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چکیده
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Abstract This study investigated the interaction of L1, L2, and L3 in the acquisition of English interrogative structures by Persian monolingual and Kurdish-Persian Bilingual (Kalhori and Sorani) learners across different levels of language proficiency as L2 and L3 learners of English in light of generative UG models. Generative models are concerned with matters such as Universal Grammar, Language Transfer and Morphological Variability in non- primary language development. Hence, this study tries to test the claims and predictions made by a number of such generative hypotheses as Full Transfer Full Access (FTFA), Representational Deficit Hypothesis (RDH), Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH), Direct Access (DA), Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (MSIH), and Modulated Structure Building Hypothesis (MBSH). As the three languages differ in reassembling the syntactic features of interrogative structures, it would be assumed that Persian monolinguals and both Kalhori and Sorani Kurdish-Persian bilinguals may have difficulty in acquiring these constructions in English as their target language. Accordingly, through a comparative study, the role of language background of the two groups was scrutinized in the light of most recent generative models of second language acquisition. For this purpose, 108 learners including Persian monolingual and Kalhori and Sorani KurdishPersian bilingual learners of English participated in the study. Having taken an Oxford Placement Test (OPT, 2001), they were assigned to three levels of language proficiency (lower intermediate, upper intermediate, and advanced). They then received a Grammaticality Judgment Test (GJT) and a Translation Test (TT). To analyze the data, the inferential Statistics of ANOVA and Post hoc Scheffe tests were employed. The results showed that whereas no significant difference was found between the performances of monolinguals and bilinguals at each level of language proficiency, the v difference was statistically significant across the levels of proficiency. It was also found that no single generative hypothesis can offer a comprehensive explanation of the whole process of language acquisition; in other words, language development occurs in an Incremental manner. Key words: Full Access/Full Transfer (FAFT), Representational Deficit Hypothesis (RDH), Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (MSIH), Modulated Structure Building Hypothesis (MSBH), Persian monolinguals, Kurdish-Persian bilinguals, initial state
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