Third Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar

Edited by Assist. Prof. Yan-kit Ingrid Leung

Publication date:

16 January 2009

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781847691316

Third Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar contains nine chapters on adult third language (L3) or multilingual acquisition from the Universal Grammar (UG) perspective. A variety of languages other than English are involved in the studies reported in the papers, including Cantonese Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Thai, with acquisition cases taking place in a number of different geographical locations, such as Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Norway, Taiwan, Thailand, the UK and the USA. This volume will appeal to those studying L3 acquisition from a variety of theoretical perspectives and should encourage scholarly exchange between the fields of bi-/multilingualism and SLA.

Acknowledgements

Contributors

Introductory Chapter: Third Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar - Yan-kit Ingrid Leung

Chapter 1: The Acquisition of Spanish Middle and Impersonal Passive Constructions from SLA and TLA Perspectives - Patricia Bayona

Chapter 2: Language Transfer in the Acquisition of the Semantic Contrast in L3 Spanish - Diana Hsien-Jen Chin

Chapter 3: Multilingual Universal Grammar as the Norm - Vivian Cook

Chapter 4: UG and L3 Acquisition: New Insights and More Questions - Suzanne Flynn

Chapter 5: Transfer in L3 Acquisition: The Role of Typology - Rebecca Foote

Chapter 6: L3 Enhanced Feature Sensitivity as a Result of Higher Proficiency in the L2 - Carol Jaensch

Chapter 7: Third Language Acquisition of Norwegian Objects: Interlanguage Transfer or L1 Influence? - Fufen Jin

Chapter 8: Null Objects in L1 Thai-L2 English-L3 Chinese: An Empiricist’s Take on a Theoretical Problem - Sirirat Na Ranong and Yan-kit Ingrid Leung

Chapter 9: The L3 Acquisition of Cantonese Reflexives - Wai lan Tsang

Leung’s volume makes an important contribution to the dynamic, fast-growing field of third language acquisition, showcasing state of the art research and presenting a bird’s eye view of the challenging research agenda. The papers show how the acquisition of third language competence poses new theoretical and empirical puzzles that can be described and explained in interesting ways. The transfer phenomena given rise by the interaction of typologically diverse combinations of L1-L2-L3 are reminiscent of parallel cases in the mother field of second language acquisition, but with the variables and complexity greatly multiplied. The volume is sure to inspire further studies in the field.