlanguage in L2 acquisition.
Keywords: uninterpretable features, wh-questions, UG-as-Guide, interlanguage
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Empirical facts about wh-questions
      • 2.1.1English
      • 2.1.2Chinese
      • 2.1.3Japanese
      • 2.1.4Summary
    • 2.2Theoretical analyses
      • 2.2.1English
      • 2.2.2Chinese
      • 2.2.3Japanese
    • 2.3Interim summary
  • 3.Wh-questions in L2 grammars
    • 3.1Accessibility to UG
    • 3.2Acquirability of uninterpretable features and problems with feature reassembly
    • 3.3A new proposal on the role of UG
  • 4.Experiments
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2AJT
      • 4.2.1Aim and predictions
      • 4.2.2Design
    • 4.3EPT
      • 4.3.1Aim and predictions
      • 4.3.2Design
    • 4.4Results and examination of hypotheses
      • 4.4.1AJT
      • 4.4.2EPT
      • 4.4.3EPT
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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