Utterance structure in context: Languages and cognition during acquisition in a cross-linguistic perspective (LANGACROSS)

Basic data for this project

Description

Language acquisition is an intrinsic aspect of human behaviour, both a necessary stepping stone in ontogenetic development and a vital task in our multilingual world. Despite an increasing amount of research, fundamental questions concerning the mechanisms of the acquisition process are still sharply debated. Different frameworks strongly diverge in many respects. To name but three: is the language faculty domain-specific and innate or the product of a gradual development through general learning processes? What is the impact of typological constraints on the acquisition process? How important is the role of language use in context for learners' developing linguistic competence?Our aim is to address some of these questions in three language domains that have been at the centre of most debates, examining in each case both the sentence and discourse levels of linguistic organization: 1) information structure, 2) time, and 3) space. Particular attention is paid to the role of universal cognitive vs. language-specific, and structural vs. functional determinants of acquisition. This aim requires a two-fold comparative perspective - of learner type; of linguistic sub-systems. We compare the developmental progressions followed by two types of learners: children - whose cognitive system is developing during first language acquisition - and adults - who are cognitively developed when acquiring a second language. Cross-linguistic comparisons examine the acquisition of a number of linguistic systems that display relevant contrasts in relation to particular claims. Participants belong to four European teams, two in France (UMR 7023 & 8163) and two in Germany (MPI for Psycholinguistics, Heidelberg), which are among the most productive in this field. They have all collected large and varied cross-linguistic data bases concerning first or second language acquisition and intend further to systematise and extend them. In addition to advancing our understanding of language acquisition, the project will provide significant findings for obvious social applications concerning language teaching and language disorders.