First Language Acquisition Chapter 14

Basic Requirements A language-using environment Capable of sending and receiving sounds signals in a language Able to interact with others via language

Caregiver Speech Frequent use of questions Exaggerated intonation Slow tempo Long pauses Simple sentences A lot of repetition

The Acquisition Schedule All normal children develop language at roughly the same time COOING: the earliest speech-like sounds First few months of life Sequences of vowel-like sounds 5 months old Able to hear the difference between vowels [i] and [a] and syllables [ba] and [pa]

The Acquisition Schedule Between 6 and 8 months Ba-ba-ba and ga-ga-ga Beginning of BABBLING stage Around 9 to 10 months Later babbling stage Recognizable intonation patterns Nasal sounds [ma] 10-11 months Late babbling stage; used to express emotions and emphasis More complex syllable combinations (ma-da-ga-ba) Provides the child with some experience of the social role of speech (because adults tend to react to this type of sound production)

One-Word Stage Between 12 and 18 months ONE-WORD STAGE Single-unit utterance EXAMPLES: milk, cookie, cup HOLOPHRASTIC Single form functioning as an entire phrase or sentence

Two-Word Stage 18-20 months TWO-WORD STAGE Used with a vocabulary of 50+ words EXAMPLES: baby chair, light off, cat bad Interpretation is solely related to context

Telegraphic Speech Between 2 and 2 ½ Produces 200-300 distinct words Understands 1000-1500 words TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH Strings of words in phrases and sentences (like a telegraph) EXAMPLES: this shoe all wet, daddy go bye-bye By 3 yrs. Pronunciation has become closer to the form of adult language

The Acquisition Process Language acquisition is NOT simply a matter of : Providing instruction on how to speak a language Filling a little empty head with words Children imitating adult speech An adult making corrections to a child’s speech Rather, a more accurate view would be that children actively construct, from what is said to them, possible ways of using the language.

Developing Morphology Starting at about 2 ½ yrs. 1st : -ing morpheme cat sitting 2nd : regular plural –s boys, cats Often accompanied by OVERGENERALIZATION Foots, mans, boyses, footses, some mens, and two feets 3rd : possessive –’s Girl’s dog

Developing Morphology, Cont. 4th : forms of ‘to be’ Are, was ALSO—about the same time–irregular past tense went and came appear 5th : regular past tense –ed Walked , played At this stage, irregular forms (went and came) may be OVERGENERALIZED as goed and comed 6th : third person singular present –s and auxiliaries [he] Comes, [it] looks, does, has

Developing Syntax, Cont. FORMING QUESTIONS 1st (18-26 months): add wh-form in front and rising intonation at the end Where kitty? 2nd (22-30 months): same as 1st , but more complex phrases Why you smiling? 3rd (24-40 months): S/V inversion occurs Can I go?

Developing Syntax, Cont. FORMING NEGATIVES 1st (18-26 months): put no or not at the beginning I no fall. (I didn’t fall) 2nd (22-30 months): negative forms don’t and can’t appear with other auxiliary forms such as won’t and didn’t following closely behind.

Developing Semantics OVEREXTENSION When the meaning of a word is OVEREXTENDED on the basis of shape, sound, size, movement, texture, or other characteristics. EXAMPLE: doggie=all four-legged creatures cookie=all circular things fly=any little specks of anything Overextension is usually only relevant to a child’s language PRODUCTION, not COMPREHENSION. What does this mean? As the child’s vocabulary increases, the overextension of words occurs less and less.

By the age of 5, the child has completed the greater part of L1 acquisition. What does this knowledge of L1 acquisition process mean for teachers? How can we apply this knowledge?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvlsco7ux4g Gettysburg Address http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-RAIRA941E Young 2-year-old with incomprehensible speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI42LSbwc8E&feature=related Making sense of nonsense