Second language acquisition has to integrate the totality of the SLA process, which includes both the learning of the core syntax of a language and the learning of the lexical items that have to be incorporated into that syntax. But these two domains involve different kinds of learning. Syntax is learnt through a process of implementing a particular set of universal structures, whereas the learning of lexis is characterised by the building up of associations (or connections). Yet these two systems must come together in the creation of a whole linguistic system in the mind of an individual. This book is designed to state the implications of these two paradigms in as clear a way as possible through examples of the research carried out within each paradigm and to examine how they can be made to inter-relate in a way which would enable us to explain better the overall process of SLA.

Table of contents

Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Second language acquisition research in search of an interface Richard J. Towell 1–20 2. Locating the source of defective past tense marking in advanced L2 English speakers Roger Hawkins and Sarah Liszka 21–44 3. Perfect projections Norbert Corver 45–68 4. L1 features in the L2 output Ineke van de Craats 69–95 5. Measures of competent gradience Nigel Duffield 97–127 6. Lexical storage and retrieval in bilinguals Ton Dijkstra 129–150 7. Inducing abstract linguistic representations: Human and connectionist learning of noun classes John N. Williams 151–174 8. Neural substrates of representation and processing of a second language Laura L. Sabourin and Marco Haverkort 175–195 9. Neural basis of lexicon and grammar in L2 acquisition: The convergence hypothesis David W. Green 197–218 10. The interface: Concluding remarks Roeland van Hout, Aafke Hulk and Folkert Kuiken 219–226 Name index 227–228 Subject index 229–232