普遍语法在中介语语篇中的体现_英文_

UGand its Manifestation in Interlanguage Discourse

○Guo Xuhong

(I nner M ongoli a N orm al Uni versit y,Hohhot,I nner M ongoli a　010022)

　[Abstract]　This paper looks closely at the popular but mysterious concept of U G with a purpose to understand what it is,how it works,and what concrete manifestations it has in interlanguage production in the context of first language acquisition.

　[K ey w ords]　U G;L A;L AD;syntax development;interlanguage;discourse

　[中图分类号]H043 [文献标识码]A [文章编号]167228610(2006)022*******

I.Introduction

U niversal Grammar(U G)is a term familiar to Language Acquisition(L A)researchers.It s advo2 cates often find it convenient to say t hat language acquisition is mainly att ributed to U G,wit hout t hinking deeper about t he meaning of t he term. But what exactly is U G?And how does it work in t he p rocess of language acquisition?What co ncrete manifestations does it have in aut hentic language p roduction?These questions have not been an2 swered satisfactorily.This is quite understanda2 ble,as t he famous forefat her of t he innatist t heo2 ry,Noam Chomsky,who created t he term in t he 1960s,did not elaborate on it s content s and work2 ings in t he first place.According to Chomsky,U G is inhabited in human brain as a nat ural gift for language acquisition.It is contained in an area in human brain t hat is called L AD(Language Acqui2 sition Device),which is often referred to by anot h2 er more commonplace name t he black box,as it is impo ssible,at least for now,to find out what is going on in t here.It is t he innatist s’belief t hat language acquisition is a nat ural,innate activity.It is done in t he same way t hat ot her biological activi2 ties are acquired.J ust as any child can learn to sit up,walk and run at certain fixed stages in life,any child can learn to speak his/her mot her tongue up to a certain age as well,assuming,of course,an adequate environment is p resent.[1]15The whole p rocess of L A is accomplished t hrough automatic interaction between language inp ut f rom o ut side t he human brain and t he L AD inside it.The result of such an interaction is t he activation of U G into automatic f unctions,which is a sign t hat t he target language is being acquired.The exact workings or p rocesses inside t he L AD and co ncrete manifesta2 tions of U G were rarely dwelt on.Such a t heory is bo und to be dubious considering t he indispensable but mysterious role of L AD wit h it s indefinable characteristics.This,in t urn,goes on to p roduce a U G t hat is similarly obscure in it s content s.

II.UG’s f unction in LA

Mysterious as it is,t he existence of U G seems to be undeniable.Many child utterances have been referred to as p roof s for t he inevitable p resence of U G in a child’s brain.It’s argued t hat t he task of first language acquisition would be impo ssible wit hout an innate device like L AD to help sort out t he multiple and often flawed language inp ut into grammatically acceptable syntax group s.It is com2 monly perceived t hat t he language we p roduce in everyday talk is often far f rom standard wit h a lot of false start s,omissions,misplaced modifiers, twisted sentence orders,grammatical mistakes, etc.Still,children can learn to use grammatically acceptable,alt hough simple,syntax by t he age of 4or5.If t here is no such device as L AD which is equipped wit h U G in t he children’s brain,it is hard

[作者简介]郭旭红,女,内蒙古师范大学外国语学院副教授,教育硕士导师,主要研究方向:语言学与语言习得。