Developmental Sequence for German Second Language Word Order Rules (based on Pienemann 1987)

Stage X -- Canonical order (SVO)

die kinder spielen mim ball
the children play with the ball

(The initial SVO hypothesis of speakers of Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian for GSL WO is correct in most German sentences with simple verbs.)

Stage X + 1 -- Adverb preposing (ADV)

da kinder spielen
there children play

(Since German has a verb-second rule, requiring subject-verb inversion following a preposed adverb (there play children), all sentences of this form are deviant.  The verb-second (or 'inversion') rule is only acquired at Stage X + 3, however.  The adverb-preposing rule itself is optional.)

Stage X + 2 -- Verb separation (SEP)

alle kinder muss die pause machen
all children must the break have

(Verb separation is obligatory in standard German.)

Stage X + 3 -- Inversion (INV)

dann hat sie wieder die knoch gebringt
then has she again the bone brought

(Subject and inflected verb forms must be inverted after preposing of elements.)

Stage X + 4 -- Verb-end (V-END)

er sagte, dass er nach hause kommt
he said that he home comes

(In subordinate clauses, the finite verb moves to final position.)

Processing Strategies Underlying the GSL Word Order Stages: 

GSL Word Order Stage

 Strategies Permissible Permutations
X (SVO) canonical order [W X Y Z]
X + 1 (ADV) initialization/finalization [Z X Y W]
X + 2 (SEP) disruption and movement into salient position [W Y Z X]
X + 3 (INV) internal movement [W Y X Z]
X  + 4 (V-END) sub-categorization   [ W  X   Y  Z]
          /|\
         [ABC]

 

Krashen's (1977) Natural Order for ESL

-ING
PLURAL
COPULA (BE)

|

AUXILIARY
ARTICLE

|

IRREGULAR PAST

|

REGULAR PAST (-ed)
3RD PERSON SINGULAR (-s)
POSSESSIVE ('s)


Developmental Sequence  for Interrogatives in ESL

Stage Sample utterance
1.  Rising intonation He work today?
2.  Uninverted WH (+/- aux.) What Mary (is) saying?
3.  Overinversion Do you know where is she?
4.  Differentiation (reanalysis) Does she like where she lives?

Developmental Sequence for ESL Negation

Stage Sample utterance
1.  External No like you/No you playing here!
2.  Internal, pre-verbal Monica no/don't have money.
3.  Auxiliary + negation I don't like SUVs.  I don't sing.
4.  Analyzed don't She doesn't live in New Jersey.