1 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay LIN 1300 What is language? Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay 1
2 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Monday, September 17 Last class › Human language Today › Human language (continued) Acquired or innate Remark › Office: Arts 435 2
3 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay How does language develop? General cognitive ability › Starting point: tabula rasa/clean slate Everything is acquired from the environment › Acquired Language-specific genetic programme › Starting point: innate language acquisition device Part of our knowledge about language is pre-wired in our brain, the rest is learned from the environment › Innate 3
4 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language is ‘acquired’ General cognitive ability Behaviourism study of language as a behaviour › Psychology (Skinner) › Explains acquisition in general not just language Language acquisition is determined by both biological and environmental factors There is no genetic programme specific for language acquisition in our brain › Acquisition = thanks to general cognitive processes 4
5 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Practice › sounds, words, grammatical structures, etc. Feedback › Positive (praise) › Negative (correction) Habit formation › Creation of language habits through imitation and practice 5 Language is ‘acquired’: Behaviourism
6 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language is ‘acquired’: Behaviourism Role of the environment › Quality and quantity of input, practice and feedback matters Explains variation in the acquisition process › Language as a ‘social behaviour’ Explains sociolinguistic variation 6
7 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Behaviourism explains: › the acquisition of aspects of language that are regular and routinized › variation 7 Language is ‘acquired’: Behaviourism
8 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Behaviourism does not explain: › Input vs. Knowledge How can children develop such a complex linguistic system by being exposed to so little input? Errors not found in the input What do you think what Cookie Monster eats? Irregular forms ( I goes, two foots, etc.) Semantic innovations › Universality of the acquisition process › Feedback Has little effect Mostly on meaning rather than on form 8 Language is ‘acquired’: Behaviourism
9 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language is ‘innate’ Language-specific genetic programme › Innatism (Chomsky) study of the structure of language › Linguistics › Explains language acquisition only Humans have a genetic predisposition for language acquisition › Brain ≠ tabula rasa (clean slate) Language develops in children like other biological functions, automatically, without help › Ex: organs, learning to walk 9
10 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language is ‘innate’: Innatism Role of the environment › Not very important Explains universality of acquisition sequence Only activates the acquisition mechanism 10
11 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Universal Grammar (UG) › Innate acquisition mechanism › Activated by exposure to language › Also (formerly) called Language Acquisition Device (LAD) › Underlying structure of human language Not a particular language (e.g. English) Contains the principles shared by all languages Parameter setting as a result of exposure to a language Word order, grammatical gender, null/overt subject, etc. 11 Language is ‘innate’: Innatism
12 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language is ‘innate’: Innatism Innatism explains: Input vs. knowledge Universality of the acquisition process Properties universal to all languages 12
13 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language is ‘innate’: Innatism Aspects/Questions not answered Where does UG come from? What is UG genetically? What is part of UG and is learnt from the environment? 13
14 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language is ‘innate’ and ‘acquired’ Combination of innate and acquired Evidence that language could be, at least in part, innate 14
15 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language is innate: Evidence Language is specific to our specie Language acquisition is affected by a sensitive/critical period Language acquisition happens quickly, without teaching, in a similar way for all children ‘Poverty of the stimulus’ and ‘logical problem of language acquisition’ Language functions in the brain at birth Language abilities are dissociated from other cognitive abilities Language develops in a similar way even when it is invented 15
16 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Langage is specific to our specie › Human language is unique › Other species cannot learn it 16 Language is innate: Evidence
17 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language acquisition is affected by a sensitive/critical period › Critical Period (CP) […] a period in the life of an organism, during which this organism may be affected by exogenous influences more easily than at other times. The organism is simply more sensitive to the stimulation in the environment during a critical period than at other times. (adapted from Colombo, 1982, p. 261, in Bongaerts, 2003) 17 Language is innate: Evidence
18 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Evidence of CP in other species › E.g birds Evidence of CP for L1 acquisition in humans › Late L1 acquisition Late exposure Aphasia 18 Language is innate: Evidence
19 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Late exposure to L1: Genie (Curtiss, 1977) › Found at the age of 13 Physically, emotionally and intellectually underdeveloped › Secluded and bound to a chair in a small and dark room › Deprived of interaction and punished for trying to communicate or even make noises After years of rehabilitation › Education and instruction in English Well adapted for various aspects (e.g. intelligence, mental age) Language acquisition incomplete Language is innate: Evidence 19
20 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Aphasia › “Language impairment that results from brain damage” E.g. caused by head trauma after an accident, a stroke, etc. Recovery Fullvery difficult › birth4 years old 10 years oldadulthood Language is innate: Evidence Re-acquisition process more or less similar as the first time around Recovery is easier and often complete Very serious consequenc 20
21 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language is innate: Evidence 21 Language acquisition happens quickly, without explicit teaching, in a similar way for all children › Acquisition by exposure to the input, no need/use for teaching or correcting errors › In the same way under varying circumstances Similar rate and sequence even with different input, modality and language 6-8 months: babbling months: first word months: 2-word utterances ...
22 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Poverty of the stimulus › How do children know so much with so little input? The input is not rich enough to explain the complexity of the linguistic system that is acquired 22 Language is innate: Evidence
23 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Logical problem of language acquisition › Productivity We hear a finite number of sentences, yet we can produce an infinite number of different sentences we have never heard before › Errors Children make errors, yet they all seem to respect certain constraints › Positive evidence mainly Children are not told explicitly what is grammatical and what isn’t, yet they know Children make the right generalisations based on the input 23 Language is innate: Evidence
24 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay › Some mistakes are never found e.g. generalisation of “wanna” for “want to” object question You want to see X = Who do you wanna see? subject question You want X to come = *Who do you wanna come? 24 Language is innate: Evidence
25 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay ‘Poverty of the stimulus’ and ‘logical problem of language acquisition’ › Summary of the ideas Children know a lot more about their L1 than what they could have learned directly from the input 25 Language is innate: Evidence
26 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language functions in the brain at birth › Research on newborns Methods Dichotic listening Electroencephalography (EEG) Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) 26 Language is innate: Evidence
27 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay › Dichotic listening Selective attention in auditory system Different stimuli in each ear Right ear advantage for linguistic stimuli indicates language functions in the left hemisphere 27 Language is innate: Evidence
28 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Electroencephalography (EEG) 28 Language is innate: Evidence Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) › Brain activity indicates specialization of certain regions for language processing in first few days of life
29 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language abilities are dissociated from other cognitive abilities › If language acquisition depended on general cognitive abilities, language abilities would be affected whenever an individual’s cognitive development is affected Specific Language Impairment (SLI) Delays in lg development without cognitive issues (appears to be hereditary) Williams Syndrome Cognitive issues with no/very little lg issues 29 Language is innate: Evidence
30 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Language develops in a similar way even when it is invented › Deaf children deprived of language › Pidgins and creoles 30 Language is innate: Evidence
31 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Deaf children deprived of language › Study (Goldin-Meadow and colleagues) 10 deaf children Not exposed to language for first 1-4 years Language development process similar to typical acquisition process 1year old: 1 st word invented iconic signs (e.g. Mickey Mouse) 2 years old: 2-3 word utterances similar word order (subject-verb, verb-object) 31 Language is innate: Evidence
32 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Pidgins and creoles › Pidgin Language invented by people from different linguistic communities in order to communicate 32 Language is innate: Evidence › Creole A pidgin that has acquired native speakers Similarities among pidgins Similarities in the development process of creoles
33 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Discussion Universal grammar › What do you think is part of universal grammar and what is learned? Comments on each aspect: Sounds (perception, production, etc.) Words (concepts, meaning, form, etc.) Sentences (structure) 33
34 Course taught by Dr Marie-Claude Tremblay Next time… Structure of language › phonetics Read Yule Ch. 3 34