LINGUIST List 15.1632

Mon May 24 2004

Books: History of Linguistics: Thomas

Editor for this issue: Neil Salmond <neillinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. sally.tillbrook, Routledge Studies in the History of Linguistics: Thomas

Title: Universal Grammar in Second Language Acquisition
Subtitle: A History
Series Title: Routledge Studies in the History of Linguistics

Publication Year: 2004
Publisher:	Routledge (Taylor and Francis)
		http://www.routledge.com/

Author: Margaret Thomas, Boston College

Hardback: ISBN: 0415310377, Pages: 272, Price: U.K. � 65.00

			
Abstract:

>From the ancient Mediterranean world to the present day, our
conceptions of what is universal in language have interacted with our
experiences of language learning. This book tells two stories: the
story of how scholars in the west have conceived of the fact that
human languages share important properties despite their obvious
differences, and the story of how westerners have understood the
nature of second or foreign language learning.

In narrating these two stories, the author argues that modern second
language acquisition theory needs to reassess what counts as its own
past. The book addresses Greek contributions to the prehistory of
universal grammar, Roman bilingualism, the emergence of the first
foreign language grammars in the early Middle Ages, and the Medieval
speculative grammarians efforts to define the essentials of human
language.

'Universal Grammar in Second Language Acquisition' is a remarkable
contribution to the history of linguistics and will be essential
reading for students and scholars of linguistics, specialists in
second language acquisition and language teacher-educators.


Lingfield(s):	Applied Linguistics
		History of Linguistics
		Language Acquisition
		
Written In:	English (Language Code: ENG)


 See this book announcement on our website:
 http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=10310.