Language as a Complex Adaptive System (LaCAS)

‘The Five Graces Group’ (Beckner, C., Blythe, R., Bybee, J., Christiansen, M. H., Croft, W., Ellis, N. C., Holland, J., Ke, J., Larsen-Freeman, D., Schoenemann, T.) (2009). Language is a complex adaptive system. Position paper, Language Learning, 59, Supplement 1, 1-27. download

Ellis, N. C. (2023). Bilingual language cognition as a complex adaptive system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1-2. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728922000372

Ellis, N. C. (2008). The dynamics of second language emergence: Cycles of language use, language change, and language acquisition. Modern Language Journal, 92:2, 232-249. download

Ellis, N. C. (2022) Second language learning of morphology. Journal of the European Second Language Association, 6(1), 34–59. download the pdf article.

Ellis, N. C. (2016). Salience, Cognition, Language Complexity, and Complex Adaptive Systems. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38 (2), 341-351.  download

Douglas Fir Group (Atkinson, D., Byrnes, H., Doran, M., Duff, P., Ellis, N., Hall, J. K., Johnson, K., Lantolf, J., Larsen–Freeman, D., Negueruela, E., Norton, B., Ortega, L., Schumann, J., Swain, M., and Tarone, E.) (2016). A transdisciplinary framework for SLA in a multilingual world. Modern Language Journal, 100, 19-47. download

Ellis, N. C. & Larsen-Freeman, D. (Eds). (2006). Language Emergence: Implications for Applied Linguistics. Special issue.  Applied Linguistics, 27(4). link

Hulstijn, J. H., Young, R. F., Ortega, L., Bigelow, M., DeKeyser, R., Ellis, N. C., Lantolf, J. P., Mackey, A., & Talmy, S. (2014). Bridging the Gap: Cognitive and social approaches to research in second language learning and teaching. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 36 (3), 361-421 download

Ellis, N. C. (2012). Emergentism. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics: Cognitive Approaches (General Editor Carol A. Chapelle; Area Editor Marianne Gullberg & John Williams). Wiley-Blackwell. download

Ellis, N. C. & O’Donnell, M.   (2011). Robust Language Acquisition – an Emergent Consequence of Language as a Complex Adaptive System. In L. Carlson, C. Hölscher, & T. Shipley (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 3512-3517). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society. link

Ellis, N. C. & Larsen-Freeman, D. (2006). Language Emergence: Implications for Applied Linguistics. Introduction to the Special Issue.  Applied Linguistics, 27(4), 558-589. download

Ellis, N. C. (2011). The emergence of language as a complex adaptive system. In J. Simpson (Ed.), Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp. 666-679), London: Routledge/Taylor Francis. download

Ellis, N. C. (2007). Dynamic Systems Theory and SLA: The wood and the trees. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 10 (1), 23-25. download