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COORDINATE STRUCTURES AND LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS IN INTERLANGUAGE 1
Author(s) -
Schmidt Maxine
Publication year - 1980
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.1467-1770.1980.tb00325.x
Subject(s) - interlanguage , linguistics , grammar , natural language , universal grammar , natural (archaeology) , computer science , surface structure , natural language processing , psychology , artificial intelligence , physics , philosophy , geography , archaeology , molecular physics
The purpose of this study is to investigate the deletion of redundant elements in coordinate structures using and in ESL learners' interlanguages (ILs). In natural language, there are certain universal constraints on the surface orders which may result from the deletion of one or more identical elements in such coordinate structures. Since it has been hypothesized that ILs are natural languages, this study sets out to determine if ILs obey universal constraints on surface orders of coordinate structures and therefore behave as natural languages with respect to these structures. It will be shown that they do. In addition, where ILs differ from English with respect to surface orders, it is proposed that such ESL learners' errors are not best accounted for in terms of surface order transfer or overgeneralization of a target language rule, but rather that ESL learners may transfer the discourse constraints on deletion from their native language and create a new IL form in English. Methodological considerations for doing such a study are also discussed. It is argued that a data base drawn from a single test can have serious implications for the accuracy of a description of an IL grammar.