Typological &

Functional
Approaches
By :
1)Zarisa Binti Jailani

GS47120

2)Ridzuan Amir Bin Mohamad GS47105

3)Norashikin Binti Abdul Rahman
GS47106

Linguistic Universal

A linguistic universal is a pattern that occurs systematically across natural

languages, potentially true for all of them. For example, all languages
have nouns and verbs, or if a language is spoken, it has consonants and
vowels.

Universals may also be bidirectional or unidirectional.

In a bidirectional universal two features each imply the

existence of each other.

For example, languages with postpositions usually have SOV order,

and likewise SOV languages usually have postpositions.

In a unidirectional universal the implication works only one

way.

Languages that place relative clauses before the noun they modify
again usually have SOV order, so pre-nominal relative clauses
imply SOV.

2 Approaches to SLA
1. Typological Approach
the study of the patterns exhibited in the
languages worldwide

2. Functional Approach
the study of how language functions
(tense/ aspect, which combines verb
meanings, morphological form, and
phonology)

What is Typology?
Common Definition
Study and classification of languages
according to their structural features

Typology is roughly synonymous

with classification, in which the
phenomenon of a domain under
study are classified into types
according to certain common

Typological Classification

Example :

Word Order
English:
Chinese:

SVO
SVO

Tone
English: not tonal
Japanese: not
tonal

Japanese: SOV
Chinese: tonal

 In language with prepositions, the genitive almost

always follows the governing noun, while in
languages with postpositions it almost precedes the
noun.
French (7-1) le chien de mon
the dog
of my

ami
friend

Italian (7-3)

madre
mother

il cane
the dog

di mia
of my

 In languages with postpositions, such as Turkish,

what we call prepositions follow the noun, where
the morphological markers follow the noun

Turkish (7-4)

a. deniz

= an ocean

b. denize

= to an ocean

c. denizin

= of an ocean

 Languages with dominant

verb-subject-object(VSO) order are always preposition.
Welsh (7-6)

lladdwyd y dyn gan y ddraig.

killed-(passive) the man by the dragon

The man was killed by the dragon.

Natural Language

Interlanguages are natural languages.

(Adjemian, 1976, p.298)

Interlanguage: the language produced by a nonative

speaker of a language (eg. A learners output). Refers to the
systematic knowledge underlying learners production.

Natural Langauge: any human language shared by a

community of speakers and developed over time by a
general process of evolution.

 Hindi (7-7)

Ram-ne seb
Ram apple
Ram ate an apple.

kaya.
ate

French (7-13)Jean a mange une pomme.

Jean
has eaten
an apple
Japanese (7-19) Taroo-ga ringo-o tabeta.
Taroo
apple
ate
Taroo ate an apple.

Table 7.1 Word orders

Hindi

French

Japanese

English

Basic order (V+O)

OV

VO

OV

VO

Aux + Verb

V Aux

Aux V

V Aux

Aux V

Preposition + Noun
(Postposition)

N Post

Prep N

N Post

Prep N

N + Relative Clause

N + RC

N + RC

RC + N

N + RC

Possessive

Poss + N

N + Poss

Poss + N

Both

Adj + N

Adj + N

N + Adj

Adj + N

Both

Head-initial Language
Head-final Language
Head = Verb

Interlanguage Structural Conformity Hypothesis:

All universals that are true for primary languages are also true for
interlanguages.
(Eckman, Moravcsik, and Wirth, 1989, p.195)
There are many ways in which universals can be expected to affect
the development of SL grammars:
(1) the shape of a learners grammar
(2) acquisition order (marked form)
(3) one of the interacting forces

What is Falsifiability
Falsifiability is the ability of
something to be proven false.
It is capable of being tested
(verified or falsified) by
experiment or observation.
A statement is called falsifiable if
it is possible to conceive of an
observation or an argument
which negates the statement in
question. In this sense, falsify is
synonymous with nullify,
meaning to invalidate or "show to

Conclusion
The domain of language universals
is that of natural languages and
not second languages
The domain of language universals
is that of all linguistic systems
any failure to comply with a
putative language universal would
then be taken as evidence that
description of the universal is
incorrect.

Accessibility
Hierarchy (AH)
7.2.1 Test Case I

What is the Accessibility

Hierarchy?
Keenan and Comrie (1977)
The structure they examine
consist of 2 parts:
1. Specifies a set of of objects
(syntactically a head noun)
2. Restricts the interpretation of the
head noun to some subset of which
a certain sentences is true (the
restricting clause.

a.I have a lot of friends who like to

go fishing.
b.the car that I bought
c.the issues that the people really
want to know about

 Based on a sample of 50
languages, Keenan and
Comrie demonstrate that
the limitations apply to the
syntactic positions that can
be
relativized
from,
defining an Accessibility
Hierarchy such as:

 Any relative clauseforming strategy must

apply to a continuous
segment of the
Accessibility Hierarchy
(AH).
Strategies that apply at
one point of the AH may
in principle cease to

SU > DO > IO > OPREP > GEN

SU = subject
>OCOMP

Thats the man who ran away.

The girl who came late is my mom.
DO = direct object
Thats the man I saw yesterday.
The girl Kate saw is my sister.
IO = Indirect object
Thats the man to whom I gave the letter.
The girl Whom I wrote a letter to is my sister.
OPREP = object of preposition relatives
Thats the man I was talking about.
The girl whom I sat next to is my sister.
GEN = genitive
Thats the man whose sister I know.
That girl whose father died told me she was sad.
OCOMP = object of comparative
Thats the man I am taller than.
The girl who Kate is smarter than is my sister.

Gass (1979)

1.Free compositions
2.Sentence combining
3.Grammatically
judgements

Resumptive Pronoun
Hierarchy
OCOMP > GEN > OPREP > IO >
DO > SU
Hyltenstam (1984)

Resumptive pronoun

Resumptive Pronoun
Hierarchy
2003, Comrie, typology for some East
Asian Language.
2003, OGrady, Lee and Choo, support
Accessibility Hierarchy.
2007, Jeon and Kim, head-external &
head-internal relative clauses.
2007, Ozeki and Shirai, introduced
another complexity animacy.

The Acquisition of
Questions
7.2.2 Test Case II

 Eckman, Moravcsik and Wirth

(1989) stated the two universals
and their SLA interpretation:
1. Wh- intervention implies whfronting.
If a language uses V-S order in whquestions, then the wh- question word
must occur sentence initially.

2. Yes/No inversion implies whinversion.

If a language uses V-S order for yes/no
questions, it must also involve V-S order
for wh-questions.

Voiced/Voiceless
Consonants
7.2.3 Test Case III

 Comes from the domain of

phonology.
Eckman (1981a, 1981b) Speakers from Spanish
and Mandarin Chinese
learning English.
Word-final voiceless sound
Native language and
language universals.

Functional Approaches
The study of how language
functions.
Multiple level of language are
considered simultaneously.
(pragmatics, semantics, syntax,
morphology, lexicon)
Tense and aspect: the Aspect
Hypothesis
The Discourse Hypothesis
Concept-oriented Approach

Tense and aspect: the

Aspect Hypothesis
How do learners recognize what
morphological markers ( past tense,
progressive) go with what verbs?
In 1980s, a more sophisticated
approach was taken to the L2
acquisition of tense-aspect
morphology.
According to Andersen and Shirai,
1994, first and second language
learners will initially be influenced by
the inherent semantic aspect of verbs
or predicates in the acquisition of

Tense and aspect: the

Aspect Hypothesis
Study by Andersen (1986, 1991)
Past tense markers : punctual and achievement verbs
Imperfective markers : verbs that indicate states.

Tense and aspect: the

Aspect Hypothesis
Punctual verbs momentary in duration
States persist over time without change
(seem, know, need, want, and be, as in be tall,
big, green)
Activities inherent duration in that they
involve a span of time (sleep, snow). No
specific endpoint as in I studied all week (rain,
play, walk, and talk)
Achievements capture the the beginning or
the end of an action ( the race began or the
game ended)(arrive, leave, notice, recognize,
fall asleep)

Tense and aspect: the

Aspect Hypothesis
Development stages:
Past/perfective
Achievement verbs
accomplishment verbs activities
states
Imperfective
States activities
accomplishments achievements

Past or perfective
morphology
First, with punctual verbs and
verbs indicating achievements
and accomplishments:
Then, it extends to verbs
expressing activities and states.

Imperfective morphology
First with durative and/or
stative verbs (activities and
states)

Then, spreads to
achievement/accomplishmen
t and punctual verbs.

The Discourse Hypothesis

Another way of looking at the
acquisition of tense/aspect by
looking at the structure of the
discourse in which utterances
appear.
Two parts of discourse structure:
background and foreground
L2 learners use verbal
morphology to distinguish
foreground from background in

The Discourse Hypothesis

Investigation
by
BardoviHarlig(2004a,
2004b,2005)on
learners of English, shows that will
emerges prior going to as an
expression of futurity.
formal complexity
will as lexical marker
one-to-one principle

Concept Oriented
Approach
Learners begin with the
need to to map certain
functions that they want
to express to the form
that she or he needs to
express it.

Conclusion
In conclusion, what has emerged from
research in the domain of linguistics
discussed in this chapter is that the
universals (both typological and UGbased) clearly have an important
impact on the formation of second
language grammars. What is in need of
of further examination is the extent to
which universals operate alone or in
consort with with NL and TL facts and
the discovery of whether or not all
universals equally affect second

exercise

Consider the case where you have a language in which genitive phrases follow
nouns, as in the following French example:
le chien de mon ami
the dog of my friend

In English, two structures are possibleone in which the possessor follows the
noun and one in which it precedes it.
the dog of my friend
my friends dog

Whereas both of these English sentences are possible, the first one sounds
strange. On the other hand, of the following two groups of sentences in English:
the leg of the table
a leg of lamb
the tables leg
a lambs leg

it is the second group that is less likely to be said. How would you explain
this? What would you predict regarding a learners IL production?
Considering both transfer and input, how would a learner figure out the
facts of English?