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date: 28 January 2021

Abstract and Keywords

Most of the world’s population speaks a second language. Most of the words in a language are multimorphemic. Thus, the study of second language acquisition and processing offers a key window onto the nature of morphological representation and morphological ability. This chapter examines the acquisition, representation, and processing of inflected, derived, and compound words in a second language. Perspectives on second language variability and accuracy are surveyed, as well as perspectives on the path of development of morphological knowledge in second language learners. The chapter highlights how linguistic theory and experimentation can be used to (a) advance the understanding of morphological representation and processing, and (b) probe what underlies morphological ability. Finally, this chapter addresses the question of how an integrated bilingual mental lexicon can both maximize interlingual connectivity and accommodate the morphological differences that exist between languages.

Keywords: acquisition, bilingualism, compounds, derivation, inflection, interfaces, mental lexicon, morphological ability, phonology

John Archibald

Professor of Linguistics at the University of Victoria where he specializes in the study of generative approaches to second language acquisition, particu-larly second language phonology. His recent research has focused on the interfaces of L2 phonology with morphology and syntax. Before moving to Victoria, he spent nineteen years at the University of Calgary in the Department of Linguistics, and the Language Research Centre.

Gary Libben

Gary Libben is a psycholinguist and neurolinguist who is working on the development of new models and research methods to advance our understanding of how words are represented in the mind and brain. He received a PhD in Linguistics from McGill University in 1986 and holds a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Concordia University. Dr. Libben is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, co-founder and editor of the journal The Mental Lexicon, founding director and co-director of the University of Alberta’s Centre for Comparative Psycholinguistics, and former President of the Canadian Linguistics Association.

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