Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-npj9w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-09T23:17:18.733Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Some incorrect implications of the fullaccess hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Frederick J. Newmeyer
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195–4340. fjn@u.washington.edu

Abstract

If Epstein et al. are right that adult second language learners have full access to UG, then all of the following should be true: adults should be able to consciously transform their I-Language; adults should be able to transform pidgins into Creoles; adults should be as likely as children to restructure their grammars on the basis of “functional” pressure. All the foregoing are false, however, which seriously calls into question the correctness of their hypothesis.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable