Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition: Issues from Arab Context

Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition: Issues from Arab Context is a scholarly edited volume that introduces the generative approaches to language acquisition, unveiling important issues from Arab context. It consists of two parts: Part I provides theoretical foundations of how L1/L2 takes place, how Universal Grammar (UG) shapes it, the role language faculty plays in it, enabling learners to re-set the parameters, already set by L1, according to L2 given the L2 linguistic input the learner is exposed to. Part II, however, tackles empirical issues, focusing on the acquisition of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and interfaces. The book appeals to linguists, language acquisition scholars and students, in its two spheres, viz. L1 and L2 acquisition. The generative approaches introduced, specifically Mentalism within the Principles and Parameters (P& P) and Minimalism approaches, provide substantial insights into how learners, be they children or adults, acquire L1 or L2, and elaborate on how generative approaches account for these phenomena, specifically in terms of the UG genetic and innate endowment every learner is born with. The book concerns university policymakers, with the theoretical and empirical insights into L2 acquisition, and the pedagogical implications it provides that can be implemented in Arab (and non-Arab) university classroom.