ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a conceptualization of the ways in which the pieces of acquisition fit together, integrating aspects of language acquisition. It also shows the multiple roles that language transfer and universals have. Their roles can only be understood in relation to a specific part of the process. For example, language transfer, as part of prior knowledge, can have a filtering role, as in going from input to apperceived input, and a processing role, as at the level of intake. Psycholinguistic processing and linguistic phenomena in the middle are more influenced by mental constraints that are less accessible to direct manipulation. One would thus expect a correlation between affective variables and what is apperceived on the one hand and what is produced on the other, and a lack of correlation between affective variables and aspects of, for example, UG. In sum, there is a major role for apperceived input, determined to a large extent by selective attention.
