Name : Ahtasham Naveed

Class: Linguistics 8 th

Roll Number: 327/ 16471502-022

Topic : UG Approach to SLA
Submitted to: Mam Komal
Introduction

 The Behaviorists claim that children learn their mother tongue by imitation; listening and
repeating what adults say.
Noam Chomsky:
Language acquisition cannot be reduced
to the operation of response and stimulus,
every sentence we utter contains a new set
of words or a mixture of new words .
Language is regulated by a large number of
rules and principles
What is Universal Grammar?

 The system of principles, conditions, and rules that are elements or properties of all
human languages. The essence of human language.
(Chomsky, 1976)
 Children are born with knowledge that are common to all human languages.
(Freeman, 2004)
 All human beings share part of their knowledge of language; UG is their common
possession regardless of which language they speak. 
( Cook, 1996)
Contd.

 UG consists of a set of principles and a set of parameters. The principles are universal.
i.e. they apply to all human languages.
 The parameters vary, within certain limits, from one language to another. i.e. the
parameters of the language according to the language input that they receive from the
environment. e.g. Rules of the road in driving
(Cook, 1996)
PRINCIPLES & PARAMETERS
PRINCIPLES

 STRUCTURE DEPENDENCE
NP, VP, PP, etc Structure-dependency:
Grammatical rules do not depend on the linear ordering of the words in the sentence, but on
how these words are structured within constituents of specific types.
EXAMPLE
Subject-auxiliary inversion in English
A) John is a student.
B)John who is a student is smart.
 A B
1. Is John who is a student smart?
1. Is John a student ? 2. Is John who a student is smart? “

The question formation must be formulated in terms of some

structural concept like subject”

(White,1989).
PARAMETER

XP: X(HEAD), COMPLEMENT (C) HEAD-INITIAL (ENGLISH)

READ THE BOOK.

V(H) NP (C)
HEAD-FINAL (JAPANESE, KOREAN, URDU)
‫کتاب پڑھو‬

V (H) NP (C)
 THE PRO-DROP PARAMETER (NULL SUBJECT
PARAMETER) PROPOSED IS BASED ON THE
Pro drop Parameter PHENOMENON OF OMITTED SUBJECT
PRONOUNS IN SOME LANGUAGE. THE EMPTY
SYNONYMOUS IS COMMONLY KNOWN AS PRO,
THE LANGUAGE OF THE SUBJECT CAN BE
aka. Null subject OMITTED DUE TO THE PRO APPEARS ONLY IN
SUBJECT POSITION, OR THE LANGUAGE WITH
parameter, Non- NO MAIN STATEMENT CAN BE CALLED AS
PRO-DROP LANGUAGE. WHETHER THE
subject parameter SUBJECT CAN BE OMITTED CONSTITUTES A
PARAMETER IN UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR,
KNOWN AS PRO-DROP PARAMETER
Pro drop phenomenon

English Urdu
 English is not a pro-drop language.
Nonetheless, subject pronouns are almost
always dropped in imperative sentences ‫تم بھت بدتمیز ھو‬
(e.g., Come here), with the subject "you"
understood
‫کیا آپ نے کھانا کھایا؟‬
 [Have you] ever been there?
 [Do you] want a piece of cake?
 Accessibility
 DIRECT ACCESS:
SLA is identical to L1 acquisition in respect of the UG operation.Full-Access hypothesis, UG in its entirety
constrains L2 acquisition. UG is accessible in SLA for adults as well as children; there is no critical period after
which UG ceases to operate (Flynn, 1996)
 INDIRECT ACCESS
L2 learners have access to UG through their L1. Only L1-instantiated principles and L1-instantiated parameter-
values of UG are available to the learner. In white’s study, she compared between French and Spanish learners
who learn English as their L2, whereas French is non-pro drop language just like English and Spanish is a pro-
drop language. The study showed that Spanish learners produced sentences without subject more than French
learners especially at early stage of learning.
White’s (1989) two significant conclusions:
1) UG is inaccessible but any aspect (principle and parameter) of it available in the L1 can be used in L2.
2) 2) Initially, L2 learners assume the L1 value of UG parameters, but are still able to tape UG.
 NO ACCESS
No access (the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis) (Bley-Vroman, 1989).
L2 learners no longer have access to the principles and parameters of UG. General learning
principles replace UG.
 COMPETITION MODEL
L2 learners have access to UG but this is partly blocked by the use of the problem-solving-system
(Felix, 1986).
KEY NOTES

 UG is a linguistic theory , not a learning theory.

 UG is only concerned with the sentence and internal structure of language. It treats language as being a
mental object rather than a social and psychological one
 UG based on approaches deal with syntax. Semantics, pragmatics and discourse are excluded.
 UG approach has been concerned with explaining the nature of second language linguistic system. The
social and psychological variabilities are ignored.
 The assumption is all human beings are endowed with such a mind so variations between individuals are
ignored