What is discontinuity theory in language?

The discontinuity theory of language is defined as a concept which is based on ‘opposite ideas’. This theory looks at the fact that language is a trait i.e. a unique trait. And this unique part of the trait is something which cannot be compared to anything else.

What is discontinuous constituents linguistics?

Discontinuous constituents are constituents which are. separated from each other by one or more intervening constituent, and. considered either. syntactically contiguous and unitary, or. realizing the same, single meaning.

What did the Johnson and Newport 1989 study show?

Johnson and Newport (1989) is one of the most influential studies which explored the correlation between the age of first immersion in a L2 and the ultimate attainment of L2 grammar. The participants were 46 native Chinese or Korean speakers.

What is syntactic discontinuity?

Syntactic discontinuity is a grammatical phenomenon in which a constituent of a sentence is split into two parts due to the insertion of an element which is not part of it or the movement of a constituent to a position which is not its canonical one.

Who proposed discontinuity theory?

A theory of learning propounded by the US physiological psychologist Karl Spencer Lashley (1890–1958) according to which an organism does not learn gradually about stimuli (1) that it encounters but forms hypotheses, such as always turn left, and learns about a stimulus only in relation to its current hypotheses, so …

Who came up with the critical period hypothesis?

Wilder Penfield
Proposed by Wilder Penfield and Lamar Roberts in 1959, the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) argues that there is a specific period of time in which people can learn a language without traces of the L1 (a so-called “foreign” accent or even L1 syntactical features) manifesting in L2 production (Scovel 48).