Lydia White facts for kids

Lydia White, a language expert, in Montreal, Canada (2018)

Lydia White, born in 1946, is a Canadian expert in languages. She is known for her work on how people learn a second language. She used to be a special professor of language studies at McGill University in Canada.

About Lydia White

Lydia White studied at two famous universities. She earned her first degree from Cambridge University in 1969. Later, in 1980, she received her PhD in language studies from McGill University.

Her first book, Grammatical Theory and Language Acquisition, was published in 1982. It explored how children learn their first language. She looked at how our brains might be set up to learn language. In 1989, she wrote Universal Grammar and Second Language Acquisition. This book became a key text for students learning about second language acquisition. It focused on how the idea of Universal Grammar (a theory that all languages share basic rules) helps us understand how people learn new languages. Lydia White continued this work in her 2003 book, Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar. This book further explained how Universal Grammar guides and limits how we learn a second language.

Awards and Recognition

Lydia White has received several important awards. In 2010, she was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. This is a high honor for Canadian scholars. In 2012, she was given the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. This medal celebrates important contributions to Canada.

She also helps guide several important academic journals. These include Language Acquisition, Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, and Second Language Research. She also helps edit a book series called Language Acquisition and Language Disorders.

In 2006, a special book called Inquiries in Linguistic Development was published in her honor. This type of book, called a Festschrift, is a collection of writings by different authors to celebrate a respected scholar.

Key Books

Lydia White has written several important books on language learning:

• Grammatical Theory and Language Acquisition (1982)
• Universal Grammar and Second Language Acquisition (1989)
• Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar (2003)

Important Articles

Lydia White has also edited special issues for many leading journals. She has written many articles in journals like Language Learning and Second Language Research. Some of her notable articles include:

• "Missing surface inflection or impairment in second language acquisition? Evidence from tense and agreement." (2000, with Philippe Prévost)
• "Adverb placement in second language acquisition: Some effects of positive and negative evidence in the classroom." (1991)
• "The "pro-drop" parameter in adult second language learning." (1985)