Second Language Syntax: A Generative Introduction [Paperback]

Roger Hawkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0631191844 | ISBN-13: 978-0631191841 | Edition: 1

Adopting the objectives of Chomsky's Principles and Parameters approach to Universal Grammar, Second Language Syntax takes the reader through the main research findings in second language grammatical development. For each area, empirical findings are linked to proposals made by linguists working within the Principles and Parameters framework, with the aim of developing a theory of second language syntax.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is remarkably clear in its exposition, exhaustive in coverage and intelligent in its argumentation. It will find its niche in the burgeoning field of Second Language Acquisition." Antonella Sorace, University of Edinburgh

"This is a fine text. The material is well-chosen and presented in an accessible and engaging manner. The exercises add utility and interest. Moreover, the author's unassuming authorial voice and lack of dogmatism make the book a valuable contribution." Margaret Thomas, Boston College

From the Back Cover

• How do second language learners come to know the combinatorial properties of words and phrases -- the syntax - of the languages they are learning?
  
• Do they develop knowledge systematically or randomly?
  
• Can they acquire the same range of syntactic knowledge as native speakers of their target language?
  
• What effects might different kinds of exposure to the second language have on their knowledge?

Adopting the objectives of Chomsky's Principles and Parameters approach to Universal Grammar, Second Language Syntax takes the reader through the main research findings in second language grammatical development. For each area, empirical findings are linked to proposals made by linguists working within the Principles and Parameters framework, with the aim of developing a theory of second language syntax.

Second Language Syntax presupposes that readers have some knowledge of the aims of linguistic enquiry, but does not assume that they are familiar with either research on second language syntax or the Principles and Parameters framework. Each chapter includes a set of exercises to promote assimilation of the material, as well as suggestions for further reading.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (February 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631191844
• ISBN-13: 978-0631191841
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,445,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't believe my eyes, October 18, 2010

By 

Eis~lilie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Language Syntax: A Generative Introduction (Paperback)

I don't know whether it was Hawkins himself or some poor research student who had to collect examples from languages other than English, but the person in charge clearly does not deserve to be called a linguist. Why?

1. Linguists should be able to use a dictionary.

2. Linguists should be able to understand the basic syntactic and morphological structures of a foreign language.

3. Linguists should CHECK their work before publishing it.

I've spent 100$ on this book and I was shocked, to say the least. Hawkins illustrates the progress of L2-Learners by giving various examples from L1-languages such as Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Japanese and Chinese, but he did not even bother to check whether these utterances are correct (i.e. grammatical). Hardly any utterance sounds natural, most are unintentionally funny and some are just plain wrong. Which, of course, leads to false hypotheses. (No, the utterances I am talking about are not marked by "*").

Rather embarrassing examples:

"Johann nahm heute ein Buch auf." - "John picked up a book today."

Although the literal translation of "pick" and "up" might be "nehmen" and "auf" in German, the verb "aufnehmen" does not mean "to pick up" but "to record". So John recorded a book? Really?

"Sie weisst, dass Johann heute ein Buch aufnahm." "She knows that John picked up a book today."

Although the 3rd person singular usually ends with "t" in German, the verb "wissen" is one of the many exceptions to that rule. Correct is "sie weiss" (or even better: "sie weiß", but I assume Hawkins does not have that letter on his keyboard and did not bother to copy&paste it).

When it comes to Asian languages, the autor tends to use misleading transcription methods. There are also many spelling mistakes, such as "sakano" instead of "sakana" ("fish" in Japanese). My edition was printed in 2010 and last edited in 2006. Apparently, Hawkins' notion of "editing" does not include reviewing the text and correcting mistakes ([irony]although I have to admit that the black&white cover looks better than the blue one[/irony]). All in all, a catastrophe. Ah well, at least me and my classmates (including native speakers from Spain, France, Germany and Japan) had fun applying Hawkins' mistakes to various theories of L2-acquisition.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best introduction to L2 syntax to date, November 11, 2010

By 

synrev - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Language Syntax: A Generative Introduction (Paperback)

Potential readers should trust the glowing reviews of renowned researchers in the field, as exemplified in the citations of Sorace and Thomas, before being swayed by the criticisms of the disgruntled student who gave a negative review.

This is really the very best introduction to generative L2 syntax on the market, even though it is now over a decade old. It covers all the major topics that dominated research in the 8o's and 90's, including wh-movement, verb-raising, word order, negation, binding, determiners, and argument structure, and situates discussion of these topics in more general debates over sequences of development, modularity, transfer, and the nature of human language. Among it's many qualities are the following: (i) within each chapter, the author moves from introductory overview to advanced discussion, allowing the instructor or student to stop at the appropriate level (for example, the chapter on wh-movement starts with Ross's island constraints and Chomsky's early take on subjacency, and covers L2 work by Schachter and Johnson & Newport; the more advanced section discusses Barriers, the ECP and Rizzi's Relativized Minimality, and includes an insightful discussion of L2 work by Matohardjono and Li); (ii) the exercises at the end of each chapter are excellent; (iii) the book takes a truly crosslinguistic perspective, involving many different combinations of first and second languages, which allows it to shed great light on the nature of second language acquistion in general.

As regards the aforementioned review's criticism of the accuracy of linguistic examples, this is just not true. In a book with hundreds and hundreds of examples in different languages there may be the odd typo, but inaccuracies do not go beyond that. As for the criticism regarding East Asian examples, it's important to understand the variation in romanization within those countries: for example, Japanese government agencies tend to use the Hepburn system, but modern Japanese academia (including Japanese linguistics journals) tends to use the kun-rei system; this leads to (trivial) variation in the international literature on Japanese. Korean romanization has changed multiple times in recent years, but examples from 10 years ago are usually cited in the original version. All in all, the criticisms of this book are unfounded.

This book remains the best textbook specifically dealing with generative approaches to second language syntax. The only real problem is that it gets more out-of-date every year, so it really ought to be supplemented by research articles from the last decade of second language research. A second edition would be most welcome.