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Second language acquisition (SLA) is a field of inquiry that has increased in importance since the 1960s. Currently researchers adopt multiple perspectives in the analysis of learner language all of them providing different but complementary answers to the understanding of oral and written data produced by young and older learners in different settings. The main goal of this volume is to provide the reader with updated reviews of the major contemporary approaches to SLA the research carried out within them and wherever appropriate the implications and/or applications for theory research and pedagogy that might derive from the available empirical evidence. The book is intended for SLA researchers as well as for graduate (MA Ph.D.) students in SLA research applied linguistics and linguistics as the different chapters will be a guide in their research within the approaches presented. The volume will also be of interest to professionals from other fields interested in the SLA process and the different explanations that have been put forward to account for it.

Recipient of the Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics 2014 Book Award.

The analysis of constructions denoting possession (particularly but not exclusively in English) has long presented a challenge to morpho-syntactic theory and has been a topic of debate for some time. The papers presented here afford thought-provoking insights into the morphosyntactic nature of possessive markers under a variety of theoretical frameworks. The distribution of phrases expressing possession is explored in a range of languages (including English Swedish Urdu and West Flemish) with rigorous exploitation of corpus data and careful statistical analysis. Descriptions and analyses represent the state of the art in research into possessive constructions. Particular attention is paid to the English possessive ’s both synchronically and diachronically. This volume is essential for scholars interested in theoretical and corpus-based linguistics morphosyntactic constructions and the expression of possession.

This volume investigates the clausal syntax of Wolof an understudied Atlantic language of Senegal. The goals of the work are descriptive analytical and comparative with a focus on the structure of the left periphery and left peripheral phenomena. The book includes detailed examination of the morpho‑syntax of wh‑questions successive cyclicity subject marking relative clauses topic/focus articulation and complementizer agreement. Novel data from Wolof is used to evaluate and extend theoretical proposals concerning the structure of the Complementizer Phrase (CP) and Tense Phrase (TP). It is argued that Wolof provides evidence for the promotion analysis of relative clauses an “exploded” CP and TP and for analyses that treat relative clauses as composed of a determiner with a CP complement. It is further argued that Wolof has a set of silent wh‑expressions and these are compared to superficially similar constructions in colloquial German Bavarian Dutch and Norwegian. The book also presents a comparison of complementizer agreement across a number of related and unrelated languages. Data from Indo‑European (Germanic varieties French Irish) Niger‑Congo (Atlantic Bantu Gur) and Semitic (Arabic) languages put the Wolof phenomena in a larger typological context by showing the range of variation in complementizer agreement systems.

Japanese ranks as the ninth most widely spoken language of the world with more than 127 million speakers in the island state of Japan. Its genetic relation has been a topic of heated discussion but Altaic and Austronesian languages appear to have contributed to the early formation of this language. Japanese has a long written tradition which goes back to texts from the eighth century CE. The modern writing system employs a mixture of Chinese characters and two sets of syllabary indigenously developed based on the Chinese characters.<br xmlns="http://pub2web.metastore.ingenta.com/ns/"/>This book consists of sixteen chapters covering the phonology morphology writing system tense and aspect systems basic argument structure grammatical constructions and discourse and pragmatic phenomena of Japanese. It provides researchers with a useful typological reference and students of Japanese with a theory-neutral introduction to current linguistic research issues.

This volume in honor of Jan Terje Faarlund covers the areas in which he has contributed to linguistic theorizing ranging from in-depth studies of Norwegian and Scandinavian grammar both synchronically and diachronically to work on the Indian language Chiapas Zoque. The book is organized thematically with two chapters on each topic: The grammar of the Scandinavian languages (Tor A. Åfarli and Christer Platzack); language policies and sociolinguistics (Unn Røyneland and Peter Trudgill); French (Hans Petter Helland and Christine Meklenborg Salvesen); language change (Werner Abraham and Elly van Gelderen); lesser-studied languages (Alice Harris and Jerry Sadock); language acquisition (David Lightfoot and Marit Westergaard); and language evolution (Erika Hagelberg and Salikoko Mufwene). This book will be of interest to a wide range of readers from students to scholars working on any of the areas covered.

The (dis)empowerment of languages through language policy in multilingual postcolonial communities often shapes speakers’ identification with these languages their attitude towards other languages in the community and their choices in interpersonal and intergroup communication. Focusing on the dynamics of Cameroon’s multilingualism this book contributes to current debates on the impact of politic language policy on daily language use in sociocultural and interpersonal interactions multiple identity construction indigenous language teaching and empowerment the use of Cameroon Pidgin English in certain formal institutional domains initially dominated by the official languages and linguistic patterns of social interaction for politeness respect and in-group bonding. Due to the multiple perspectives adopted the book will be of interest to sociolinguists applied linguists pragmaticians Afrikanists and scholars of postcolonial linguistics.