Acquisition

•We have an innate capacity to learn languages.

•This enables children to construct the grammar of the language in spite of the

poverty of the stimulus.

How does acquisition proceed?

• Children learn not the language per se, but the grammar of language - the rules.

• Past tense: add –ed

1. walk, walked

2. break, *breaked

• Acquire rule, but memorise exceptions.

How do we know how children learn?

1. naturalistic/observational methods: • diary studies• watch children play, interact, and record language on

audio and videotape.1. experimental studies:• comprehension: interpret sentences John asked Tom to shut the door - who should?• production: describe pictures (e.g., the wug test)• imitation: children can only imitate if they have rule:

Mummy is going -> Mummy going

What are the stages of language development?

• 1 month

• 3 months

• 1 year

• 18 months

Discriminationcan tell ba from pa prefer own languageprefer motherese

Babblinglarynx descendsbilabials m, b, p deaf children babble

Words

2-word strings

Emergence of words

1. Objects milk, dog, baby2. Actions go, run3. Social functions hello

Perception precedes production

•R It’s your [s]•C No, my []•R Oh, your [ʃ].•C Yes, []

2 word strings

• 18 months• minimum required for syntax. • children acquire one word every two hours until

adolescencemore milkMummy come

no peeeat grape

How do children acquire syntax?

AGENT ACTION RECIPIENT OBJECT LOCATIONMother gave John lunch in the kitchen

Mommy fi x

Baby table

Put light

Give doggie paper

Adam put it box

production bottleneck

Developmental sequences

1. ING

2. in, on

3. plural 's'

4. possessive 's'

5. the, a

6. ed

7. 3rd P sing 's'

Operating principles

1. pay attention to the ends of words (suffixes are acquired before prefixes)

5. straightforward relationship between form and meaning helps (3 English 's' is hard)

6. lack of exceptions helps (irregular verbs are hard)7. lack of allomorphic variation helps (English past

is hard (walked, hummed, limited))8. absence of homophones helps (English 's' is hard)9. clear semantic function helps (3rd person sing

present is hard)

How do children learn exceptions to rules?

RULE

• Add –ed

• finded

MEMORY

• Find form

• found

find

Rule + memory• founded

When memory fails . . .

• Rule applies find -> finded

When collective memory fails . . • strive, strove becomes strive, strived• cleave, clove becomes cleave, clove

LANGUAGE CHANGE

Why does it take three years before children can talk properly?

• The brain is a complicated machine which takes time to run in.

• Humans have extremely large heads, which presents problems at birth, given the size of the female pelvis.

• If human children spent the same proportion of their lifespan in utero as other primates, they would be born at 18 months.

• Eighteen months is the age at which

1. language begins to emerge

2. children begin to walk and need to understand language