Mental design and (second) language epistemology: adjectival restrictions of wh-quantifiers and tense in English-French interlanguage

Abstract

This study addresses the issue of second language (L2) epistemology assuming Chomsky’s (1995) discussion of the place of Universal Grammar (UG) in mental design: i.e., the optimal solution to the mental design problem for language in the sense of Minimalist theory. Aspects of interpretation of continuous and discontinuous interrogatives of the form qui de AP (‘who (of) AP’) in first language and L2 acquisition appear to follow from principles of economy in mental design and language-dependent hypotheses. We argue that such knowledge is guaranteed to arise in the absence of relevant input only if a grammar is a realization of language-dependent hypotheses and basic principles of grammar, but crucially not if it consists of a set of (derivative) grammatical theorems not constrained by principles of optimal design.