I have chosen these publications because they reflect my current research interests and contributions, and they also display the range of my work in the areas of generative syntax, second language acquisition theory, and applied linguistics. My main areas of specialization are theoretical syntax and nonnative language learning, linked in my current research dealing with L2 acquisition. My most recent book, Language Development and Age (Cambridge UP) examines the question of whether there is a critical period for language acquisition, demonstrating that first language (L1) is largely susceptible to age constraints, whereas second language is indirectly so affected. L1 is not thoroughly acquired if age of onset passes seven years and shows major deficits past age twelve. L2 acquisition also shows age effects, but with a range of individual differences. The competence of expert adult learners, the unequal achievements of child L2 learners, and the lack of consistent empirical evidence for a maturational cutoff, all cast doubt on a critical period for L2A. Furthermore, the reasons for the deterioration of acquisition potential are only partly maturational, since experience with the native tongue shapes the neural networks of the brain dedicated to language.

In 2001 my colleagues Enrique Mallen, Karen Zagona and I edited a volume on Romance dealing with morpho-syntactic and phonological features and the interfaces of syntax, semantics, morphology and phonology, Features and Interfaces (J. Benjamins). My 2000 book, The Second Time Around: Minimalism and L2 Acquisition, published by J. Benjamins in the Language Acquisition & Language Disorders Series relates recent advances in theoretical syntax with empirical research in language development, I claim that second language acquisition is not totally distinct from first language acquisition, but rather is a relearning of language, accomplished through the mastery of morphological features and their syntactic connection to functional categories. My 1996 book Case Suspension and Binary Complement Structure in French, a study in theoretical syntax, argues that the dual nature of objective case in French correlates with a parallel limit on argument (complement) projection, using non-thematic subject constructions as the main area of investigation.

Recent articles explore the role of Universal Grammar and the nature of morphology learning in second language acquisition, through an examination of adult L2 French interlanguage and Spanish child learners. These articles expand ideas presented in several chapters of my 2000 book, in which I argue that second language acquisition may draw on aspects of UG, and that L2A is accomplished through the progressive mastery of morpho-lexical constructions and with the use of a coalition of resources (e.g. UG constraints, cognitive learning strategies). Cheryl Frenck-Mestre (CNRS, Aix-en-Provence) and I have collaborated on a study of French gender acquisition by learners with and without gender in their native language and presented our results at EUROSLA 2005.

My ongoing research with colleague Deborah Arteaga (UNLV) is examining longitudinal data of three advanced French L2 learners to ascertain development of L2 competence. We are looking at their acquisition of verbal and nominal inflection, verb raising, object clitics and sociolinguistic competence. We have presented our work at several conferences (GALA, SLRF 2005, 2006, BUCLD 2005, LSRL 2006, GASLA 2006, PACSLRF 2006).

If you have any further questions or comments please contact us at phoneme@u.washington.edu

Last modified 6/19/06 by Joyce Parvi