Today we will be: Reviewing language aquisition

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What does „language aquisition“ mean?  = The way in which we learn languages.  the process of learning a native or a second language.

Language acquisition  We are not born speaking!  Language must be acquired.  If we think of all that is entailed in knowing a language, it seems quite a challenge. What Does a Baby Hear?

Language instinct?  Language is innate – only surface details need be learned?  Human brain pre-programmed for language?  Language a result of general cognitive abilities of the brain?  Neither tells us what specific language to learn or particular structures to memorize.

Language Universals  What evidence is there for innate knowledge of certain basic language features present in all human languages?  LINGUISTIC UNIVERSALS > UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR  All languages have:  A grammar  Basic word order (in terms of SOV, etc.)  Nouns and verbs  Subjects and objects  Consonants and vowels  Absolute and implicational tendencies  E.g., If a language has VO order, then modifiers tend to follow the head)

“Universal Grammar”  Humans then learn to specialize this “universal grammar” (UG) for the particulars of their language.  Word order, syntactic rule preferences  Phonetic and phonological constraints  Lexicon  Semantic interpretations  Pragmatic ways to converse

Follow milestones 5. Follow milestones  In spite of different backgrounds, different locations, and different upbringings, most children follow the very same milestones in acquiring language.

Observe a critical period 6. Observe a critical period What is a critical period?  For first language acquisition, there seems to be a critical period of the first five years, during which children must be exposed to rich input. There is also a period, from about years, when acquisition is possible, but not native-like.

The Critical Period Hypothesis  CPH: Proposed by Lenneberg  This hypothesis states that there is only a small window of time for a first language to be natively acquired.  If a child is denied language input, she will not acquire language  Genie: a girl discovered at age 13 who had not acquired her L1 (-- Isabelle and Victor)  Normal hearing child born to deaf parents, heard language only on TV, did not acquire English L1

So how DO we learn our first language?

L1 acquisition  Sound production/babbling  Phonological acquisition  Morphological/Syntactical acquisition  Semantic development

Caretaker Speech  A register characterized by:  Simplified lexicon  Phonological reduction  Higher pitch  Stressed intonation  Simple sentences  High number of interrogatives (Mom) & imperatives (Dad) Caretaker Speech Caretaker Speech

Acquisition of phonetics  Few weeks: cooing and gurgling, playing with sounds. Their abilities are constrained by physiological limitations.  4 months: distinguish between [a] and [i], so their perception skills are good.  4-6 months: children babble, putting together vowels and consonants. This is not a conscious process! Experiment with articulation  7-10 months: starts repeated babbling.  months, children produce a variety of speech sounds. (even ‘foreign’ sounds)

Acquisition of phonology  Early stage: Unanalyzed syllables  months: words as a sequence of phonemes.  Mastery of sounds differing in distinctive features (e.g., voicing) mama, dada bananana.na  Duplicated syllables: mama, dada - CV is main syllable structure. They reduce = banana  [na.na] 2 syllable words  Early mastery of intonation contours (even in non-tone languages) fisfish  Perception comes before production (‘fis’ or ‘fish’?) Phonological Processes

Lexicon  Begin with simple lexical items for people/food/toys/animals/body functions  Lexical Achievement:  1-2 years old words (avg)  3 years old900 words  4 years old1500 words  5 years old2100 words  6-7 years old2500 words  High school grad40,000 – 60,000 words!  “5,000 per year, 13 words a day” -- Miller & Gildea

But Don’t Animals Know Words, Too?  Yes, but…what about…?  Just (very) just (only) just (right)  Just (very) brilliant vs. just (only) a little dirty vs. a just (right) person  Blunt (dull)blunt (sharp)  Blunt (dull) instrument vs. blunt (sharp) comment literally (meaning figuratively)  I was literally (meaning figuratively) climbing the walls.  Clip (on)clip (off)  Clip (on) a pin vs clip (off) hair  Cleave (together)cleave (apart)  Cleave (together) vs cleave (apart)  Dust (remove)dust (sprinkle)  Dust (remove) or dust (sprinkle) inflammable  And what does inflammable mean?

The acquisition of morphosyntax  At about 12 months, children begin producing words consistently.  One-word stage  One-word stage (holophrastic stage):  Name people, objects, etc.  An entire sentence is one word  Two-word stage:  Approximately months  Use consistent set of word orders: N-V, A- N, V-N…  With structure determined by semantic relationships  agent+action (baby sleep)  possessor+possession (Mommy book)  Telegraphic stage  Telegraphic stage (only content words)

Negative Formations  Negatives no/not  1 st stage - attach no/not to beginning of sentence (sometimes at end) don’t can’t  2 nd stage – negatives appear between subject and verb (don’t stayed at beginning in imperatives, but not can’t) nobody/nothinganybody/anything is do  3 rd stage – appearance of nobody/nothing & anybody/anything & inconsistent use of “to be” verb is and auxiliary “dummy” do verb.

Question Formations Where daddy go?  1 st stage – wh- word placed in front of rest of sentence: Where daddy go? Where you will go?  2 nd stage – addition of an auxiliary verb: Where you will go? Where will you go?  3 rd stage – subject noun changes places with the auxiliary: Where will you go?

Acquisition of Semantics  Concrete before abstract:  ‘in/on’ before ‘behind/in front’  Overextensions:  Using ‘moon’ for anything round  Using ‘dog’ for any four-legged animals  Underextensions:  The word ‘bird’ may not include ‘pigeon’, etc

Reviewing Linguistic Stages  6-12 weeks:  6-12 weeks: Cooing (googoo, gurgling, coocoo)  6 months:  6 months: Babbling (baba, mama, dada)  8-9 months:  8-9 months: Intonation patterns  years:  years: Holphrastic stage (one word)  2 years:  2 years: Two-word stage  2.5 years:  2.5 years: Telegraphic stage  3,4 – 11 years:  3,4 – 11 years: Fluent speech w/errors  12 years+:  12 years+: Fluent speech