Abstract
In recent research, it is claimed that deviant features of interlanguage grammars arise only from the users' knowledge of the rule system of the target language. This paper examines the relative contribution of the rule system of each of the target language, the native language and of universal tendencies to a deviant aspect of Yoruba-English phonology. It concludes that the native language is the major source of deviance in the aspect of Yoruba-English investigated.
Highlights
In her analysis of Spanish English (SE), Mairs concludes that the deviant stress pattern of that interlanguage derives from the stress rules of "standard" English
Mairs' conclusión is based on her working assumption expressed in her introductory passage in the following words: When second language learners from a common language background produce the same approximations of target language forms, it may be assumed that they are using the same rules to genérate these forms, and that these rules are based upon linguistic knowledge available to all of them
After a thorough analysis of word stress in SE, Mairs, in apparent loyalty to "current second language acquisition theory," concludes as follows: While stress systems based on universal tendencies or on the Spanish speakers' native language stress rules did not appear to account for the interlanguage data, it was determined that all of the stress patterns that did occur in the data can be generated by Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses the target language stress system, given the independently motivated condition on rule application formulated in the Marked Rime Hypothesis
Summary
In her analysis of Spanish English (SE), Mairs concludes that the deviant stress pattern of that interlanguage derives from the stress rules of "standard" English. After a thorough analysis of word stress in SE, Mairs, in apparent loyalty to "current second language acquisition theory," concludes as follows: While stress systems based on universal tendencies or on the Spanish speakers' native language stress rules did not appear to account for the interlanguage data, it was determined that all of the stress patterns that did occur in the data can be generated by Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses the target language stress system, given the independently motivated condition on rule application formulated in the Marked Rime Hypothesis. The findings in the present study lead to the following three conclusions: (1) speakers of an interlanguage (IL) from the same language background use the same rules to genérate common deviant forms; (2) these rules are based upon linguistic knowledge commonly available to the speakers; (3) the incorrect forms are generated mainly by the rules of the speakers' native language. Since the third conclusión contradicts the current second language acquisition theory underlying Mairs' findings, it will be the focus of the analysis of the Yoruba-English (YE) data carried out in the present study
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