Rex Sprouse

Professor of Germanic Studies and Second Language Studies

Ph.D. Princeton University

About Rex:

I arrived at Indiana University in 1994, after having taught at Bucknell University (1985-86), Eastern Oregon State College (1986-88), and Harvard University (1988-94). At IU I have taught primarily courses on the structure, history, and acquisition of the German language. I am a co-founding member of the new Department of Second Language Studies, where I teach a range of courses on second language acquisition.

Selected Recent Publications

Rottet, Kevin & Rex A. Sprouse (2008) Tag questions in Welsh. Diachronica 25: 20-53.

Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Bruce Anderson & Rex A. Sprouse (2007) Syntax-semantics interface. In Dalila Ayoun (ed.), French Applied Linguistics (Language Learning and Language Teaching, 16), Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 75-102.

Schwartz, Bonnie D. & Rex A. Sprouse (2007) Linear sequencing strategies or UG-defined hierarchical structures in L2 acquisition? A reply to Meisel. In Simin Karimi, Vida Samiian & Wendy Wilkins, (eds.), Phrasal and Clausal Architecture: Syntactic Derivation and Interpretation: In Honor of Joseph E. Emonds (Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 101), Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, pp 295-318.

Sprouse, Rex A. (2007) The bankruptcy of the stimulus. In Kamil Ud Deen, Jun Nomura, Barbara Schulz & Bonnie D. Schwartz (eds.), The Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference on Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition—North America. University of Connecticut Occasional Papers in Linguistics 4: 51-63.

Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Bonnie D. Schwartz & Rex A. Sprouse (2006) The comparative fallacy in L2 processing research. In Mary Grantham O’Brien, Catherine Shea & John Archibald (eds.), Proceedings of the 8th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 2006): The Banff Conference, Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, pp. 33-40.

Sprouse, Rex A. (2006) Full Transfer and Relexification: Second language acquisition and creole genesis. In Claire Lefebvre, Christine Jourdan & Lydia White (eds.), L2 Acquisition and Creole Genesis: Dialogues, Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, pp. 169-181.

Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Bonnie D. Schwartz, Rex A. Sprouse & Audrey Liljestrand (2005) Evidence for the C-domain in early Interlanguage. In Susan Foster-Cohen, María del Pilar García-Mayo & Jasone Cenoz (eds.), EuroSLA Yearbook 5, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 7-34.

Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Rex A. Sprouse & Audrey Liljestrand (eds.) (2005), Proceedings of Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (GASLA) 7, Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Rex A. Sprouse & Thaddeus G. Meyer. (2005) Was für N interrogatives and quantifier scope in English-German interpretation. In Laurent Dekydtspotter, Rex A. Sprouse & Audrey Liljestrand (eds.), Proceedings of Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (GASLA) 7, Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, pp. 86-95.

Dekydtspotter, Laurent & Rex A. Sprouse (2003) L2 Performance: Interlanguage representations, computations, and intuitions. In Juana Liceras & Helmut Zobl (eds.), Proceedings of Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (GASLA6), Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press. pp. 45-54.

Schwartz, Bonnie D., Laurent Dekydtspotter, & Rex A. Sprouse (2003) Pouring the fire with gasoline: Questioning conclusions on L2 argument structure. In Juana Liceras & Helmut Zobl (eds.), Proceedings of Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (GASLA6), Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, pp. 348-259.

Roehrs, Dorian, Rex A. Sprouse & Joachim Wermter (2002) The difference between desto and umso: Some mysteries of the German Comparative Correlative. Interdisciplinary Journal of Germanic Linguistics and Semiotic Analysis 7: 15-25.

Dekydtspotter, Laurent & Rex A. Sprouse (2001) Mental design and (second) language epistemology: Adjectival restrictions of wh-quantifiers and tense in English-French interlanguage. Second Language Research 17: 1-35.

Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Rex A. Sprouse & Erin Gibson (2001) The interpretation of two kinds of relative clauses in English-French Interlanguage. Proceedings of the 25th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press. pp. 226-237.

Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Rex A. Sprouse & Kimberly A.B. Swanson (2001) Reflexes of the mental architecture in second language acquisition: The interpretation of discontinuous combien extractions in English-French interlanguage. Language Acquisition 9: 175-227.

Durbin, John & Rex A. Sprouse (2001) The syntactic category of the preterite-present modal verbs in German. In Reimar Müller & Marga Reis (eds.), Modalität und Modalverben im Deutschen (Linguistische Berichte Sonderheft 9), Hamburg: Helmut Buske, pp. 135-148.

Schwartz, Bonnie D. & Rex A. Sprouse (2000) When syntactic theories evolve: Consequences for L2 acquisition research. In John Archibald (ed.), Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theory, Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 156-186.

Dekydtspotter, Laurent, Rex A. Sprouse & Rachel Thyre (1999/2000) The interpretation of quantification at a distance in English-French interlanguage: Domain-specificity and second language acquisition. Language Acquisition 8: 265-320.

Research

My research interests include the structure and history of the languages of Western Europe, second language acquisition research, and syntactic theory. Within the field of second language acquisition, I am known primarily for proposing (jointly with Bonnie D. Schwartz, University of Hawai’i) the Full Transfer/Full Access model and for pioneering (jointly with Laurent Dekydtspotter, Indiana University) the study of the syntax-semantics interface in interlanguage grammars. I am currently (summer 2006) working on developing a model of second language acquisition designed to explained why adult second language acquirers simultaneously appear to be constrained by Universal Grammar but still experience serious deficiencies in the domains of inflectional morphology and lexical acquisition. In syntactic theory, I have worked on topics such as case assignment, auxiliary selection, the loss of null pronouns, Welsh aspectual particles, and the comparative correlative construction in German. I present my current research on a regular basis at the Second Language Research Forum, the Boston University Conference on Language Development, Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition, the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, the Berkeley Germanic Linguistics Roundtable, and Germanic Linguistics: The Annual Conference. My research has been funded in part through grants both from Indiana University (4 grants as the Faculty Sponsor for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Partnerships, a Multidisciplinary Ventures Grant, and a Summer Faculty Fellowship) and from the National Science Foundation.

Recent Courses

Spring 2009: SLST-S511 Second Language Syntax

Fall 2008: GER-G451 Introduction to German Syntax; SLST-S532 Models of Second Language Acquisition

Summer 2008: GER-G361 Contemporary Austria

Spring 2008: Sabbatical leave

Fall 2007: GER-G540 The Acquisition of German as a First and as a Second Language; SLST-S600 Topics in Second Language Studies: The Bilingual Mental Lexicon

Summer 2007: GER-G262 Contemporary Austria

Spring 2007: GER-G451 Introduction to the Structure of the German Language; SLST-S512 Second Language Phonology

Fall 2006: SLST-S600 Topics in Second Language Acquisition: Contact SLA

Summer 2006: GER-G262 Contemporary Austria (formerly G262)

Spring 2006: GER-G551 The Structure of Modern German

Fall 2005: GER-G403 Deutsche Literatur: Das Mittelalter; GER-G532 History of the German Language

Summer 2005: GER-G262 Contemporary Austria

Spring 2005: GER-G451 Introduction to the Structure of the German Language; GER-G540 The Acquisition of German as a First and as a Second Language

Fall 2004: GER-G403 Deutsche Literatur: Das Mittelalter; GER-G491 Elementary German for Graduate Students

Last Words

I love teaching, and I hope that I can communicate something of my enthusiasm for languages, linguistics, language acquisition, and Western and Central European cultures to my students. A frequent challenge that I face in the classroom is to offer courses that be will be meaningful to groups of students with quite heterogenous backgrounds and interests. I strive to ensure that every student is able to acquire the basic building blocks required to understand the material under consideration, but I also want every student to learn to think critically about the material and to pose challenging questions. I am strongly committed to involving graduate students and exceptionally talented undergraduates as co-authors in my research projects. I have served as Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Germanic Studies since 2004 and as the Resident Director of Indiana University’s Summer Overseas Study Program in Graz, Austria since 2002. I am a passionate advocate of overseas study and foreign language study.

Personal Interests

My personal interests include: spirituality and sexuality; Quaker history and theology; non-violence; human rights; social justice; cinema and avant-garde television; anthropology; Kaffee und Kuchen.