1. Language Acquisition
Ms. Carmelitano

2. Bell Ringer
How many words do you think you have learned since your 1st birthday? (17-18 years of learning)
650,000
How many words, on average, does a person learn a year?
650
How many words on average, does a person learn a day? 10
How many words, on average, does school teach you a year?
200

3. What is language
Language is what separates humans from other species of animals
Humans are the only species which can communicate without an innate limited number of vocalizations
Humans are able to create an infinite amount of ideas with a limited set of symbols
Language: the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way

4. Language as a cognitive process
Cognitive Processes:
Processes, such as perception, memory, language, problem solving, and abstract thinking; which help us interpret our world 
So how does language help was to interpret and make sense of our world?
Language helps us to form thoughts, to plan, to remember, to evaluate past events, to conceptualize any type of abstract idea (commitment, freedom, etc)

5. Components of language
Phonemes
The smallest unit of sound that has no meaning on its own, but can change the meaning of a word
l/r ---- lip/ rip
Morphemes
The smallest meaningful unit of language
-ed vs –ing - un- vs re-
Walked vs walking undo vs redo
Grammar: A set of rules that governs the way people compose and use language
Semantics : The study of the meaning of words
Syntax: The set of rules by which a person constructs full sentences – needed a subject, verb, adjective

6. How Language Works

7. How we learn 1) Receptive Language
Children are born with the ability to understand language from birth
Receptive language is the ability to understand language

8. How we learn 2. Productive language Babbling (6 months)
Children will make simple phonetic sounds (b, m, d)
No link between sound and meaning
May have a social link – rewarded for babbling, babies who are neglected stop this stage early
One-word stage (1 year)
Children understand multi-word utterances, but only say single words
“Milk, cookie, etc”
Two-word stage (2 years)
Children will put two words together and later form simple sentences
“I milk” “I get milk”
Telegraphic speech (3 years)
Children will begin to understand grammar an make grammatical sentences

9. Thinking and language
Challenge: Try to think of something, or plan something, without language.
Now communicate that thought to your partner; but you cannot use language
Can you do it? Can you really think without language?

10. Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956) Linguistic Determinism Describe snow
Eskimo’s will think of snow differently because they have more words to describe it
Language determines the way we think
People who speak different languages will have different concepts of reality, and think in different ways
IE: Hopi people have no past tense for verbs, therefore, they cannot really think about the past
Japanese language does not have as many self- focused words (anger) but has more interpersonal focused words (sympathy)
Matsumoto (1994): those who are bilingual feel a different sense of self depending on which language they are using

11. Linguistic Determinism
Dinges and Hull (1992): found that the same person reveals different personality profiles when taking the same personality test in two different languages
Ross, Xun, Wilson 2002
Gave Chinese-born bilingual university of Waterloo students a task to describe themselves in English or Chinese
The English language versions fit typical Canadian profiles: students had positive self esteem and moods
The Chinese-language versions gave Chinese self descriptions, with more agreement with Chinese values and equal positive and negative statements about self and mood

12. Influence of Language
Words may not determine what we think, but may influence our thinking (Ozgen, 2004).
Language allows us to form categories (schemas)
When we have more words for things, we can perceive differences easier

13. Theories of language acquisition
Bf Skinner: Operant Learning
Noam Chomsky: Inborn universal grammar

14. Skinner
Argued that language is acquired through conditioning by association, imitation, and reinforcement
A child wants milk, they point to the milk, their mother repeats the word “milk.”
The child associates the sound “milk” with getting milk
Eventually, they say the word “milk,” and are rewarded with what they want
They learned language based on being conditioned with rewards for saying the correct word

15. Critics of Skinner
1. There is an infinite number of sentences and words in a language, therefore it cannot all be learned by imitation
2. Children make errors in grammar (ie I goed to school today) therefore, they cannot result from imitation
3. Children acquire language skills even though adults do not always use the correct syntax when they are around them

16. Chomsky
Believes there are neural networks hardwired into infants brains which allow them to acquire language
Human brains have a language acquisition device (LAD) which is innate
All children are born with universal grammar so they are capable of learning common features of all languages
Evidence:
Stages of language development occur at about the same age despite different experiences
Children’s language development follow similar patterns
Children acquire language quickly and effortlessly
Deaf children may make up their own language resembling the structure of spoken language

17. Critical Periods
If we accept Chomsky, we must accept that there are critical periods in the acquisition of language development
The critical period hypothesis suggests that the first few ears of life is the crucial time for an individual to acquire a first language
If the language does not occur at this time, the individual may never acquire language
Leenberg (1967) Roberts and Penfield (1959)
Children must be exposed to language between birth and puberty (age 12) if they are going to develop language
Hearing children will start to babble after 6-7 months, deaf children will not – however if a parent begins signing to them, they will babbly in sign language

18. Genie and Language Acquisition
On November 4, 1970 a social worker found a 13- year old girl tied to a potty chair in her basement
She has been tied there for her entire life
After examining Genie, doctors concluded that she did not have language (grammar)
Despite years of therapy, Genie was never able to fully form language (grammar)
This supports the critical theory hypothesis