The Role of Age in L2 Acquisition
YAMASHITA Hiroshi
NoticeThis paper is based on the results of a survey included in Inaba(2016). Kento Inaba is my seminar student
who has been working under my supervision for the past two years to complete his BA thesis. In that sense,
he should be my coauthor here and I still believe he deserves it. But unfortunately, it is the university policy
not to include any students in its working papers. I would here like to thank him for his great efforts andhope for his success in the future. Thank you and best wishes to you, Kento.

Abstract
The aim of this article is to conduct another experiment to see whether the critical period hypothesis is on
the right track, using negative questions in English and Japanese. As has often been pointed out, the way
we answer these questions differs between English and Japanese, so we believe they serves as appropriate
items to be tested. We will conclude here that adult language learners cannot learn novel items in their new
language so easily, thus supporting the hypothesis.

1. Introduction

involved in adult language learning.

It has often been argued in the literature that

This paper is organized as follows. In Section

Universal Grammar (UG) is available only during a2, we will see what negative questions are and how

limited period of time in one’s childhood and that it

they are answered in Japanese and English. We will

no longer works in the second language acquisition

find out that there is a major difference in how theseof adults. However, this assumption has beenquestions are answered in the two languages. In

challenged by many researchers who believe that

Section 3, we will briefly discuss the methods to be

Universal Grammar is actively involved in second

used in our experiment. The results will be shown

language acquisition of adult learners.

in Section 4.

In this shor t essay, we will conduct anexperiment to see which of these two assumptions iscloser to the truth. The subjects are native speakers

2. Negative Questions in Japanese andEnglishof Japanese who are learning English as a second
language. The items to be tested are negative

In order to see what negative questions are, consider

questions in English and Japanese, and we will seefirst the following examples from English.

if their language acquisition is UG-based or simply
influenced by their mother tongue. We will conclude(1) Did he borrow some money from her?

that most subjects were simply transferring their(2) Didn’t he borrow some money from her?

knowledge of their mother language into the newlanguage, suggesting that UG is no longer actively(1) is an example of a simple Yes/No question, and山梨県立大学 国際政策学部 国際コミュニケーション学科
Department of International Studies and Communications, Faculty of Glocal Policy Management and Communications,
Yamanashi Prefectural University− 120 −

The Role of Age in L2 Acquisition(2) is a negative version of (1).

In English, theanswering negative questions in their own language.

presence or absence of not does not have any major
effect on how these two types of questions are to be

3. Methods of Our Experimentanswered. In other words, if answered yes, it means

In order to conduct an experiment to see whether

that he borrowed money from her, and if the reply is

UG or alike is still active in second languageno, he didn’t borrow money from her regardless ofacquisition of adult learners, we first need to findwhether not is present or not.

some principles of UG or alike that are not activated

In Japanese, the situation is completelydifferent.

in one’s first language but is in full use in the target
language, thus excluding the possibility that thelearners simply transfer their knowledge in their(3) Kare-ha kanojyo-kara okane-wo karitano?
heherfrom money

first language to the new language. The difference

borrow

between Japanese and English in the way negative‘Did he borrow some money from her?’questions are answered does seem to serve this(4) Kare-ha kanojyo-kara okane-wo kari

objective.

heherfrom money

borrow

Our subjects are forty-seven native speakers

nakkataka?

of Japanese who have been studying English for atnotleast six years in Japan and four native speakers of‘Didn’t he borrow some money from her?’English serving as controls. We will see whether
their native language has any effect on theirAnswering hai or yes to the simple Yes/No question

performance in the target language.

in (3) means that kare(he) did borrow money

All our subjects were given the test infrom kanojyo(her) and iie(no) means that he did

Appendix 1. As this experiment is to know whether

not borrow money from her. In the case of theUG is accessible to adult language learners andnegative question in (4), saying hai means that he

not to child learners, we asked each subject to

did not borrow money and iie means he did borrow

accurately indicate at what age he or she had started

money from her. In other words, unlike the cases

studying the second language. It has often been

in English, the presence of a negative marker doessuggested that UG is available in second language

have an effect on the way the question is answered.

learning of young children but not in that of adults,

What makes the situation even more complicatedso including the data from those who had started

in Japanese is that there are some speakers whotheir second language learning at an earlier stage

respond to negative questions like (4) differently: i.e.,might undermine the validity of the results. We

hai in case he borrowed money from her and iie toalso excluded those who had learned generativerefer to the fact that he didn’t, just like in the case ofgrammar, as their knowledge in syntax might have

English negative questions.

influence their responses.

In summary, although there seems to be no

As discussed in the previous section, Japanesedifference in the way simple Yes/No questions are

speakers are divided over how they respond toanswered in Japanese and English, speakers of thesenegative questions in Japanese. There are many

two languages differ in the way they respond to

speakers who answer them just like their English

negative questions. What makes the situation evencounterparts do in English. We excluded thesemore complicated is that there are some speakers

speakers from the test, as they might simply haveof Japanese who behave like English speakers when

been transferring their knowledge in Japanese into

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山梨国際研究山梨県立大学国際政策部紀要

No. 11（2016）

5. Concluding Remarks

English as they had learned to speak it.
Simple Yes/No questions were included in theIn this short essay on second language acquisition

test to ensure that each subject had reached a levelof adults, we conducted another experiment to see

at which negative questions should have emerged inwhether principles of UG or alike that are not usedtheir second language. These constitute the Syntax

in one’s first language but present in the target

Test in the sense of Otsu and Naoi(1986), Naoi(1989)

language could still be available in L2 learning. Theand Schachter(1990). Tag questions were used

items that were tested this time were negative

simply as distracters.

questions. English and Japanese differ in how thesequestions are answered, so they could be suitable

4. The Results

items to be tested to know the role of UG in L2Out of the forty-seven students who volunteered inlearning. The results show that UG is no longer

this survey, nine fell in the Syntax Test. We used allavailable to adults, supporting the critical period

the simple Yes/No questions in the English test as

hypothesis.

the Syntax Test. We then went on to see whether
the thirty-eight subjects who passed the preliminary

Acknowledgement

Syntax Test had answered Japanese negative

We would like to thank Prof. Tamaki Morita ofquestions differently from English questions, using

Yamanashi Prefectural University for helping usQuestions 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19 in theanalyze the data. Special thanks also go to Peter

Japanese test. Those who had chosen (a) as theMountford and Jill Strothman who served as

answers to more than twenty percent of thesecontrols. Needless to say, I am to blame for all thequestions were also excluded. We were left withremaining errors.

thirty-two subjects, who were analyzed for negative
questions in English; i.e., Questions 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and
10 in the English test. The results are shown inReferences
Inaba, K.(2016) “ 第 2 言語習得における UG の役割について

Table 1 below.

―日本語と英語の否定疑問文の答え方から―” BA thesis,
Yamanashi Prefectural University.

Table 1 Accuracy Rate for the Negative Questions

Naoi, K.(1989) "Structure Dependence in Second Language
Acquisition," MITA Working Papers in Psycholinguistics

in the English Test

2, 63-77.
Otsu, Y. and K. Naoi(1986) "Structure Dependence in L2

Question 2

31.3%

Question 4

43.8%

Question 6

40.6%

Question 8

34.4%

Acquisition," Paper presented at J.A.C.E.T. , Keio
University, Tokyo, September, 1986.
Schachter, j. (1990) “On the Issue of Completeness in SecondLanguage Acquisition, “93-124.

Question 10 31.3%
Out of the thirty-two students, only eight, or twentyfive percent, had more than eighty-percent accuracy.
Based on these results we here admit that adultlanguage learners cannot learn novel items in their
new language so easily, thus supporting the critical
period hypothesis.

− 122 −

Second Language Research 6,

The Role of Age in L2 Acquisition

Appendix 1: The Test
国際コミュニケーション学科 4 年 2014GI401 稲葉健斗といいます。疑問文の受け答えの考察についての卒業論文を書くにあたり、以下の質問と問題に答えていただきたいと考えています。少し手間を取らせてしまいますが、よろしくお願いします。
本記載事項は、卒業研究（卒業論文）のみに使用します。個人情報の流出は絶対にしないことと、厳重な取り扱いをすることを約束します。
氏名（）

１．年齢を教えてください。 ===== （２．性別を教えてください。

===== （歳）
男性女性）

３．あなたの国籍はどこですか？ === （）４．生成文法に関する講義を受けたことがありますか？
受けていた場合、いつどこで受けましたか？

=====

Yes / No

=====

いつ（）

=====

どこで（）

５．山下先生の英文法の（または生成文法に関する）講義を受けたことがありますか？
=====

Yes / No

６．英語は好きですか嫌いですか？ もっとも近い番号を１つだけ選んでください。
1
2
3
4
5
とても好き

どちらかというと好きどちらともいえない

どちらかというと嫌い

とても嫌い

７．英語圏へ留学したこと、または英語圏に住んだことはありますか ? 当てはまる番号に○を付けてください（複数選択可）。ただし外国語現地演習は除きます。
⑴英語圏に留学したことがある（→ 7.1.）⑵英語圏に住んだことがある（→ 7.2 へ）⑶英語圏に留学したことも住んだこともない（裏面へ）
７．１⑴に○をした方にうかがいます。
どこに何年間と何ヶ月留学をしていましたか ?
=====国名（===== （７．２）
年ヶ月）⑵に○をした方にうかがいます。
どこに何歳から何歳まで住んでいましたか？
=====

国名（=====年齢（）歳～歳）

続いて次ページ以降の問題にお答えください。問題 A と B あわせて全部で 30 問あります。

− 123 −

山梨国際研究問題 A

山梨県立大学国際政策部紀要

No. 11（2016）

次の各質問文に Yes で答えるとします。その場合、答えの意味内容が a. と b. のどちらになるか答えてください。どちらかひとつの記号に○をしてください。
例：Do you have a cellphone?
a. 持っています。

b. 持っていません。

１．Did you see the doctor yesterday?
a. 行きました。

b. 行ってないです。

２．Can’t you swim?
a. 泳げます。

b. 泳げません。

３．You have finished doing your homework, haven’t you?
a. 終わりました。

b. 終わっていません。

４．Aren’t you hungry now?
a. 空腹です。

b. 空腹ではないです。

５．You aren’t a student, are you?
a. 学生です。

b. 学生ではないです。

６．Don’t you have enough money?
a. 持ってます。

b. 持ってません。

７．Can you play the piano?
a. 弾けます。

b. 弾けません。

８．Didn’t you finish reading the book?
a. 終わりました。

b. 終わってないです。

９．You met him yesterday, didn’t you?
a. 会いました。

b. 会っていません。

10．Haven’t you ever been to the United States?
a. 行ったことあります。

b. 行ったことないですでは、問題 B に進んでください。

− 124 −

The Role of Age in L2 Acquisition

問題 B

次の各質問文に「はい、」または「うん、」で答えるとします。その場合、答えの意味内容が a. とb. のどちらになるか答えてください。どちらかひとつの記号に○をしてください。
１．あの先生の講義受けていないの ?
a. 受けている。

b. 受けてない。

２．昨日病院で診察受けた ?
a. 受けました。

b. 受けなかった。

３．今日、朝ごはん食べていないの ?
a. 食べました。

b. 食べてない。

４．かなづちですか ?（かなづち＝まったく泳げない人のこと。 A person who cannot swim is called
Kanazuchi in Japanese.）a. かなづちです。

b. かなづちじゃないです。

５．チョコレートは好きじゃないの ?
a. 好きです。

b. 好きじゃないです。

６．昨日、お昼ごはん食べた ?
a. 食べました。

b. 食べていません。

７．彼は高校生じゃないよね ?
a. 高校生です。

b. 高校生じゃないです。

８．昨夜、ジムに行っていませんか ?
a. 行きました。

b. 行っていません。

９．青色のボールペン持っていないですか ?
a. 持っています。

b. 持っていません。

10．今日はタオル持ってきた？
a. 持ってきました。

b. 持ってきていません。

11．レジ袋は必要ないですか？
a. 必要です。

b. 必要ないです。

12．先週、カラオケに行きました ?
a. 行きました。

b. 行っていません。

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山梨国際研究山梨県立大学国際政策部紀要

No. 11（2016）

13. ヴァイオリンのレッスンを受けたことがない
a. あります。

ですか ?

b. ありません。

14．明日、彼はパーティーに来ますか ?
a. 来ます。

b. 来ません 。

15．今日は寒くない ?
a. 寒いです。

b. 寒くないです。

16．昨日、英語を勉強しましたか ?
a. しました。

b. しませんでした。

17．スマートフォンを使ったことない ?
a. あります。

b. ないです。

18．今日学校の図書館には行きましたか？
a. 行きました。

b. 行きません。

19．彼女はタイピング得意ではないの ?
a. 得意です。

b. 得意じゃないです。

20．車の免許持ってないですよね ?
a. 持ってます。

b. 持ってない。
Inaba (2016)− 126 −

The Role of Age in L2 Acquisition

Appendix 2: The Results of all forty-seven people who volunteered
ID Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 JQ1 JQ2 JQ3 JQ4 JQ5 JQ6 JQ7 JQ8 JQ9 JQ10 JQ11 JQ12 JQ13 JQ14 JQ15 JQ16 JQ17 JQ18 JQ19 JQ20123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445
46
47aaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaabaaaabaaaaaaaabbaaababaaaaaabbbbbbbaaabababbbbbabbaaabaabbaabbabbbabbbbbbaabaabaaaababaaabbbaaaaaaaaaaabaabbabaaaaabaaaaaabbbaaaaaaabababbbbbabaabbaaabbbbbbabbbabbbaabaabbbbabbaaabbbabbbbbabbbbbbbaaabbbabbbbababbbbaabbbbabbababababbbbbbbbabaaaabbabbbbbbbbbbbbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaababaaaaaabbbbbbbababababbbbbbbbabbaaabaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbaabaaaaaaababaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaabaaabbbaaaaabaaaaaabbbbbbbababababbabbbbbabbaaababbbbbbbbbbbbbbbaabbbbbbbbabbbbbbbbababbbbbbbbbbabbbbbbbabbbbbbbbaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaabaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbabbbbabbbbbbbbaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbabbbbbbbbbbabbbbbbbbbbbbbabbbbababbbbbbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbabbbbbbbbaabbbbbaabbbbabbbbabbbbbbbbbbbbbababbbbbbbbbbbbabbabbbabbbababbbbbabbbbbbbbbbbbbaababababbbbbbaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaabaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbababbbbbbbbabbbaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaabaaaaaababbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbabbbbababbbbbbabbbbbaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaabbaabbababbbbbbabbbbbbaabbbabaaabababbbbaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaabaaaaaabbbabbbaabbbbbbbbb
babbbbbbbbbbbb
aaabbbababbbbbbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaabaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbabbbbbbbbbbabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbabbbbbbInaba (2016)− 127 −