The Implications of Interlanguage, Pidginization and Creolization for the Study of Adult Second Language Acquisition

TLDR

Second‑language learning theories view learner speech as systematic attempts to engage with target‑language data, treating utterances as part of a genuine linguistic system rather than mere errors. This study proposes a model of learner language development grounded in the social functions of pidgin and creole languages, focusing exclusively on naturally.

Abstract

This paper describes several recent views of second language learning all of which see learner speech as systematic attempts to perform in the target language. The social functions of pidgin and creole languages are presented as the basis for a model of the development of the learner language. Within this model, the learner language is seen to simplify and reduce when it is restricted to a strictly communicative function; it is seen to complicate and expand when it is extended to integrative and expressive functions. Examples of these processes are presented from various pidgins and creoles. 1.0 Interlanguage. In recent years a hypothesis has developed that regards the speech of a second language learner at any point in the acquisition process as a systematic attempt to deal with the target language data. Accordingly, the utterances of such a learner are not mistakes or deviant forms, but rather are part of a separate but nevertheless genuine linguistic system. For the purposes of this paper a second language learner will be defined as one who is acquiring a language naturally from exposure to speakers of that language; we will exclude from consideration the learner who is receiving second language instruction. Thus in this paper we are concerned only with language learning and not with language teaching.