CASLX400

SecondLanguageAcquisition

Week6b.Functionaland
pragmaticperspectives

Whatisafunctionalistapproach?
Functionalistresearchers(functionalists)are
generallyconcernedwiththerolelanguage
structuresplayinactualcommunication.
Theknowledgeaboutlanguagethattheystudyis
primarilyknowledgeabouthowlanguageisused.
Givn:Grammarasasetofstrategiesthatone
employsinordertoproducecoherent
communication

Functionalism
Itisworthnotingthatfunctionalistsandgenerativistsare
oftenquiteideologicallydivided.Thefunctionalistview
isgenerallyconsideredbyfunctionaliststobean
alternativetothegenerativist(roughlyspeaking,UG)
view.Formanyfunctionalists,theknowledgeoflanguage
isexclusivelycastintermsofknowledgeoflanguageuse.
I,asessentiallyagenerativistatheart,dontbuythat,but
nothingreallyprecludesusfromthinkingofthisinstead
aslookingattwodifferentaspectsofourlinguistic
knowledge.ThisishowIwilltreatithere,thatisas
complementaryratherthancontradictory.

Discourse
Toinvestigatelanguagefunction,weneedto
considerlanguageincontext,asinthecontext
ofadiscourse.
Consider:Herearetwogrammaticalsentences.
Heboughtabook.
Johnboughtit.

Discourse
Toinvestigatelanguagefunction,weneedto
considerlanguageincontext,asinthecontextof
adiscourse.
Consider:Herearetwogrammaticalsentences.
Heboughtabook.
Johnboughtit.

Yet,onlyonecanbeusedinresponsetothe
question(withoutadditionalgestures):
WhatdidJohnbuyatthestore?

Discourse
Awellformeddiscoursehasacoherentflowof
information.Inanygivensentence,some
informationisnew,andgenerallysomeinformation
isold.
Certainaspectsoflanguagearesensitivetothe
distinctionbetweennewandoldinformation;for
examplepronounscanonlyrefertooldinformation.
Johnwalkedin.Hesatdown.
Itwasadarkandstormynight.Hesatdown.

Grammaticalityandfelicity
Whetherasentenceisgrammaticalisasemi
independentquestionastowhenitcanbeused.
Asentenceisgrammaticalifitcanbeusedin
somecontext,butitisfelicitousonlyifitisused
inthepropercontext.
Pragmaticsisconcernedwiththesystem
underlyingwhatmakesanutterancefelicitousis,
certainlyapartofoveralllanguageknowledge.

Topic,comment
Sentencesinadiscoursecangenerallybedivided
intoatopicandacommentonthetopic.
Thetopiciswhatthesentenceisabout
(generally,theoldinformation,something
alreadyestablishedinthediscourse),andthe
commentiswhatthesentencesaysaboutthe
topic(generallynewinformation).

Topic,comment
InEnglish,thesubjectgenerallyservesasthetopic
ofasentence.
LetstalkaboutJohn.
Johnboughtabook.
Healsoboughtsomecoffee.

Therearealsoothermeansofindicatingthetopic:
Asforthatbook,Johnboughtittwoweeksago.
Thatbook,Johnbought(butthisotherone,hedidnt).

Topic,comment
Manylanguagesexplicitlymarktopicswitha
particle,amongthem,Japanese:
AnohonwaJohngakatta
ThatbooktopJohnnombought
Asforthatbook,Johnboughtit.

OrKorean:
KuchaykunJohnisassta
ThatbooktopJohnnombought
Asforthatbook,Johnboughtit.

Topic,comment
LiandThompson(1976)madeaveryinfluential
proposalthatdifferentiateslanguagesintotwo
types:topicprominentlanguagesandsubject
prominentlanguages.
Theunderlyingorganizationofthesetwotypesof
languagesareclaimedtobedifferent;subject
prominentlanguageslikeEnglishdifferentiate
subjectandpredicateprimarily,whiletopic
prominentlanguageslikeMandarinorJapanese
differentiatetopicandcommentprimarily.

Topic,comment
Inatopicprominentlanguage,thesentenceis
usuallystructuredwiththetopicfirst
(discourseold,orgiveninformation),followed
bythecomment(discoursenewinformation).
Theconceptofsubjecttakesabackseat:
therearenomeaninglesssubjects(likeinit
rainsortherewasafire),doublesubjects
areverycommon(Asforfish,halibutis
delicious)

Topic,comment
ThearticleyouuseinEnglishalsois
determinedbycontext.Theindefinite
articlea(n)isusedonnewinformation,
whilethedefinitearticletheisusedonlyfor
given(old)information.
Thefiremanarrived.
Afiremanarrived.
Johnboughtabook.Abookwasaboutfiremen.

L2researchintofunction
ManyL2Aresearchershaveconcentrated
onthispragmaticknowledge,theuseof
languageincontext,toseehowthis
knowledgedevelopsinL2A.Itiscleareven
fromEnglishthatthereisagreatdealof
pragmaticknowledgeinvolvedinlanguage
useoverandabovethethingswhichrender
sentencesgrammaticalorungrammatical,
principlesandparametersandsuch.

Modesofexpression
Givniscreditedwithdistinguishingtwo
differentmodesofexpression(asendsof
acontinuum),thepragmaticmode(orpre
syntacticmode)whereaspeakerrelies
heavilyoncontributionsofcontextand
relativelylittleonstructureandsyntax)and
thesyntacticmode(whereaspeaker
structuressentencesinamoretargetlike
andsystematicway).

Givnspragmaticvs.syntactic
modes
Pragmaticmode

Syntacticmode

Topiccommentstructure

Subjectpredicatestructure

Looseconjunction

Tightsubordination

Slowrateofdelivery,several
intonationcontours

Fastrateofdelivery,single
intonationcontour

Wordordergovernedbypragmatic Wordordergovernedbysemantic
principles(oldinformationfollowed principles(i.e.agentfirst)
bynewinformation)
Noun:Verbratiolow(about11)

Noun:Verbratiohigher(semantically
complexverbs)

Grammaticalmorphologyabsent

Elaborateuseofgrammatical
morphology

Modes
Idea:L2learnersstartinthepragmaticmode
andmovetowardthesyntacticmode.
Amongotherthings,thiswouldsuggestthat
initiallytopiccommenttypestructureswould
beverycommoninthespeechofelementary
L2ers.

Grammaticalvs.pragmatic
knowledge
Thereisreasontobelievethatthesearetwo
(semi)independentformsoflanguageknowledge.
L2ersaresometimesobservedtohaveacquired
thegrammaticalstructurewithoutnecessarily
usingitintherightplaces(fromtheperspectiveof
theTL).

Huebner(1983)
Singlesubject,Ge,anadultHmongspeaker
learningEnglish(inHawaii)asanL2.
Hmong,andGessecondlanguage,Lao,are
bothtopicprominentlanguages(whichas
fullydevelopedlanguagessharemanyof
thecharacteristicsasGivnspragmatic
mode).
Recordingsmadeevery3weeksforayear.

Geandis(a)
Gesuseofis(a).
PresumablyhasitsoriginsinEnglishitsaorisa,
butcarefulstudyrevealsthatthiswasnothowGe
initiallyanalyzedit.
Lookingatplaceswhereacopula(tobe)isrequired
inEnglish,HuebnerfoundthatGeusedis(a)
(essentially,correctly)in80%ofthosecontexts.
IsGealreadyspeakinginanEnglishlikeway?
Howaboutplaceswhereis(a)isused?

Geandis(a)
LookingatwhereGeusedis(a),itappearedoverhalf
thetimeinplaceswherethecopulaisnotusedin
English.
T:Howmanypeoplesleptineachhouse?
G:Oh.Inonehouseumpeoplesleep,isatwohundred.
T:Whattimedidyoubeginworking?
G:Iworkisaeightoclock,toumfouroclock.
T:HowlongdidittaketowalkfromLaostoThailand?
G:Oh.Isaumtwentyday.

Geandis(a)
Considerhowanativespeakermightanswerthese:
T:Howmanypeoplesleptineachhouse?
G:Oh.Inonehouseumpeoplesleep,isatwohundred.
N:Twohundred(peoplesleptinahouse).
T:Whattimedidyoubeginworking?
G:Iworkisaeightoclock,toumfouroclock.
N:Eightoclocktofouroclock.
T:HowlongdidittaketowalkfromLaostoThailand?
G:Oh.Isaumtwentyday.
N:Twentydays.

Isthereapattern?

Geandis(a)
T:Howmanypeoplesleptineachhouse?
G:Oh.Inonehouseumpeoplesleep,isatwohundred.
N:Twohundred(peoplesleptinahouse).
T:Whattimedidyoubeginworking?
G:Iworkisaeightoclock,toumfouroclock.
N:Eightoclocktofouroclock.

Thepartofthesentencethatcomesafteris(a)seemsto
bethenewinformation.Thepartthatisntgiveninthe
question.
Noticethatinplaceswherethecopulaappearsin
Englishoften(coincidentally)havethatpropertytoo.
(SpeakingofJohn)Heisagreatsyntactician.

Geandis(a)
T:Howmanypeoplesleptineachhouse?
G:Oh.Inonehouseumpeoplesleep,isatwohundred.
T:Whattimedidyoubeginworking?
G:Iworkisaeightoclock,toumfouroclock.

WhatitappearsthatGewasdoingwasactuallyusingis(a)
tomarktheboundarybetweentopicandcomment
(markingthenewinformationwithis(a)).
Gesuseofis(a)eventuallydeclined(disappearingeven
fromtheobligatorycopulacontextsinEnglish)andthen
returned,primarilyusedcorrectlyincontextswhere
Englishrequiresacopula.

Geandda
Heubner(1983)alsostudiedthedevelopmentof
thedistributionofda(the)inGesspeechover
time.
(L1)Englishuseofthevs.a(n)isforspecific
referentsisdistinguishedbywhethertheentity
isknowntothehearerornot:
Iboughtabook.
IgavethebooktoMary.

[notknown]
[known]

Geandda
InGesuseofda,therewasadistinction
madebetweennounswhichweretopicsand
nounswhichwerenot.
Gewouldgenerallyonlyusedawithnouns
thatwerenottopics(sincewealreadyknow
thattopicsareknowntothehearer,hence
markingitassuchwithdaisseenas
redundant).

the
Wecanthinkofthecontextsinwhichtheis
usedinnativespeakerEnglishasbeing
thosewhich:
[+HK] Arehearerknown
[SR] Haveordonothaveaspecificreferent
Thetelephoneisvitalfordailylife.
Thebookfellontothefloor.

Geseemedtoadditionallytakeintoaccount
thefeature[Top](whetherthereferentis
topicalinthediscourse).

Thecourseofdevelopmentofda
[+SR,+HK],[Top]
Markingonlynontopics

[+NP]
Markingallnouns

[+NP]except[SR,HK]
Markingallnounsexceptnonspecificnontopicreferents

[+HK]
Markingallhearerknownnouns(target)

[SR,Exist]
Markingallspecificreferents

[+HK]
Markingallhearerknownnouns(target)

Huebner(1983)
Withda(andperhapsalsowithis(a)),itappears
thatGelearnedthegrammaticalformbutnailing
downthepragmaticenvironmentsinwhichit
appearstookmoretime.
Initially,Gesassumptionsaboutthegrammar
revolvedsignificantlyaroundtheconceptoftopic.
However,thiscouldeitherhavebeenduetoa
universalinitialpragmaticmodeofexpression
orduetotransferfromhisL1.

Formtofunction
ThesortofanalysisHuebnercarriedoutwas
aformtofunctionanalysis;helookedfora
particularform(eachofis(a)andda)and
investigatedwhatitsfunctionis,whatroles
itplaysinthelanguageuseofthesubject.
Thatis,startingwiththeformandlooking
tocharacterizeitsfunction.

Functiontoform
Wecanalsolookatthiskindofquestioninthereverse
way,asafunctiontoformproblem.
Considerafunction(say,markingtopic,ormarkingpast
timereferenceorencodinganembeddedproposition),
lookfortimeswhenthesubjectisusinglanguageto
performthatfunction,andtrytocharacterizetheforms
inthelearnersknowledgeoflanguageusedtoperform
thefunction.
Thehallmarkofthefunctionalistanalysisisthis
attentiontotherelationshipbetweenformandfunction
inlanguageuse,regardlessofthedirection.

Sato(1990)
Sato(1990)didsuchafunctiontoform
analysisonthetranscriptsoftwo
Vietnamesechildren(ThanhandTai)in
theirearlyteensrelocatedtotheUSand
immersedinanEnglishspeaking
environment.Thestudylasted10months,
withweeklyrecordings.
Satowantedtostudy(developmentin)their
Expressionofpasttimereference
Encodingofsemanticpropositions

Sato(1990)
Concerningpasttimereference,Satofoundalmostno
changeoverthetenmonths;throughout,thekidswould
expresspasttimeeitherthroughpriorestablishmentin
thecontext(i.e.alreadytalkingaboutthepast)or
throughtheuseofadverbs(e.g.,Yesterday,Igo).
Satohypothesizesseveralreasonswhythismightbe,
including:
Pasttenseendingsarenotphonologicallysalient
Communicationfailurerarelyresults
PhonologicaltransferfromVietnameseobscuredsyllable
finalconsonantclustersanyway.

Sato(1990)
Theresultsfromtheexpressionofpasttensewere
inconclusive,buttheresultsfromtheexpressionof
semanticpropositionswereevenworse.
Ifthekidswereinapragmaticmodewedexpecttosee

Lotsofnonpropositionalutterances
Verylowproportionofmultipropositionalutterances
Relianceontheinterlocutorforaidinexpressingpropositions
Littleuseofconnectivemorphologybetweenrelated
propositions.

Sato(1990)
However,whatSatofoundisthateveninthevery
earlyspeechofthekids,theproportionofsimple
propositionalutteranceswashighandtherewas
fairlylittlerelianceontheinterlocutorfor
assistance.
(Theothertwoexpectationsweremet;multi
propositionalutteranceswererareandwere
connectedprimarilywithandorjustsimply
juxtaposed)

Sato(1990)
Incidentally,thissoundsperfectlyconsistent
withthetreebuildingapproachofVainikka
&YoungScholtenmultiplepropositions
arenotexpressedandconnectivesarenot
fullyutilizedbecausethetreehasnot
reachedtheCPlevel,crucialforL1like
subordination.Yet,thisdoesnotpreclude
theuseoffullypropositionalutterances.

Movingfromthepragmaticmode
tothesyntacticmode
Whydopeoplemovefromthepragmatic
modetothesyntacticmode?Some
suggestionsthathavebeenmade
Subjectiveneedtosoundliketheenvironment
Communicativefailure
Toeconomizelanguageusethroughstable
generalizations
?

Movingfromthepragmaticmode
tothesyntacticmode

Howdopeoplemovefromthepragmaticmodetothe
syntacticmode?
Thisisveryrarelyaddressed.
Thesyntacticmodeispresumablytheplacewherelearners
haveenoughofthecomplexsyntacticstructureinplaceto
makejudgmentsonthelanguagewhichwepreviouslyhave
seentheycandowithalargedegreeofsystematicity.There
isrealgrammaticalknowledge.
Inthissensethefunctionalapproachesareverysimilartothe
UGapproachestheydemonstrate(development)of
languageknowledge,butdonotfocuscarefullyonhowthis
knowledgeisgained.

TheEuropeanScience
FoundationProject
Anotherstudyaimedatlookingatform
functionrelationsinL2Awastheone
conductedbytheEuropeanScienceFoundation.
Thiswasalargescalecrosslinguisticstudy
usingthefollowingdesign:
English
Punjabi

targetlanguage
German
Dutch French
Italian

Turkish Arabic
sourcelanguage

Swedish
Spanish Finnish

TheEuropeanScience
FoundationProject
Thesewereadultimmigrantlearnersimmersed
inthetargetlanguage,recordedovera2.5year
period,generatingabout2025twohour
recordingsofeachspeaker.

English
Punjabi

targetlanguage
German
Dutch French
Italian

Turkish Arabic
sourcelanguage

Swedish
Spanish Finnish

TheEuropeanScience
FoundationProject
Perdue&Klein(1992)groupedtheL2ersinto
threebasiclearnervarieties(claimedtobevalid
acrosslinguisticgroups)afteranalyzingthedata
theycollected.
NominalUtteranceOrganization(NUO)
InfiniteUtteranceOrganization(IUO)
FiniteUtteranceOrganization(FUO)

Thesevarietiesarestagesduringthecourseof
development(i.e.NUOIUOFUO).

Learnervarieties
NominalUtteranceOrganization(NUO)
Simple,unconnectednouns,adverbs,particles.
Largelymissingthestructuringpowerofverbs.

InfiniteUtteranceOrganization(IUO)
Verbsprevalent,connectingagentsandaffected
objects,etc.Nodistinctionismadebetweenfinite
andnonfiniteverbsatthisstage.

FiniteUtteranceOrganization(FUO)
Differencebetweenfiniteandnonfiniteverbs.

NUO
Onemanforthewindow
DebootwegTheboataway
Daughtersdadnojob
Lesdeuxcontentthetwoofthemhappy
Daarookdemantherealsotheman

IUO

Backdoorstandthepoliceman
Shepushinpoliceman
Charlieandgirlandpolicemanputonthefloor
Charliegetupfirst
Charliehittinthehead
Cargone

Basiclearnervariety
IUOseemstobecharacterizedbyasmallnumberof
phrasalpatterns:
NP1VNP2
NP1(Cop){NP2,Adj,PP}
VNP2

Andtheirlanguageuseseemstobedrivenby
sometimesconflictingconstraints:
Controllerfirst
Newinformationlast

NUO/IUOisprobablytheclosestanalogtopragmatic
modeintheESFstudy.

Acommentabout
productionstudies
Studyingspontaneousproductionisnot
necessarilyagoodindicatoroftheactual
knowledgeofthesecondlanguagelearners.
Ifyouseethat100%oftheutterancesofa
speakerareTLgrammatical(andevenTL
felicitous),thisstilldoesntguaranteethatthey
haveTLlikelanguageknowledge;forone
thing,theycouldquiteplausiblybeavoiding
constructionsthattheydonothavethe
knowledgetouseproperly.

Acommentabout
productionstudies
Considerthebasiclearnervarietycharacterized
bythesmallnumberofphrasalpatterns.Itslikely
thateveninnativeL1speech,thereareseveral
phrasalpatternswhichpredominate,butthe
knowledgeofthenativespeakerpresumablyfar
exceedsthatsimplydetectiblebythepredominant
patterns.
Thisisthewholeissuebehindpovertyofthe
stimulusafterall.

Acommentabout
productionstudies
Muchbetterarestudiesinthelabwhichattempt
toelicitspecificresponses(or
grammaticality/felicityjudgments),becausethe
threatofavoidanceskewingtheresultsismuch
reduced.
Laboratorystudieshavetheirownproblems,of
course,notleastamongthemtheassumptionthat
peoplesbehaviorinthelaboratorytrulyreflects
theirknowledge(not,forexample,contaminated
byoverrelianceonprescriptiverules).

Universaltopicprominentstage?
Afairamountoftheexistingresearchseemedtobe
adoptingtoaviewthatsaysthatL2acquisition
(universally,regardlessofL1)goesthroughaninitial
topicprominent(pragmaticallydriven)stage.
Fuller&Gundel(1987)attemptedtolookspecifically
forthisbystudyingtheILEnglishofL1speakersof
Arabic,Farsi,Spanish(subjectprominent),Chinese,
Japanese,andKorean(topicprominent),lookingfor
featurescommontotopicprominentlanguagesinthe
earlyIL.

Universaltopicprominentstage?
Fuller&Gundelclaimedtheyfoundevidenceofastage
intermediatebetweentopicprominentstructures,
somewhatsupportingtheideathatL2acquisition
invariablystartswithatopicprominentstage.
However,F&Gsstudymadeonlyaverysuperficial
categorizationoflanguagesintotopicprominentand
subjectprominent(foronething,ignoringtheissueof
prodrop)andfurthermore,itisnotclearthatsubject
prominentvs.topicprominentisreallyabinary
parameteralongwhichlanguagesvary

Universaltopicprominentstage?
Togetattheissuemoredirectly,Jin(1994)studiedL2
learnersofChinese((theprototypical)topicprominent
language)whoseL1wasEnglish(nontopicprominent)
Ifthereisinitiallyatopicprominentstageandifthe
targetlanguageisatopicprominentlanguage,thenwe
wouldexpectrelativeeaseinacquiringthetopic
prominentaspectsofChinese.
Jinfound,however,thattheL2Chineselearnersonly
becamecapableofusingthetopicprominentproperties
atrelativelyhighlevelsofproficiency.
Transferseemedtoplaythebiggestrole.

Conclusions?
Languageknowledgeincludesasophisticatedknowledgeof
languageuse(pragmatics),aspectsofwhichdifferfrom
languagetolanguageanaspectoflanguageknowledge
whichseemstobejustasimportantasgrammatical
knowledge.
Itappearsthatformisoftenacquiredpriortofunction;thatis,
acquiringthepragmaticknowledgeissometimesslower.
Thereisdebateaboutwhetherlearnersgothrougha
developmentalprocessfrommainlypragmatictomainly
syntacticbuttheclearestandmostdirectevidenceseems
tohaveshownmuchmoreeffectoftransferofL1language
propertiesthanofauniversalpragmatic(ortopicprominent)
stage.