diff --git a/lib/linter/linter.js b/lib/linter/linter.js
index bd8070ced5e4..247f87932698 100644
--- a/lib/linter/linter.js
+++ b/lib/linter/linter.js
@@ -433,13 +433,18 @@ function getDirectiveComments(filename, ast, ruleMapper, warnInlineConfig) {
 
 /**
  * Normalize ECMAScript version from the initial config
- * @param  {number} ecmaVersion ECMAScript version from the initial config
+ * @param {number} ecmaVersion ECMAScript version from the initial config
+ * @param {string} parserName the parser's name
  * @returns {number} normalized ECMAScript version
  */
-function normalizeEcmaVersion(ecmaVersion = DEFAULT_ECMA_VERSION) {
-
-    if (ecmaVersion === "latest") {
-        return espree.latestEcmaVersion;
+function normalizeEcmaVersion(ecmaVersion, parserName) {
+    if (parserName === DEFAULT_PARSER_NAME || parserName === void 0) {
+        if (ecmaVersion === "latest") {
+            return espree.latestEcmaVersion;
+        }
+        if (ecmaVersion === void 0) {
+            return DEFAULT_ECMA_VERSION;
+        }
     }
 
     /*
@@ -547,10 +552,7 @@ function resolveParserOptions(parserName, providedOptions, enabledEnvironments)
         mergedParserOptions.ecmaFeatures = Object.assign({}, mergedParserOptions.ecmaFeatures, { globalReturn: false });
     }
 
-    // for a 3rd-party parser, do not normalize parserOptions
-    if (parserName === DEFAULT_PARSER_NAME || parserName === void 0) {
-        mergedParserOptions.ecmaVersion = normalizeEcmaVersion(mergedParserOptions.ecmaVersion);
-    }
+    mergedParserOptions.ecmaVersion = normalizeEcmaVersion(mergedParserOptions.ecmaVersion, parserName);
 
     return mergedParserOptions;
 }