The Cumulative Enhancement Model proposed by Flynn et al. (2004) seeks to provide an explanatory model for multiple language acquisition. Results reported in this paper present further evidence in support of this model. Results of an elicited imitation task comparing the production of relative clauses by learners of GermanL1 and HungarianL1/GermanL2 acquiring L2 and L3 English respectively at three levels of proficiency indicate, on the one hand, an increased facilitation in subsequent acquisition with each new language learned and, on the other hand, development of syntactic knowledge in L3 acquisition that cannot be explained in terms of an astructural transfer from the last language learned.

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There have been outstanding attempts within the generative framework for linguistic theory to determine the character of the language faculty and its deployment in language learning. First-language (L1) acquisition studies have provided important insights into how the mind and language work. The pioneering work of Braine (1963), followed by that of Brown (1973), argued for the child developing its grammar using its own rules independent of those of an adult speaker, an assumption that paved the way to instituting L1 acquisition as a research field in its own right. L1 acquisition, however, encounters serious difficulties when attempts are made to explore the interaction of general cognitive and specifically linguistic processes in the learner's mind, because limitations deriving from general developmental (that is, maturational) deficits bear upon the languagelearning process of children. In order to understand language and language learning as a crucial part of human cognitive processes, linguistic theory must accommodate the results provided by second-language (L2) acquisition studies, where L2 refers to a language acquired after infancy, 1 for here maturational issues play practically no role in the process of language development. The issue of access to Universal Grammar in L2 acquisitionL2 acquisition research, then, provides an opportunity to examine language development independent of the influence of other developing cognitive processes, a necessary step in setting the basis for an adequate theory of language acquisition and competence (

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With the aim to attain a principled understanding of adult L2/L3 acquisition, we present data from a large corpus that focuses on L2/L3 identification of nominal gaps of empty categories. We show that both surface and abstract properties of the target language play significant roles in development. The analyses of amount correct and nature of errors indicate that the initial state in both L2/L3 studies emerge in terms of the learners’ identification of a nominal gap within the given expression but not necessarily in an L1 manner. Based on the finding that CLI is syntactically selective and principled, multilingual development is to be understood as a specific reconstruction and integration of surface and abstract features of the target language.