1. PSY 369: Psycholinguistics
Language Acquisition

2. Acquiring language Dr. Cutting, language sure
is complicated. How do you
expect us to learn all this stuff?
Student in my psycholinguistics course

3. I can understand what you say.
Acquiring language
Whadda’ ya mean, mommy.
I can talk.
I can understand what you say.
What’s so hard?
Student in my psycholinguistics course
2 year old

4. Acquiring language
How do we (humans) do it? How do we learn to use this complex behavior?
Student in my psycholinguistics course
2 year old

5. Overview Some of the major issues Imitation vs Innateness
Born to walk
Born to talk?
How much explicit teaching do we get?
Very little on syntax & phonology, some on meaning
Commonalities across individuals, languages and cultures
Language is complex everywhere
Sounds, words, syntax, and more
No primitive (simple) languages
Language development is similar everywhere
Similar stages
Discuss some of these with respect to the video that they watched
Sit with support 3-4 m
Without support 7-8 m
Sit for extended time 9 m
Crawl 8 m
Stand while holding on 9 m
Stand alone 11 m
Walk alone 13 m
Vision
Fixed focus of about 20 cm for first month
At second month can adjust focus
By 4th month have adult comparable ability
Hearing
Cochlea and sensory end-organs developed by 24th week of pregnancy
by 28th week fetus can hear outside noises (mother’s heartbeat, voice, cough, etc.)

6. Typical language development
36 Months
24 Months
18 Months
12 Months
6 Months
Similar stages

7. Typical language development
6 Months
Responds to his name
Responds to human voices without visual cues by turning his head and eyes
Responds appropriately to friendly and angry tones

8. Typical language development
12 Months
Uses one or more words with meaning (this may be a fragment of a word)
Understands simple instructions, especially if vocal or physical cues are given
Practices inflection
Is aware of the social value of speech

9. Typical language development
18 Months
Has vocabulary of approximately 5-20 words
Vocabulary made up chiefly of nouns
Some echolalia (repeating a word or phrase over and over)
Is able to follow simple commands

10. Typical language development
24 Months
Can name a number of objects common to his surroundings
Is able to use at least two prepositions
Combines words into a short sentence (telegraphic)
Vocabulary of approximately words
Volume and pitch of voice not yet well-controlled

11. Typical language development
36 Months
Use pronouns I, you, me correctly
Is using some plurals and past tenses
Knows at least three prepositions
Handles three word sentences easily
Has in the neighborhood of words
About 90% of what child says should be intelligible
Verbs begin to predominate

12. In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication
We experience language before we’re even born
What was that?
You’re
mumbling.
Normal human language uses sounds between 100 and 4000 Hz
Sound travels through skin and fluids too
In the womb, sounds up to 1000 Hz
Can’t hear individual words
But can hear:
Intonation, durations, rhythm, stress
Phones cut off frequencies above 3000 Hz
Hearing
Cochlea and sensory end-organs developed by 24th week of pregnancy
by 28th week fetus can hear outside noises (mother’s heartbeat, voice, cough, etc.)

13. In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication
We experience language before we’re even born
Non-Nutritive Sucking method
DeCasper & Spence (1986)
Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during final 6 weeks of pregnancy
After babies were born tested to see if babies preferred familiar story over novel one
Results: babies preferred the familiar stories
Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience

14. In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication
We experience language before we’re even born
Mahler et al. (1988, in France)
4 day old babies
Non-Nutritive Sucking method
Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience, more likely that time in womb accounts for the observations
Played French or Russian
Sucking pattern changed if language was switched
Sucking pattern didn’t change if language wasn’t switched
Babies knew (something about) the languages (most likely prosody)

15. In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication
We experience language before we’re even born
DeCasper, et al (1994)
Fetal heart monitor
Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience

16. In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication
We experience language before we’re even born
DeCasper, et al (1994)
Fetal heart monitor
Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during weeks of pregnancy
After 38th week, two stories were played to the fetuses (but mom couldn’t hear it)
Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience
Same story
Different story

17. In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication
We experience language before we’re even born
DeCasper, et al (1994)
Fetal heart monitor
Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during weeks of pregnancy
After 38th week, two stories were played to the fetuses (but mom couldn’t hear it)
Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience
Same story
Different story

18. In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication
We experience language before we’re even born
DeCasper, et al (1994)
Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during weeks of pregnancy
After 38th week, two stories were played to the fetuses (but mom couldn’t hear it)
Fetal heart monitor
Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience
Decreased fetal
heart-rate
Same story
Different story
Baby learned something about the story before it was born!

19. The early days Prelinguistic communication After birth
Child-directed speech (motherese)
Phonological differences are key
Slower
Higher in pitch
More variable in pitch
More exaggerated intonation
All may help to orient and maintain attention of infant
Typically deal with the “here & now”
May help “bootstrap” later learning
Cross (1977) proposes that adults may tailor the level of simplification to the child’s need (Linguistic feedback hypothesis).
Snow (1977) argues that child-directed speech is used too early to be of use (it is also used at later times when it can be used). Instead argues for a conversational hypothesis, in which the focus is on the adults expectation of what the child needs. So the adults treat the child’s utterance as communication (think back to the video we watched)

20. The early days Prelinguistic communication After birth
Early “conversations”
Turn taking behaviors
From the movie - breast feeding “conversations”
Parents interpret infant’s vocalizations as having meaning (also from the movie, Snow’s work)
Cross (1977) proposes that adults may tailor the level of simplification to the child’s need (Linguistic feedback hypothesis).
Snow (1977) argues that child-directed speech is used too early to be of use (it is also used at later times when it can be used). Instead argues for a conversational hypothesis, in which the focus is on the adults expectation of what the child needs. So the adults treat the child’s utterance as communication (think back to the video we watched)

21. The early days: gestures
Prelinguistic gestures (around 8 months)
Demonstration that the infant is trying to communicate in some way
e.g., pointing behaviors
Criteria
Waiting
Persistence
Development of alternative plans

22. The early days: phonology
Eimas et al, (1971)
Categorical perception in infants (1 month olds)
… … 7
% /ba/
100
Sharp phoneme boundary
Young infants can distinguish different phonemes
At 1 month: infants have been found to distinguish between [ma] & [pa], [pa] & [ba], [ba] & [ga], ga/ta, da/ta, etc.
Infants can also discriminate steady versus rising intonation, stress on first from second syllable, various vowel contrasts,
Note: the NonNutritive Sucking method may not work on infants younger than 1 month, so some of these effect could be developed earlier.
Some evidence suggesting a visual component too. Dodd 1979 – 10 to 16 wk old infants were presented with nursery rhymes under two conditions. In the synchronous condition infants were attentive 85% of time, in nonsynchronous condition (.4 sec delay with audio and visual tracks) only 66% of time were attentive.

23. The early days: phonology
Categorical perception in infants
A number of studies suggest that very young infants can perceive between a number of phonemic distinctions (e.g., Kuhl & Meltzhoff, 1997)
Not limited to their language context
However, as they age/experience their context language the ability to perceive some of these distinctions are lost (~10 to 12 months)
Nature/nurture debate:
Are humans “pre-programmed” to distinguish speech sounds?

24. The early days: phonology
We’re listening
The early days: phonology
Eimas et al, (1971)
Categorical perception in infants (1 month olds)
100
Sharp phoneme boundary
Chinchillas do it too!
Kuhl and Miller (1975)
% /ba/
Are they “pre-programmed to perceive human speech?
… … 7

25. The early days: speech production
Vocal track differences
Infant
Adult
Infants vocal tracts are smaller, and initially shaped differently
The infant’s tongue fills the entire mouth, reducing the range of movement
As the facial skeleton grows, the range for movement increases (which probably contributes to the increased variety of sounds infants start to produce)
May be (in part) why production lags behind comprehension

26. Speech production
The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern.
Role of both nature and nurture
Nature/Biology plays an important role in the emergence of cooing & babbling.
The form of the child’s vocalization is also affected by the linguistic environment.
Cooing - “happy sounds”
Cooing is unaffected by environment
Cooing of deaf children is the same as hearing children
Almost entirely made up of vowel sounds
Babbling typically emerges by 6 months and typically lasts until around 1 year
Pre 6 weeks – “vegetative” sounds
Cry, burp, sucking noises
Post 6 week – “cooing” and later “babbling”
Babbling & other videos

27. Speech production
The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern.
Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish
6 - 8 weeks: cooing
4 - 6 months: babbling
Cooing - “happy sounds”
Cooing is unaffected by environment
Cooing of deaf children is the same as hearing children
Almost entirely made up of vowel sounds
Often triggered by social interactions
Laughter also emerges around the same time as cooing
Babbling typically emerges by 6 months and typically lasts until around 1 year
Clear consonants and vowels are produced
“da”, “gi”

28. Speech production
The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern.
Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish
6 - 8 weeks: cooing
4 - 6 months: babbling
Cooing - “happy sounds”
Cooing is unaffected by environment
Cooing of deaf children is the same as hearing children
Almost entirely made up of vowel sounds
Babbling typically emerges by 6 months and typically lasts until around 1 year
6 - 7 months: Reduplicated babbling
“dada”, “gigi”

29. Speech production
The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern.
Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish
6 - 8 weeks: cooing
4 - 6 months: babbling
Cooing - “happy sounds”
Cooing is unaffected by environment
Cooing of deaf children is the same as hearing children
Almost entirely made up of vowel sounds
Babbling typically emerges by 6 months and typically lasts until around 1 year
6 - 7 months: Reduplicated babbling
8 - 9 months: CVC clusters may appear
“bod”, “tat”

30. Speech production
The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern.
Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish
10 or 11 months: Variegated babbling
Combining “incomprehensible words”
“dab gogotah”
Intonation patterns
May reflect phonological rules of spoken language context
Cooing - “happy sounds”
Cooing is unaffected by environment
Cooing of deaf children is the same as hearing children
Almost entirely made up of vowel sounds
Babbling typically emerges by 6 months and typically lasts until around 1 year
By 12 to 14 months some evidence of language specific phonological rules

31. What else did you expect
The first words
Of course he said “arf.”
What else did you expect
his first word to be?
CHILDES - the child language data exchange system

32. Language Sponges Learning words 12 ms first words 2 yrs 200 words
About 3,000 new words per year, especially in the primary grades
As many as 8 new words per day
Production typically lags behind comprehension

33. Language Sponges Lots of individual differences
But there is also a consistent pattern
On average, American children say their first word at around 13 months, experience a vocabulary spurt at around 19 months, and begin to produce simple sentences at around 24 months. However, the bars around the means show that there is great variability in when different children achieve each of these milestones. (Adapted from Bloom, 1998)

34. Vocabulary growth Methods used to study this
Observational data (60s to present)
Diary studies
Parents record their kids language development
Taped language samples (Roger Brown)
Small numbers of children (Eve, Adam, Sarah)
Went to home every month made tape recordings
Extensive study needed
Hard to kids to “say all the words you know” or “say a question”
Early phonological production isn’t like adult production, often need to take great care deciding what the child meant
Large database CHILDES
Many kids, many languages, including children with language difficulties
CHILDES - the child language data exchange system

35. Early speech production
Transition to speech
No. … my fis.
No. My fis!
This is your fis?
Yes, my fis.
Your fis?
Oh, your fish.

36. Early speech production
Transition to speech
This is your fis?
No, … my fis.
Can’t hear the difference?
Rejects adult saying fis
Can’t produce the correct sounds?
Sometimes, but evidence suggests not always the case
More general process of simplification
“frees up” resources for concentrating on other aspects of language learning
Your fis.
No, my fis.
Oh, your fish.
Yes, my fis.

37. Early speech production
Transition to speech
Early words
Common Phonological processes
Reduction
Delete sounds from words
Coalescence
Combine different syllables into one syllable
Assimilation
Change one sound into a similar sound within the word
Reduplication
One syllable from a multi-syllabic word is repeated

38. Early speech production
First words
Around months (lots of individual differences)
Emergence of systematic, repeated productions of phonologically consistent forms
Idiomorphs - personalized words
Developed in systematic ways
Sometimes simplifications of adult speech
Or relate to sounds of the objects
Demonstrate
Creative, not simply imitation
Learned importance of consistency of names
CHILDES - the child language data exchange system