Analysis of Morphology and Syntax, and Phonology Cases - Assignment Example

1. Give a brief linguistic of the underlined parts of each of the utterances below. These were produced by L2 speakers of English. Explain in each case how the utterance differs from what you would expect a native speaker to have produced. (a) I no can explain this. The speaker has used NO as the initial sentential negator. The location of negation with respect to tense and verb in English involves a ‘structure-dependent’ operation and not a linear one. The negation in English is placed between the tense and the Verb phrase ( the man hasn’t been here ). He can’t explain this.” This is exactly the way a native speaker would say it. (b) He knew well French. The speaker has put the adverb ‘well’ before the object noun ‘French’. Adverbs of manner tell us how something occurs, particularly in case of adverbs of manner and place. They are placed after the object noun. So, adverb must not be placed between the verb and the object The non-native speakers have a tendency to place adverbs next to verbs because they modify verbs. In English also, some kinds of adverbs like frequency adverbs occur before the object or complement. And, if there is a proposition before the object such as in, on, at, near, towards, in this case the place of adverb can be either before the proposition or after the object. Hence, the non-native speakers may follow the same pattern for (well) adverbs. A native speaker would be expected to produce the sentence as: He knew French well. (C) . She walking past a baker shop and see through the shop window. The speaker has used the Continuous form ‘walking’ without the Auxiliary Verb be. The form of the verb ‘be’ is omitted. In English, the different forms of ‘be’ combine with Present to form the Present Continuous tenses. the present progressive is used to describe temporary events and actions that have a beginning and an end The above sentence is a Compound Sentence in which two Independent clauses, with a common subject, are joined by the Co-ordinating Conjunction ‘and’. The same tense must be used in both parts of the sentence. The simple present tense is used in the second part so the tense has to be used in the second part also. But the speaker has used the base form of the verb, the Simple Tense. A native speaker would have said this sentence in the following way: She is walking past a baker shop and saw through the open window. (d). The girl bump into a man and she fell down. This is a Compound sentence with a common subject ‘she’. The Simple Past tense is used in the second clause (fell). The same tense should be used throughout. (Bumped) The non-native speaker has used the base form of the verb instead of the Past tense. A native speaker would say the sentence in the following way: The girl bumped into a man and she fell down. (e). Tom’s favourite form of transport is train. The speaker has omitted the definite article ‘the’. ‘Train’ is a common noun and names a kind of vehicle of transport. It is countable and in the singular number. In English, the definite article is used to refer to objects or persons that are clear from the context. .Hence,the native speaker would add definite article (the ),so native speaker would say: . Tom’s favourite form of transport is the train. 2. ‘The knowledge that L2 speakers have of the target language results from imitating sentences that they hear’. Evaluate this claim critically in 1000 words. The role of input in language acquisition is a controversial question. All theories of L2 acquisition acknowledge the need for input, but they differ greatly in the importance that is attached to it. According to the behaviourists, there is a direct relationship between input and output. Since they reject the idea of ‘mind’, they reject any kind of processing of input in the learner’s mind. The learners hear different forms and patterns ( input ) and imitate them. ( output ). Feedback consists of reinforcement or correction. The emphasis is on manipulating the input and ensuring adequate feedback. Acquisition, according to this theory, is controlled by external factors and the learner is viewed as a passive medium. Mentalist theories also consider input as an essential factor in L2 acquisition. According to mentalists, learners are equipped with an innate knowledge and they apply the input to L 2 forms that they are learning. But information provided by input is considered to be insufficient to enable learners to arrive at rules of the target language. According to cognitive interactionist theories, acquisition is the product of the interaction between linguistic environment and internal mechanism. According to the social interactionist theory, verbal interaction is necessary for language learning. But nobody can deny that whether we talk of L1 or L2, one cannot learn language without being exposed to it. Even according to behaviouristic theory, “positive reinforcement of accurate imitations and correction of inaccurate imitation facilitates the learning process.” ( page 20 ) It is a fact that language is learnt through imitation. The best supporting evidence is the case of deaf people. They do possess language learning ability, they have normal speech organs, yet they are unable to produce language because there is no ‘input’. What will they imitate when they cannot hear anything? One of the important observations of SLA theories are that exposure to input is necessary for SLA. “Acquisition will not happen for learners of a second language unless they are exposed to input. Input is defined as language the learner hears (or reads) and attends to for its meaning. Language the learner does not respond to for its meaning is not input.” ( page 10 ) The input can be any language. L1 is the input that an individual receives first in life. A German, living in Germany, will be exposed to German and will acquire it as L1. The language learning ability is found in every individual, and L1 is acquired irrespective of what language it is. The input for learners can be ‘input text’ that is what the native speakers say. It can also be ‘input discourse’, which is a special kind of register used by native speakers when talking to learners. This is called ‘foreigner Talk’ (FT) and can be compared to ‘Baby Talk’ or ‘caretaker Talk’ used by adults to talk to children. An example of FT is that native speakers employ a copula in equational clauses in normal communication (He IS a doctor) but they omit it while talking to foreigners. This may be because absence of copula is simpler than its presence. Another example is the insertion of ‘you’ in imperative sentences. (You open the door) Sometimes, post-verbal negation is replaced by pre-verbal negation in FT. ( I no want milk ) Such type of ungrammaticality is learnt and produced by the second language learners. Grammatical FT consists of over-simplification, regularization or elaboration. The aim is yo simplify the learner’s task of processing the input. A classroom learner was exposed to target input on indirect questions. ( Do you know where my book is? ) A classroom drill on this kind of construction failed to develop L2 competence that is knowledge of underlying spontaneous use. The learner produced the following utterance: Do you know where is Mrs. Irving? Another example of ungrammatical input was to make the verb agree with the closest noun instead of the Head Noun. ( A description of the English articles involve ------ ) . A similar L 2 involvement pattern can be observe in L2 learners. Similarly, L1 German speakers nouns with plural markers unambiguously when they were allowed to refer to nouns without plural markers for singular and plural. A typical pattern of development in acquisition of sentential negation can be observed in case of L1 speakers of Japanese and Spanish. They use NO as the sentential negator, and forms of DFO and BE are absent. Krashen has suggested that ‘comprehensible input’ helps L2 acquisition. But this relates to the acquisition of vocabulary rather than syntax or morphology. Another proof to support the given statement is concerning dialect. Each language has several regional varieties which are called dialects. The people living in a particular region naturally acquire the dialect of that region, because they imitate what they hear. Dialect is not limited to the difference in pronunciation of certain sounds, but also to words and sentence structures. A good example is ‘konkani’ and ‘warhadi’ which are the dialects of Marathi. Konkani is so different from Marathi in almost every respect, that speakers of the two languages face difficulty in understanding each other. We can also give examples of slang, which is common in certain sections of society or in certain communities. Children living in slum areas can be identified on the basis of the kind of language they use. This is because they imitate what they hear. Children from educated families or high economic and social classes speak language accordingly. The same principle applies to L2. The second language learner has no knowledge of the target language. If you deliberately teach such a learner something that is incorrect, he will learn it because he is ignorant. What is more, he will be unable to forget it even if you convince him later that what he learnt was incorrect. According to Structuralism “language is based on a discrete and finite set of patterns beginning from sound system, all the way to sentence structure.” ( page 20 ) Combining the insights of behaviourism and structural linguistics, applied linguistics viewed the L2 learner’s task as the imitation and internalization of these patterns. Again, what is imitated? The patterns as they exist in the target language. Sentences must be presented as models for L2 learners. The Creative Construction Hypothesis ( Dulay and Burt, 1975) states that “ Language learning is a creative process in which the learner makes unconscious hypothesis on the basis of input.” It further states that the processing of this input is controlled by innate mechanisms, but the input cannot be ignored. Let us consider the other side of the coin. Rigorous and widespread research in first language acquisition in the 1960s began to demonstrate that children could not possibly internalize a linguistic system according to the tenets of operant conditioning. It was observed that the linguistic system was far too complex. Utterances of learners showed evidence of processes beyond imitation and analogy. It was observed that learners produce utterances that they had never heard in the input. It was also observed that grammatical features are acquired in fixed orders that do not vary according to individual, context, instruction, or any other external influence. Children were seen to bring to the task of language acquisition an innate facility that guided their learning of a language that was unaffected by the kinds of conditioning that were the basis of behaviourism. On the basis of observations and research in SLA we can conclude that language learning is different from other kinds of learning. Every human being possesses innate capacity to learn language. Different kinds of input and interaction are needed to facilitate acquisition at different stages of learner development. Input and interaction may or may not affect acquisition depending on the nature of the linguistic feature. Internal as well as external factors facilitate L2 acquisition. Input combines wit other factors such as the learner’s L1, his communicative needs, and his internal processing mechanism/. No explanation of L2 acquisition will be complete without an account of the role of input, but input is only one of the factors. Part I Q.1 What is the environment that determines the distribution of the allophones / / and / / in Spanish and Korean respectively? Answer – The pairs of sounds [ and ] have different distribution in English and Spanish . A distinctive sound in any language is called a phoneme. It is the smallest sound unit. A change in the phoneme is responsible for change in meaning. Hence, a phoneme is a vital linguistic unit. In English, both /-- and /d / are distinctive sound units. Both occur in initial, medial and final positions. In Spanish, /d/ is a phoneme. But / / is an allophone of the phoneme /d/ , which occurs in specific situations. An allophone is a sound that is in complementary distribution with another sound; it is not lexically distinctive. The appearance of allophnes is regulated by a specific phonological environment. The distribution of the allophone / / in Spanish can be studied in the light of the following sets of words: (a) [dias] – days [dando] – giving [dar] – to give (b) [na//a] – nothing [ abla o] – spoken From the words in Set (a) given above, we notice that /d/ is a distinctive phoneme in Spanish, occurring in the initial position [dias], and in the medial position [dando]. When it occurs in the medial position in the words [na a] and [abla o], it is replaced by its allophone / /. It can be observed that in both these words, the sound is preceded as well as followed by a vowel sound. Thus we can conclude that in Spanish: /d/ is a distinctive phoneme /d/ can occur in the initial position followed by a vowel sound [dar, dias] /d/ can occur in the medial position followed by a vowel but preceded by a consonant [dando] The allophone / / is found in an environment where it is flanked by vowel sounds on either side. Similarly, the distribution of the sounds /s and / / in Japanese/Korean can be understood with the help of the following sets of words: (a) [sate] – well [sensei] – Teacher [somkei] – respect [sumpuai] – sour (b) [ iawase] – happiness [za i] – magazine [zuzu iu] – forward There are words beginning with /s/ in Japanese/Korean. The phoneme is clearly pronounced even where it is followed by vowel. ( Set –a ) But the allophone / / occurs whenever the phoneme is followed by /i/. ( set – b ). Question 2. What is the general learning pattern you can observe in the above data? Can you formulate a general principle of UG based on this learning pattern? Answer – The theory of UG attempts to characterize the nature of inter-language competence. This approach considers language learning as different from other kinds of learning. Learners come to know more than what they are exposed to in the input. Theoretically, the learning pattern is the same for different sounds in different languages. The general principle of phonology predicts that L2 speakers find it difficult to learn English sound contrasts. One of the most difficult sound contrast as pointed out by Weinreich ( cited in Yavas, 1994) is regarding allophones in the native language which are distinctive phonemes in English. Hammerly (cited in Eckman, et al., 2003 ) observed that sound of native language allophones in a new context are difficult to learn as distinct phonemes in target language. We shall discuss this contrast with the help of two allophones [ ] in Spanish and [ in Korean and the environments in which they occur. Development through stages can be observed as follows: Beginner Stage: Both words are pronounced incorrectly at this stage by Spanish as well as Japanese speakers. As per the data, there are words in Spanish which do have the sound /d/ in medial position [dando]. There are also words in Japanese beginning with /s/. [sate, sensei]. Yet, both words in L2 are incorrectly pronounced in the target language at this stage. This can be accounted for by the fact that sounds which occur as allophones in L1 are encountered in a new environment in L2, in which they are phonemes. Intermediate Stage: We observe that a sound that occurs in a similar environment in L1, is mastered first. Similarity in L1 and L2 leads to faster learning. As per data, in Spanish, the sound /d/ ocuurs in a medial position [dundo]. Hence the word ‘ladder’ is correctly pronounced at this stage. In Japanese several words begin wit /s/ [sate, sensei, somkei] which is more similar to the word ‘sing’ in English. Hence it is correctly pronounced at the intermediate stage. In Spanish, as per data, we find the occurrence of the allophone / / in the medial position. [na a, abla o]. but in both these words there are open vowels on either side, as in the word ‘ladder’, where the preceding vowel is open vowel. But in the word ‘redder’, the preceding vowel is closed vowel. Hence the mistake is continued at this stage. In Japanese, the allophone / / occurs whenever it is followed by /i/. But in the word [ iawase] it is in the initial position (unlike ‘missing’) while in words like [za i], it comes after an open vowel. (Unlike ‘missing’). In the word ‘missing’ there is the closed vowel /i/ on either side, hence the mistake continues at this stage. Advanced stage: Sufficient practice in target language enables the Spanish and Korean learners to produce both sounds in new environment correctly. They show the contrast in both derived and non-derived contexts. As per the principle of Structure Preservation and Derived Environment constraint, L2 learners can acquire the contrast in non-derived environments but cannot do so in derived environments. The above situation falsifies this claim because at the advanced stage, both Spanish and Korean learners acquire the contrast inn derived as well as non-derived contexts. We observe one more important fact in case of Spanish and Japanese learners. The Spanish pronunciation is affected by preceding sounds. The Japanese pronunciation seems to be governed by following sounds. Both Japanese and Spanish find difficulty with neighbouring vowel sounds rather than consonant sounds. We can observe the following learning patterns from the given data: Sounds common to L1 and l2 and occurring in similar environments are learnt first. Distinctive phonemes are learnt before allophones. Allophones in l1 can be learnt as distinctive phonemes in l2 in due course of time. We can formulate a general principle of UG based on this learning pattern. All human beings have an innate capacity to learn language. Hence, all human beings can produce all sounds, whether they do or do not exist in l1, as allophones and/or distinctive phonemes. Question 3. The Marked ness differential Hypothesis states that two things are important in determining learning patterns in L2 phonology. (i) a difference between the L1 and l2 (ii) markedness relations. What challenges do the data above present for the MDH? Answer – according to MDH the areas of difficulty that a language learner will face can be predicted on the basis of a systematic comparison between NL and TL, and the markedness relations stated in UG. Marked features are those that are less frequent in languages of the world. Unmarked features are those features that are more frequent. Only those parts of L2 which are more marked than L1 will cause difficulty in learning, and the more marked they are, the more difficult they will be. Unmarked phenomena are generally acquired before marked phenomena. The first important postulate of MDH is the difference between L1 and L2. According to MDH< the difference between L1 and L2 determines the learning patterns in l2 phonology. Hence the structural areas of L1 and L 2 should be compared and contrasted to determine the areas where they differ the most. In the above example we notice that a distinctive phoneme in TL is an allophone of the same sound in NL, but in a specific environment, its allophone occurs. Hence the difference is marked. According to the theory it can be predicted that learners will not be able to acquire this sound in new environment and as a distinct phoneme. But very often we find that predictions are not borne out in actual learning. Errors that are not predicted are sometimes more than errors that are predicted. L1 is not always the source of errors. We also sometimes observe that it is similarities and not differences that give rise to incorrect associations between L1 and L2., resulting in errors. Different types of similarities and differences represent different levels of learning problems. Similar sounds may be harder to acquire because gross differences are more often noticed, due to perpetual saliency, whereas minimal differences are less likely to be noticed, resulting in non-learning. This view is expressed in the Speech learning Model ( Flege, 1991 ).According to Flege, the learner’s ability to perceive the sound determines the difficulty of acquisition. Similar’ sounds are difficult to acquire because a speaker perceives and classifies them as equivalent to those in L1 and no new phonetic category is established. On the contrary, ‘new’ or ‘dissimilar’ sounds are easier to learn because the speaker perceives these differences and establishes new phonetic categories. As per MDH, in this case, there should have been non-learning of sounds. But this did not happen. Perhaps, the Structural Conformity Hypothesis can be a better alternative to MDH. Question 2 – What is the general learning pattern you can observe in the above data? Can you formulate a general principle of UG based on this learning pattern? Answer – Theoretically, the learning pattern is the same for different sounds in different languages. Development through stages can be observed as follows – Beginner stage -Both words are pronounced incorrectly at this stage by Spanish as well as Japanese speakers. As per the data, there are words in Spanish which do have the sound /d/ in the medial position [dando]. There are also words in Japanese beginning with /s/. Yet, both words in the target language are incorrectly pronounced in the target language at this stage.THEORY Intermediate stage – the sound that occurs in a similar environment is learnt faster. Similarity in L1 and l2 leads to faster learning. As per data, in Spanish, the sound /d/ occurs in a medial position [dando]. Hence the word ‘ladder’ id correctly pronounced at this stage. Several words in Japanese begin with /s/ [sate], [sensei], which is more similar to the word ‘sing’ in English. Hence, it is correctly pronounced at the intermediate stage. Read More