Knowledge of Language as a Complex System and Issues in Second Language Learnability

Abstract

Characterizing language knowledge as a complex adaptive system helps us to have a clearer understanding of its properties and development. Of particular importance is to take into consideration the fact that the components of the system interact with each other, so that the entire system would be constantly updated. This seems to imply that learning a particular feature of a second language may have consequences for other aspects of the knowledge system. The possibility has been discussed in several studies, though not explicitly in terms of complexity. Several of them have suggested the roles of indirect triggers for system development and the transfer of processing strategies. Thus, the notion of ‘evidence’ in the discussion of language learnability needs to be expanded to take them fully into account. This paper develops the arguments, with reference to the sense network of polysemous words as a manifestation of complex system, and suggests future research directions.