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Second Language Acquisition: Possible Insights from Studies on How Birds Acquire Song

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Denise M. Neapolitan ,
Irene M. Pepperberg  and
Linda Schinke-Llano
Denise M. Neapolitan
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
Irene M. Pepperberg
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
Linda Schinke-Llano
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
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Extract

Research into general linguistic and cognitive processes in humans has been aided by studies of analogous processes in animals. Studies on how birds develop their species-specific song have been of particular interest to researchers seeking to identify critical variables and universels in first language acquisition in humans. Because of recent studies on exceptional song acquisition, that is, time-independent. learning of second dialects or song by birds generally thought to acquire a single song during a limited sensitive period, we suggest that there also exist significant parallels between human second language acquisition and avian bilingualism. The purpose of this paper is to highlight these parallels and to demonstrate that such interspecies comparisons may provide new insights into the processes of second language acquisition.

Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , February 1988 , pp. 1 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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