没有普遍语法的二语习得——加工提升假设

SLA without UG: The Amelioration Hypothesis

针对先天论和经验涌现论的不足, O'Grady提出了加工提升假设:语言习得就是加工能力提升的结果。本文以辖域、照应和岛屿限制为例进一步阐述了该假设的要义:复杂句法现象的习得可以通过遵循效率优先的线性加工机制来描述和解释,未必需要借助普遍语法,语法可能只是研究者产生的幻觉。

Unsatisfied with nativism and empiricist emergentism,O'Grady proposes the Amelioration Hypothesis:Language acquisition consists of processing amelioration,which means that progress in L2 learning is marked by the improvement of the processor's ability in reducing processing pressures.This paper elaborates the theory by reviewing related studies on scope,anaphora,and island constraints in second language acquisition.The main idea is that these intriguing syntactic phenomena indeed constitute logical problems of language acquisition,but are best accounted for by an efficiency-driven linear processor rather than by UG.Grammar is but an illusion,playing no role in language acquisition.