The Partial Access of Universal Grammar in Second Language Acquisition: An Investigation of the Acquisition of English Subjects by L1 Chinese Speakers

This study looks at the acquisition of obligatory overt arguments in L2 English by adult L1 Chinese speakers and sets out to explain the divergence between non-native speakers and native speakers in relation parameter-resetting in SLA within the framework of Principles and Parameters. In particular, we test a proposal made by Yuan [1997, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 2, 16–32] which argues for initial full transfer of the Chinese functional category features into L2 English. Chinese speakers then readjust the features of Infl as a result of contact with English, and this requires their grammars to have obligatory subjects. However, they continue to allow null objects in their English simply because positive evidence is not available to eliminate them. The implication of Yuan’s proposal is that features of functional categories in the L2 which differ from those in the L1 are in principle resettable, which argues against the claim made by Tsimpli and Roussou [1991, UCL Workings Papers in Linquistics 3, 149–170], and Smith and Tsimpli [1995, The Mind of Savant: Language Learning and Modulority, Blackwell, Oxford.] that parameter values associated with functional categories are inaccessible to L2 learners after the critical period.