UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA
                                       FACOLTA' DI LETTERE E FILOSOFIA
                    DIPARTIMENTO DI LINGUE E LETTERATURE ANGLO-GERMANICHE
                                                     TESI DI LAUREA 
                                  IN LINGUE E LETTERATURE STRANIERE MODERNE
                                        LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 
                                      AND UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR
                                             A Survey of Recent Research
            Relatori:      Ch.mo prof. ALBERTO MIONI
                           Ch.mo prof. JOZEF FALINSKI
                                                                           Candidato: GIUSEPPE GENTILE
                                                                                            Matr.n.266231-LS
                                            ANNO ACCADEMICO 1994-1995
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                                      CONTENTS
        ABBREVIATIONS                                               p.6
        ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS                                            p.7
        PART I. FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION                          p.8
        INTRODUCTION                                                p.9
        1.   LINGUISTIC THEORY AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION             p.14
             1.1 Generative grammar: some basic assumptions for language
                  acquisition
             1.1.1     The knowledge of language
             1.1.2     Departure from structuralism
             1.1.3     E-language vs I-language
             1.1.4     Competence vs performance
             1.1.5     Perception vs production
             1.1.6     Descriptive and explanatory adequacy
             1.2 The language faculty
             1.2.1     The Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
             1.2.2     The 'modular mind'
             1.2.3     Alternative views
             1.3 Universal of language and language acquisition
             1.4 Markedness
             1.5 Early child grammar
             1.5.1     Early stages
             1.5.2     The control of experiments
             1.5.3     Child language acquisition research: two approaches
        2.   THE LOGICAL PROBLEM OF FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION      p.38
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             2.1 The poverty of stimulus and Plato's problem
             2.2 The 'projection problem'
             2.3 Input available to first language learners
             2.3.1     Direct positive evidence
             2.3.2     Indirect negative evidence
             2.3.3     Direct negative evidence
             2.3.4     Explanatory evidence
             2.4 Input data and learneability conditions
             2.4.1     The superset condition
             2.4.2     Intersecting/disjoint sets
             2.4.3     The subset condition and the Subset Principle
             2.5 Summary
        3.   LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND THE THEORY OF PARAMETERS      p.54
             3.1 Universal Grammar theory
             3.1.1     Principles and parameters
             3.1.2     Subtheories of grammar
             3.1.3     Structure-dependence principle
             3.1.4     Levels of representations
             3.1.5     The lexicalist hypothesis
             3.1.6     Empty categories
             3.1.7     Head parameter and German verb placement
             3.1.8     The null subject phenomenon
             3.1.9     Adjacency condition on Case assignment
             3.2 Parameter-setting model of language acquisition
             3.2.1     Introduction
             3.2.2     The 'instantaneous' model
             3.2.3     The 'continuity hypothesis'
             3.2.4     The 'maturational hypothesis'
             3.3 Markedness and the theory of parameters
             3.3.1     Parameters and Subset Principle
             3.3.2     The prodrop parameter and language acquisition
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             3.3.3     The isomorphism principle
             3.4 Conclusion of part I
        PART II. SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION                        p.88
        4.   LINGUISTIC THEORY AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION      p.89
             4.1 Introduction
             4.2 Typological vs generative approach to L2A
             4.2.1     Language universals and L2A
             4.2.2     Interlanguage systems
             4.2.3     Markedness and language transfer
             4.3 The 'Critical Period Hypothesis'
             4.4 The 'Fundamental Difference Hypothesis'
             4.5 The 'Fundamental Identity Hypothesis'
        5.   THE LOGICAL PROBLEM OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION     p.105
             5.1 Introduction
             5.2 Second language knowledge
             5.3 Second language development and UG
             5.4 L2A and 'the poverty of stimulus' argument
             5.5 Evidence available to second language learners
             5.5.1     Direct negative evidence
             5.5.2     Indirect negative evidence
             5.5.3     Simplified registers
             5.6 Conclusion
        6.   SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: PRINCIPLES AND PARAMETERS  p.118
             6.1 Introduction
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