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In:Widening Contexts for Processability Theory: Theories and issues
Edited by Anke Lenzing, Howard Nicholas and Jana Roos
[Processability Approaches to Language Acquisition Research & Teaching 7] 2019
► pp. 255–282

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Chapter 11
Early development and relative clause constructions in English as a second language

A longitudinal study

Published online: 28 November 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/palart.7.11kaw
This study examines the development of relative clause (RC) constructions in a child learning English as a second language in a naturalistic environment. Processability Theory (PT) (Pienemann, 1998, 2005; Pienemann & Kessler, 2011) does not treat RCs, hence the present study looks at four major approaches to RC development and attempts to find points of convergence with PT’s developmental stages. In order to trace RCs’ development empirically, we audio-recorded at regular intervals the spontaneous and elicited speech production of a Japanese child learning English from age 5;08 to age 7;08. Our study found that infinitival and participial RC constructions, such as those considered by Diessel (2004) as building blocks for RC development in FLA, also emerge early in child ESL.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Major theoretical approaches to relative clause acquisition
    • 2.1Emergentism and Usage-based approaches
    • 2.2The Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH)
    • 2.3Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis (PDH)
    • 2.4SO Hierarchy Hypothesis (SOHH)
  • 3.Morpho-syntactic development in Processability Theory
  • 4.The study
    • 4.1Research question
    • 4.2The informant and the data
    • 4.3Analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Morphological development
    • 5.2Development of Relative Clause Constructions
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1Emergentism and Usage-based approaches
    • 6.2Testing the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH)
    • 6.3Testing the Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis (PDH)
    • 6.4Testing the SO Hierarchy Hypothesis (SOHH)
    • 6.5Acquisition of RC constructions and PT stages
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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