Research Catalog

Title

Universal grammar in second language acquisition : a history / Margaret Thomas.

Author

Thomas, Margaret (Margaret Ann), 1952-

Publication

London ; New York : Routledge, 2004.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

vii, 262 pages; 24 cm.

Summary

"From the ancient Mediterranean world to the present day, our conceptions of what is universal in language have interacted with our experiences of language learning. This book tells two stories: the story of how scholars in the west have conceived of the fact that human languages share important properties despite their obvious differences; and the story of how westerners have understood the nature of second or foreign language learning." "In narrating these two stories, the author argues that modern second language acquisition theory needs to reassess what counts as its own past. The book addresses Greek contributions to the prehistory of universal grammar, Roman bilingualism, the emergence of the first foreign language grammars in the early Middle Ages, and the Medieval speculative grammarians' efforts to define the essentials of human language." "Universal Grammar in Second Language Acquisition is a remarkable contribution to the history of linguistics, and will be essential reading for students and scholars of linguistics, specialists in second language acquisition and language teacher-educators."--Jacket.

Series Statement

Routledge studies in the history of lingustics

Uniform Title

Routledge studies in the history of linguistics

Subject

• Second language acquisition > History
• Grammar, Comparative and general > History
• 17.02 history of linguistics and linguistic theories
• Grammar, Comparative and general
• Second language acquisition
• Universalgrammatik
• Ungesteuerter Zweitsprachenerwerb
• Grammatiktheorie
• Tweedetaalverwerving
• Universele grammatica

Genre/Form

• History.
• History (form)

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 214-248) and index.

Contents

Ancient Greece and Rome -- Languages and language learning from late antiquity to the Carolingian renaissance -- The Middle Ages -- From discovery of the particular to seventeenth-century universal languages -- General grammar through the nineteenth century -- Conceptualization of universal grammar and second language learning in the twentieth century.

ISBN

• 0415310377
• 9780415310376
• 9780203416396
• 0203416392
• 9781134388547
• 1134388543
• 9781134388493
• 1134388497
• 9781134388530
• 1134388535
• 9780415654692
• 0415654696

LCCN

2003069370

OCLC

• ocm53926716
• 53926716
• SCSB-8812751

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library