1. First language acquisition theories
NATURE OR NURTURE?
First language acquisition theories

2. Behaviourism Watson, Pavlov and Skinner Tabula rasa Focus on
observable behaviour
role of the environment
Imitation and practice

3. Pavlov and classical conditioning
Developing unconditioned responses through stimulus–response-reinforcement

4. Skinner: operant conditioning
We are goverened by the consequences of our actions

5. Behaviouristic pedagogy

6. Objections 1. "What children say" Jean Berko (1958):
wug-wugs, gling-glinged-glang
wented, taked, mices, mouses, sheeps
ett, kenyért, lót, tégem
> Analogous thinking
2. "What children don't say"
McNeill (1966):
CHILD: Nobody don't like me.
MUM: No, say "nobody likes me".
(eight repetitions of this dialogue)
MUM: No, now listen carefully, say "nobody likes me".
CHILD: Oh! Nobody don't likes me.
> Inability to imitate

7. Nativism/Innatism

8. Chomsky: genetic pre-programming
Based on
1. the Argument from the Poverty of the Stimulus
2. evidence of rule governed language generation

9. LAD, language universals
Example: SVO components in sentences
- 75% of the world's languages:
SVO (English, French, Vietnamese) or
SOV (Japanese, Tibetan, Korean)
% VSO ( Welsh) or VOS (Malagasy)
% free word order (Latin, Hungarian),
but SOV common: Márta tortát evett.
„Setting the parameters” – matching UG to particular language

10. Criticism of Chomsky 1. Competence – performance - Performance igored
- Competence judged on the basis of intuitions?
2. Core grammar – peripheral grammar
- focus on core grammar(?) only
?We was there. I ain’t no fool.
3. Syntax vs. semantics
Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.
My mother, he no like bananas.
4. Ignoring meaning, function, context
- situation for child FLA

11. Functionalism Focus on imput: Interaction vs. exposure
Bruner’s Language Acquisition Support System (LASS)
- parents communicate
in ritualistic scenarios
- easily comprehensible
and predictable language
- emotionally charged
situations
- repetition of acts
and language

12. Motherese, parentese (interaction, initiation, response)
1. Simplified in grammar and meaning
2. Shorter sentences - about 4-8 words/
sentence, when speaking to 2-year olds
3. More restricted range of sentence patterns
4. Expansion and repetition of sentences

13. 5. Slower speech 6. Use of special words and sounds 7. High pitch
8. High, rising intonation - looking for feedback.
9. Embedded in the here and now.

14. Findings from motherese
Not so partial and ungrammatical as suggested by
Chomsky a large number of WH forms
However
No close correlation between motherese and child speech
Not all social groups adapt speech to young children

15. Children do not simply repeat the language they hear from their caretakers.
They also produce
utterances that they
have never heard.
Eszel tégem?
Mummy sock.

16. Motherese: focus on meaning, not on grammar
Child : Mamma isn't boy, he a girl.
Mother : That's right.
Child : And Walt Disney comes on Tuesday.
Mother : No he does not.
Children’s mistakes not random errors - own grammar.
INTERLANGUAGE

17. Negation sequence of English-speaking children
1. No and Not appear as single word sentences.
2. Two-word (pivot) sentences: No car, Not gone
3. Negative words used within constructions:
You no do that, Mummy
4. Negative auxiliaries appear: Won't, can't
5. Not replaces no. Double negatives
6. Any, hardly, scarcely during early years of school.

18. Connectionism

19. Focus on neuro-programming: neurons, synapses, wiring, circuits
Where does language reside in the brain? Is there a LAD?
Answer from neurology
- Lateralisation
- Left hemisphere:
language and logical functions

20. Aphasia studies Paul Broca 1861: „Tan”
Broca’s aphasia: inability to form correct sentences, patient is aware of difficulty
Broca’s area: responsible for grammatical structuring

21. Carl Wernicke, 1874: Wernicke’s area
Wernicke’s aphasia: grammatical correctness, semantically meaningless utterances, unaware of problem

22. Relation between Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas

23. Phases of development Before birth: neurons, wiring for life functions
0/1: "biological exhuberance„
neurons connect in response
to environmental impulses
Language:
- vocal map of L1 is formed

24. 1/10: flexible synapses, easily formed
Language:
- sensorimotor connections flexible (no accent!)
- vocab.learnt through repeated
exposure and interaction
After 10: "pruning"
Language: fixed synapses

25. GENETICALLY PROVIDED BRAIN POTENTIAL
RICH ENVIRONMENT
RICH BRAIN
"Experts now agree that a baby does not come into the world as a genetically preprogrammed automaton or a blank slate at the mercy of the environment ... Learning happens by the interaction of the genes and the environment.„ (S. Begley)

26. Critical period in FLA:
- no hope after CP
Critical period in SLL/SLA:
- weak version: difficult
- strong version: impossible

27. Alternative considerations and counterevidence
Left/Right cooperation in SLL
strategies of acquisition
guessing meaning
formulaic utterances
Hill (1970), Sorenson (1967): multilingual tribes, no accent

28. Areas of change Neurological Psychomotor Cognitive Affective Pruning
Lateralisation
Psychomotor
Accent
Cognitive
Concrete Formal thinking
Affective
Inhibition
Motivation

29. Personality factors Talent: neurological flexibility
New wiring for L2
Talent cluster
Motivation, + attitude, involvement
Strategies
Active

30. Conclusion
Language learning, a unique human capacity: neurological basis
Genetic programme + environment
Learning capacity limited by time (CPH)
Loss of unconnected neurons and unused synapses
Also influenced by personality factors