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PREFABRICATED PATTERNS AND THE EMERGENCE OF STRUCTURE IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 1
Author(s) -
Hakuta Kenji
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1974.tb00509.x
Subject(s) - psychology , second language acquisition , linguistics , copula (linguistics) , allomorph , computer science , natural language processing , philosophy , morpheme
In order to test the hypothesis that the second language learner possesses a series of structurally cohesive learner systems, speech samples of a five‐year‐old Japanese speaking learner of English were elicited over a 15 month period. Three types of “prefabricated routines” were analyzed in detail: (1) patterns using the copula, including all allomorphs of be ; (2) the segment do you as employed in questions; (3) the segment how to as in embedded how ‐questions. The analysis supported the contention that the subject was operating within a simple learner system involving prefabricated routines.