Is the Subset Principle Available to L1 Acquirers in the Course of Language Acquisition?

Abstract

In the realm of language acquisition, different theories have been argued particularly when researchers try to find aspects of language acquisition or constraints on learnability as a cause of change. One of the proposed issues regarding learnability is the subset principle. It is more controversial when it is said that there is no negative evidence in the input and no overgeneralization occurs in language acquisition. This study investigates one important aspect of constraints on learnability, i.e., the subset principle. Attempts have been made to prove the role of subset principle in language acquisition by considering some issues such as negative evidence, overgeneralization and parameter setting and comparing and contrasting some examples concerning the subset principle.