PSY 369: PsycholinguisticsLanguage Acquisition

Acquiring languageStudent in my psycholinguistics courseDr. Cutting, language sure is complicated. How do you expect us to learn all this stuff?

Acquiring languageStudent in my psycholinguistics course2 year oldWhadda ya mean, mommy. I can talk. I can understand what you say. Whats so hard?

Acquiring languageStudent in my psycholinguistics course2 year oldHow do we (humans) do it? How do we learn to use this complex behavior?

OverviewSome of the major issues Imitation vs InnatenessBorn to walkBorn to talk?How much explicit teaching do we get?Very little on syntax & phonology, some on meaningCommonalities across individuals, languages and culturesLanguage is complex everywhereSounds, words, syntax, and moreNo primitive (simple) languagesLanguage development is similar everywhereSimilar stages

Typical language developmentSimilar stages

Typical language development6 MonthsResponds to his name Responds to human voices without visual cues by turning his head and eyes Responds appropriately to friendly and angry tones

Typical language development12 MonthsUses 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

18 MonthsHas 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 commandsTypical language development

24 MonthsCan name a number of objects common to his surroundings Is able to use at least two prepositionsCombines words into a short sentence (telegraphic)Vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words Volume and pitch of voice not yet well-controlledTypical language development

36 MonthsUse pronouns I, you, me correctly Is using some plurals and past tenses Knows at least three prepositionsHandles three word sentences easily Has in the neighborhood of 900-1000 words About 90% of what child says should be intelligible Verbs begin to predominate Typical language development

In the beginningPrelinguistic communicationand the wombWe experience language before were even bornNormal human language uses sounds between 100 and 4000 HzSound travels through skin and fluids tooIn the womb, sounds up to 1000 HzCant hear individual wordsBut can hear: Intonation, durations, rhythm, stressWhat was that?Youre mumbling.

In the beginningPrelinguistic communicationand the wombWe experience language before were even bornDeCasper & Spence (1986)Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during final 6 weeks of pregnancyAfter babies were born tested to see if babies preferred familiar story over novel oneResults: babies preferred the familiar stories

In the beginningPrelinguistic communicationand the wombWe experience language before were even bornMahler et al. (1988, in France)4 day old babiesNon-Nutritive Sucking method

Played French or RussianSucking pattern changed if language was switchedSucking pattern didnt change if language wasnt switchedBabies knew (something about) the languages (most likely prosody)

In the beginningPrelinguistic communicationand the wombWe experience language before were even bornDeCasper, et al (1994)

In the beginningPrelinguistic communicationand the wombWe experience language before were even bornDeCasper, et al (1994)Same storyDifferent storyHad mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during 34-38 weeks of pregnancyAfter 38th week, two stories were played to the fetuses (but mom couldnt hear it)Fetal heart monitor

In the beginningPrelinguistic communicationand the wombWe experience language before were even bornDeCasper, et al (1994)Same storyDifferent storyHad mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during 34-38 weeks of pregnancyAfter 38th week, two stories were played to the fetuses (but mom couldnt hear it)Fetal heart monitor

In the beginningPrelinguistic communicationand the wombWe experience language before were even bornDeCasper, et al (1994)Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during 34-38 weeks of pregnancyAfter 38th week, two stories were played to the fetuses (but mom couldnt hear it)Same storyDifferent storyDecreased fetalheart-rateBaby learned something about the story before it was born!Fetal heart monitor

The early daysAfter birthPrelinguistic communicationPhonological differences are keySlowerHigher in pitchMore variable in pitchMore exaggerated intonationAll may help to orient and maintain attention of infantTypically deal with the here & nowMay help bootstrap later learningChild-directed speech (motherese)

The early daysAfter birthPrelinguistic communicationTurn taking behaviorsFrom the movie - breast feeding conversationsParents interpret infants vocalizations as having meaning (also from the movie, Snows work)Early conversations

The early days: gesturesPrelinguistic gestures (around 8 months)Demonstration that the infant is trying to communicate in some waye.g., pointing behaviorsCriteriaWaitingPersistenceDevelopment of alternative plans

Sharp phoneme boundaryEimas et al, (1971)Categorical perception in infants (1 month olds)The early days: phonologyYoung infants can distinguish different phonemes

The early days: phonologyA 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 contextHowever, as they age/experience their context language the ability to perceive some of these distinctions are lost (~10 to 12 months)Categorical perception in infantsNature/nurture debate:Are humans pre-programmed to distinguish speech sounds?

% /ba/1000Sharp phoneme boundaryEimas et al, (1971)Categorical perception in infants (1 month olds)The early days: phonologyChinchillas do it too!Kuhl and Miller (1975)Are they pre-programmed to perceive human speech?

The early days: speech productionVocal track differencesInfants vocal tracts are smaller, and initially shaped differently The infants tongue fills the entire mouth, reducing the range of movementAs 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 InfantAdult

Speech productionThe progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern.Role of both nature and nurtureNature/Biology plays an important role in the emergence of cooing & babbling.The form of the childs vocalization is also affected by the linguistic environment.Babbling & other videosPre 6 weeks vegetative soundsCry, burp, sucking noisesPost 6 week cooing and later babbling

6 - 8 weeks: cooing4 - 6 months: babbling

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 distinguishClear consonants and vowels are producedda, giSpeech production

6 - 8 weeks: cooing4 - 6 months: babbling

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 distinguish6 - 7 months: Reduplicated babblingdada, gigiSpeech production

Speech production6 - 8 weeks: cooing4 - 6 months: babbling

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 distinguish6 - 7 months: Reduplicated babbling8 - 9 months: CVC clusters may appearbod, tat

Speech productionThe 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 distinguish10 or 11 months: Variegated babblingCombining incomprehensible wordsdab gogotahIntonation patternsMay reflect phonological rules of spoken language contextBy 12 to 14 months some evidence of language specific phonological rules

The first wordsOf course he said arf. What else did you expect his first word to be?

Language SpongesAbout 3,000 new words per year, especially in the primary gradesAs many as 8 new words per dayProduction typically lags behind comprehensionLearning words

Language SpongesLots of individual differencesBut there is also a consistent pattern

Vocabulary growthMethods used to study thisObservational data (60s to present)Diary studiesParents record their kids language developmentTaped language samples (Roger Brown)Small numbers of children (Eve, Adam, Sarah)Went to home every month made tape recordingsExtensive study neededHard to kids to say all the words you know or say a questionEarly phonological production isnt like adult production, often need to take great care deciding what the child meantLarge database CHILDESMany kids, many languages, including children with language difficulties

Early speech productionTransition to speechThis is your fis?Your fis?Oh, your fish.No. my fis.No. My fis!Yes, my fis.

Early speech productionThis is your fis?Transition to speechNo, my fis.Your fis.No, my fis.Oh, your fish.Yes, my fis.Cant hear the difference?Rejects adult saying fisCant produce the correct sounds?Sometimes, but evidence suggests not always the caseMore general process of simplificationfrees up resources for concentrating on other aspects of language learning

Early speech productionEarly wordsCommon Phonological processesReductionDelete sounds from wordsCoalescenceCombine different syllables into one syllableAssimilationChange one sound into a similar sound within the wordReduplicationOne syllable from a multi-syllabic word is repeatedTransition to speech

Early speech productionDeveloped in systematic waysSometimes simplifications of adult speechOr relate to sounds of the objectsDemonstrateCreative, not simply imitationLearned importance of consistency of namesFirst wordsAround 10-15 months (lots of individual differences)Emergence of systematic, repeated productions of phonologically consistent formsIdiomorphs - personalized words

*****Discuss some of these with respect to the video that they watched

Sit with support 3-4 mWithout support 7-8 mSit for extended time 9 mCrawl 8 mStand while holding on 9 mStand alone 11 mWalk alone 13 m

VisionFixed focus of about 20 cm for first monthAt second month can adjust focusBy 4th month have adult comparable ability

HearingCochlea and sensory end-organs developed by 24th week of pregnancy by 28th week fetus can hear outside noises (mothers heartbeat, voice, cough, etc.)

*******Phones cut off frequencies above 3000 Hz

HearingCochlea and sensory end-organs developed by 24th week of pregnancy by 28th week fetus can hear outside noises (mothers heartbeat, voice, cough, etc.)

*Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience

*Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience, more likely that time in womb accounts for the observations

*Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience

*Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience

*Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience

*Unlikely that this was based on the 4 days of experience

*Cross (1977) proposes that adults may tailor the level of simplification to the childs 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 childs utterance as communication (think back to the video we watched)*Cross (1977) proposes that adults may tailor the level of simplification to the childs 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 childs utterance as communication (think back to the video we watched)

**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.

****Cooing - happy sounds Cooing is unaffected by environmentCooing of deaf children is the same as hearing childrenAlmost entirely made up of vowel sounds

Babbling typically emerges by 6 months and typically lasts until around 1 year

*Cooing - happy sounds Cooing is unaffected by environmentCooing of deaf children is the same as hearing childrenAlmost entirely made up of vowel soundsOften triggered by social interactionsLaughter also emerges around the same time as cooing

Babbling typically emerges by 6 months and typically lasts until around 1 year

*Cooing - happy sounds Cooing is unaffected by environmentCooing of deaf children is the same as hearing childrenAlmost entirely made up of vowel sounds

Babbling typically emerges by 6 months and typically lasts until around 1 year

*Cooing - happy sounds Cooing is unaffected by environmentCooing of deaf children is the same as hearing childrenAlmost entirely made up of vowel sounds

Babbling typically emerges by 6 months and typically lasts until around 1 year

*Cooing - happy sounds Cooing is unaffected by environmentCooing of deaf children is the same as hearing childrenAlmost entirely made up of vowel sounds

Babbling typically emerges by 6 months and typically lasts until around 1 year

*CHILDES - the child language data exchange system**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)

*CHILDES - the child language data exchange system****CHILDES - the child language data exchange system