CHAPTER 9 LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Q1: How is a language acquired?

Q2: How can any language be acquired

by children in a very short time?

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Children & Language AcquisitionChildren can acquire a language in a very short time because there is something ( the LAD) endowed in the brain.

LADThe LAD will generate the grammar of a language so that language is acquired naturally just like a child acquiring the ability to walk.

Acquired vs. LearnedChildren do not need to learn, when times come or when their cognition development reaches to such an extent, they can speak.

OUTLINE

1. Research Methodology

2. Theories of Language Acquisition

3. Stages of Language Acquisition

4. Basis of Language Acquisition

5. Summary

1. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The target of first language acquisition is focused on phonology, syntax, morphology & pragmatics. How to collect data is one of the most important steps. Two important methods for LA are:

(1) Observations

(2) Experiments

1.1 Observations

when & how

First language acquisition began with observation.

When and how are first sounds produced?

example-Yuanren Chao & his granddaughter

Yuanren Chao reported what he observed

(weekly, 3 hours a week) about the language acquisition of his granddaughter, resulting in important documents.

(3) example-Timithy Shopen & his son

recorded his son’s history of language acquisition

Timithy Shopen (a linguistic scholar) observed and recorded his son Paul’s history of language acquisition.

phonological, morphological & syntactical developments

A detailed record on phonological , morphological, and syntactical developments was the basis of his diary, which has become one of the most important documents in the field of first language acquisition.

1.2 Experiments

a topic & knowledge

The researcher of an experiment has to prepare

himself with a specific topic and some basic

knowledge about child’s language acquisition.

general procedures

1. select a topic

2. review related literature

3. preparation (ex. prepare pictures for words)

4. recruit potential subjects

5. have a pilot study

6. find more subjects to conduct a research

example

1. Select a Topic

the acquiring of /s/ preceding /p, t, k/ of children

under 3

2. Review Related Literature

---the /s/ preceding /p, t, k/ is quite different from the

/s/ in other contexts

---the sound /s/ as in seat, sun, sock is acquired quite

early for American children, about at 2-3 years old

---the /s/ before /p, t, k/, e.g. spoon, sky, stick, is not

stable for most American children before 5

3. Preparation:

prepare some pictures for words like following

a. soap [sop]

b. bus [bs]

c. spoon [pun]

4. Recruiting:

recruit potential subjects under 3 from

neighbors or kindergartens

5. A Pilot:

have a pilot study

6. A Research:

conduct a research with more subjects

2. THEORIES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Some theories have been proposed with a view to characterizing the nature of language acquisition.

2.1 Theory of Imitation

2.2 Theory of Reinforcement

2.3 Theory of Grammar Construction

2.1 Theory of Imitation

Tenet

The tenet of imitation theory lies in the observation

that language acquisition begins with imitation.

Imitate

When children are exposed in a language environment, they imitate what is heard.

Imitate

---copy their parents

Most 4-5 years old children talk almost the same way

of their parents. Tones, gestures, intonation, and manners

are, to the effect, an exact copy of what their parents

usually do.

---no models

If parents are not able to speak, e.g. deaf or suffered from

other diseases, children usually fail to acquire a language

due to the fact that they have no models to imitate.

The Weakness

Not all language behaviors result from imitation

(simplification, making errors & creation)

---simplification

Simplification is an essential step for children’s

language acquisition.

e.g. banana [bnn] [nn]

spoon [spun] [pun]

---errors

Children can never avoid errors in their early acquisition.

Most American children commit errors in tense.

e.g. I wented to the park yesterday.

I don’t want nothing.

---creation

Most of children language is, amazing enough, full of

creation. Some innovation can be found in their

sentences or vocabulary.

e.g. Children like to pretend to take their toys far away

to the sky or to where they think is interesting.

2.2 Theory of Reinforcement

Behaviorism

This theory is in spirit based on behaviorism.

Reinforcement (+ / –)

---positive: A positive reinforcement refers to speech

like praising, encouraging, or saying something

good to children when they achieve well.

---negative: Negative reinforcement refers to punishments

or scolding or finding faults, by which children

would realize that learning is important.

Two Disadvantages-1: having no idea of reinforcement

Parents are concerned with is speech act or behaviors

(polite in expressions, gentle in tones…).

e.g. Child: I wented to the park yesterday.

Parent: No, that’s not true. You went to Grandma’s.

care less: the wrong use of ‘wented’

care more: the true information---It is Grandma’s

that the child went to, but not to the park. )

content > word / language

Parents pay more attention to contents than what word

or language is used.

Two Disadvantages-2: ignorance

ignorance

Before a certain age even if a child is taught how to

speak the child may ignore what is taught.

example-other spoon vs. other one spoon

Although the child has been reinforced (trained) in

the use of ‘other spoon’, he still returns his own use

of ‘other one spoon.’

CHILD: Want other one spoon, Daddy.

FATHER: You mean, yow want “the other spoon?

CHILD: Yes, I want other one spoon, please, Daddy.

FATEHR: Can you say “the other spoon?”

CHILD: Other…one…spoon.

FATHER: Say…“other.”

CHILD: Other.

FATHER: Spoon.

CHILD: Spoon.

FATHER: Other…spoon.

CHILD: Other…spoon. Now give me other one spoon.

No Need for Reinforcement

After a certain age, depending on individual difference,

a child would get rid of such errors, There is no need to

have reinforcement.

Cognition

The theory of reinforcement fails to account for the

mystery of language acquisition. Cognition might play a

role in this respect.

2.3 Theory of Grammar Construction

The LAD ( Language Acquisition Device)

innate / part of the Universal Grammar (UG)

biological / it grows (immature mature)

The Application of the UG

A language is acquired in lieu of the application of

the UG.

The Application of the UG

(exposure) exposed to a language environment (LAD) the language initiates the LAD

(generating) a fixed x-bar structure will be generated (lexicon + subcategorization)

acquired more & more lexicon + related subcategorization (sentence structure)

a proper lexicon is inserted to the terminal node of a

sentence structure according to the x-bar of that language

e.g. rule internalization

Children: I “wented” to the park yesterday.

Children: I “goed” to the park.

Children construct the rule (in a past tense):

all the vowels are suffixed with -ed words like went, go, like…work the same adding -ed

more exposure more adjustment

The more exposure to the language, the more children will adjust their rules.

Berko’s experiments:

the use of -s for English plural nouns

[s] : the suffix -s is added to words ending with a

voiceless consonants (e.g. tapes, works, seats).

[z]: the -s is suffixed to words ending with a voiced

consonant, it is read voiced (e.g. combs, bags, beds).

participants

students of 1st,2nd, 3rd grades

(1) Berko drew a weird animal.

Berko: This is a wug.

There are two of them now.

There are two ___ ?

Students: There are two wugs [wgz].

(2) He drew another weird picture for an animal called bik.

Berko: There are two of them.

Now there are two ___ ?

Students: There are two biks[bks].

Implicationsword-for-word vs. rule-for-rule

Berko’s experiments strongly argue for the theory of grammar construction that children do not acquire word for word, they acquire rule for rule.

grammar construction (+)

It is grammar construction that helps account for why children can acquire a complicated language system in so short a time with so limited exposures.

3. STAGES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Language acquisition is examined or observed according to different stages of children’s cognition.

3.1 Babbling

3.2 One Word Stage

3.3 Stage of Two Words

3.4 Phonological Acquisition

3.5 Syntactic Acquisition

3.6 Semantic Acquisition

3.1 Babbling

3-4 months

---begin to show babbling

---only mothers can guess what is meant

---bilabials alveolar consonants

6 months

---begin to use their mother tongue

---suprasegments (tones, stress, & intonation)

are acquired in the beginning

suprasegments segment

Experiments indicate that suprasegments are acquired before segments.

(1) in English (rising & falling intonation)

Children of the English language are able to

distinguish rising intonation from falling intonation.

(2) in Mandarin (rising & falling tone)

In Taiwan, it has been noted that children of six

months are able to distinguish the rising tone (the

second tone) from the falling tones (the fourth tones)

of Mandarin Chinese.

3.2 One Word Stage (12 months old)

holophrastic sentences

Children use one word for a sentence or a semantic unit, which is also called holophrastic sentences.

e.g. milk I want milk. / That is milk.

substituted sounds

Children begin to have clearer sounds, though sounds are substituted.

e. g. Amhhl’s data

In (a), the [s] is substituted with [t], and

in (b) & (c), [g] with [k], [l] with [g], respectively.

word adult Amhhl’s readinga bus [bs] [bt]

b leg [lg] [gk]

c lie [la] [da]

insertion or simplification

Sometimes, insertion or simplification takes place at this stage.

e.g. a Chinese data

words adult Chia-chia’s readingfish [u_] [yu]

to see [kan] [ka:]pain [tung] [du:]

patterns of simplification

There are patterns for children’s simplification in phonetics.

(a) syllable simplification:

stop [tap], desk [dk],[kan] [ka:]

(b) substitution:

bus [bt], sea [tiy], tung [du:]

(c) assimilation:

tell [dl], big [pk]

perception production

perception + production

Language acquisition is composed of perception and production.

perception > production

Children are much better in perception.

perception production

Most children are able to understand what is heard at this stage.

e.g. a dialogue

GUEST: (pointing to fish in the aquarium) What is it?

CHILD: It’s [fs] (fish ).

GUEST: Oh, so it is [fs]. How beautiful [fs].

CHILD: No. It is [fs], not [fs].

GUEST: Is it not [fs]?

CHILD: No.

GUEST: No? It’s not [fs]. It is [f].

Child: (Happily) Yes. It is [fs].

perception (V) & production (X)

The child, though failing to pronounce the [] sound,

can fully understand fish should be pronounced [f].

3.3 Stage of Two Words (24 months)

after 24 months

Children step to the stage of two words, using two words instead one for expression.

e.g. Baby chair, Daddy car, Here doggie…

referring to different meanings

A phrase of two words can be referred to different meanings.

e.g. Baby chair

This is the baby’s chair.

Baby (I) want to sit on the chair.

Baby (I) am now on the chair.

telegraphic stage

The phrases are telegraphic without involving with

morphological suffixes (e.g. -s, -ed, etc.) or syntactic

derivations (e.g. nominative, objective, possessive inflections ).

a telegraph (short & brief)

be verbs (X)

inflectional suffixes (X)

morphological suffixes (X)

e.g. Get there by 10. Wait reply.

I will get there by 10,

and now I am waiting for your reply.

e.g. The two-word phrases are straightforward,

without having any suffixes.

a. Daddy come (S+V)

b. Mommy cry (S+V)

c. Eat apple (V+O)

d. Sit car (V+O)

Stage of Three-Word (X)

Three words (X)

There is no stage of three-word in the literature of LA.

speak like adults do

Soon after the stage of two words, children get to the world of infinity for they are able to speak like what adults do.

more words (V)

phonological changes (V)

transformation in sentences (V)

3.4 Phonological Acquisition

after 50 tokens

Children begin to build their own phonological

knowledge after they are able to speak 50 tokens.

phonological knowledge

phonetic inventories

phonemes

syllable structure

stress

tonal rules

bee [bi] & pea [pi]

Children can distinguish voicing, e.g. bee [bi] from

pea [pi], at an early stage.

perception (V) production (X)---[s] or []

Even if they fail to pronounce [s] or [], children try

to show that they are different in their mind.

mouth [maut] & mouths [maudit] vs.

mouse [maut] & mice [maut]

An experiment shows that children who pronounce mouth and mouse identically [maut] distinguish them

in the use of plural forms, mouths being [maudit], but mice being [maut].

communication > errors

Some sounds are not correctly spoken.

All the errors, if they should be termed ‘errors,’

are of patterns and they never stop children from communication.

simplification strategies

Children have got phonological knowledge at an

early age though using simplification strategies.

Children have got the ideas of a syllable, an onset & a vowel (the nucleus-cannot be eliminated)

CV / CVC (C: consonant , V: vowel)Simple structure is preferred. aunt [/at] To get a CVC syllable structure, a glottal stop is usually inserted to the onset position of a syllable without onset.

spoon [pun], sprite [rat]When they encounter with a complicated onset (CCV), one of the consonants in the onset position will be deleted.

It occurs to children that stress plays an important role.

banana & brownieIn the simplification of syllables with a stress, The stressed syllable remains intact. e.g. banana [bn@n] nana [n@n] brownie [brawni] [bawn] / [bawni]

3.5 Syntactic Acquisition

the stage of one word

The difference between statements and interrogative

sentences is indicated by falling and rising intonation.

the stage of two words

The syntactic structure is full of diversities.

all the samples (only two words)

in syntactic structure & theta-role (quite different)

inflectional or derivational suffixes (X)

Syntactic Structure Samplesa agent + V John go.b V + patient Eat apple.c V + locative Sleep bed.d possessor + possessed John bed.e determiner + noun This chair.

From the same ‘this chair,’ mothers can judge what it means simply by contexts or by intuition, which helps communication to be successful between parents and children.

this chaira. (I want to sleep on) This chair.b. This chair (hurts me).c. (I like ) This chair, (not that one.)

different meanings vs. mothers communication

The different semantic meaning is revealed by intonation or contexts.

the later stage (after 3 years old)

grammatical functions instead of the forms

---begin to use inflectional & derivational suffixes

e.g. -ing, -s/es

---can distinguish the -s

e.g. possessive (John’s brother, Micky’s Dad)

plural nouns (books, toys, seats)

verb of the 3rd singular nominative

(He walks away. John comes here.)

the acquisition of sentential difference LA matured

negation sentences, interrogative sentences, sentences involved with transformation and / or movements

3.6 Semantic Acquisition

lexicon, social & cultural background, and cognition

developments (close related)

arbitrary

Children acquire lexical semantics by viewing a concrete object or a picture.

e.g. cats, birds & mouse

cats, birds, and mouse are arbitrarily endowed with

the reference to specific objects

connotation

social / cultural background meanings differ

e.g. mice cute & lovely (Disney publications / films)

mice dirty & devil (live in a far remote country)

abstract

Semantics is quite abstract for children. It takes time for children to adjust the abstract referential point in the beginning.

e.g. space: this & that

(the speaker’s ‘that’ vs. the listener’s ‘this’)

categories, semantic difference & special expressions

a basis (50 words-17 / 18 months) basic semantics

semantic deviation

The actual meaning of a lexicon is somewhat different from what occurs to children.

two types

(1) overextension

Overextension refers to cases in which the semantic

meaning is overextended to a bigger domain.

(2) underextension

Underextension means that children have cut part of

the semantic meanings out of the original lexical

meaning.

(1) overextension

dogs: all the animals walking with four feet

oxen, pigs…dogs

ducks: the quacking sounds

quacking sounds ducks

(2) underextension

the dog walking in the street vs. the picture of a dog

acquiring semantics

more exposure

more and more social and cultural exposure leads children to catch what is meant for some specific

words

adjusted & readjusted

the acquisition of special expressions has to be adjusted and readjusted before it is successfully acquired

4. BASIS OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Q1:Why can children learn so complicated

a language in so short a time?

Q2: What is the age for puberty?

Q3: What is Universal Grammar?

4.1 Innateness Hypothesis

4.2 Critical Period Hypothesis

4.3 Universal Grammar

4.1 Innateness Hypothesis (Nativism)

Q1: Why can children learn so complicated

a language in so short a time?

(due to universal grammar)

Chomsky’s theory

There is a universal grammar present somewhere in

our brain. It is biological in nature, thus it can grow,

get mature, and fade away when we are old.

Universal Grammar

Due to universal grammar, children are able to acquire

a language in a very short time and to produce certain sounds when they are old enough.

language acquisition & organ / cognitive maturity

two cases indicate the close relationship between language acquisition and organ (or cognitive) maturity

(1) American children: []

fail to produce the alveolar palatal fricative []

before they are 2.5 years old

(2) children in Taiwan: nasalized vowels

found in difficulties in producing nasalized vowels,

e.g. [i] ‘yard’, [a] ‘to bend’

4.2 Critical Period Hypothesis

Q2: What is the age for puberty?

(between 8 to 12 years old)

before puberty (acquire a language)

If Innateness Hypothesis is on the right track, it implies that children may acquire a language before puberty.

after puberty (have difficulties)

After 12 years old, children who want to learn or acquire a new language would have difficulties.

two cases in support of the Critical Period Hypothesis

(1) Genie’s case (14 years old, over the puberty )

---a no language provided environment before 14

---trained by specialists in many fields in vin

(psychology, special education, and linguistics)

acquired (V): simple words & sentences

acquired (X): auxiliary (can, is, may, etc.)

derivational or inflectional suffixes

(-s, -er, -est, -ing, etc.)

(2) Isabelle’s case (6 years old, before the puberty)

---a deaf and mute mother

---unable to speak until 6 years old

---trained in a few years

---speak fluently

the contrast between Isabelle and Genie language can be acquired before puberty

Isabelle’s case & SLA

Critical Period Hypothesis (V)

Isabelle’s case in support of the Critical Period Hypothesis comes from second language acquisition.

over the puberty & native-like (X)

Most students or learners of a second or foreign language are over the puberty. Few of them could produce a second language in a native-like manner.

age & LA

This further implies that age plays a central role in language acquisition.

4.3 Universal Grammar

UG: phonetics, phonology, morphology & syntax

Universal Grammar comprises of knowledge of phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax.

phonology: distinctive features & syllable structure

In terms of phonology, distinctive features and syllable structure are part of the universal grammar, because all the languages in the world are built up on features as well as on syllables.

words: prefixes, suffixes or reduplication

Words in most languages can be decomposed into prefixes, suffixes, or reduplication, etc.

5. SUMMARY

5.1 Two Research Methods

5.2 Three Theories for LA

5.3 Stages of LA

5.4 Basic of LA

5.1 Two Research Methods

Observations and experiments play a key role.

(1) Observations

Observation is very essential in the study of

language acquisition. Most of the early studies are

based on cases recorded and reported by parents.

(2) Experiments

Observation is time-consuming, and usually there

is no specific focus. To compensate, experiment

methods are developed.

5.2 Three Theories for Language Acquisition

There are three theories proposed for the study of LA.

(1) Imitation Theory

It accounts for part of language acquisition, but it

misses more on the creativity of child language.

(2) Reinforcement Theory

It emphasizes the relation between stimulus and

response and the reinforcement, which can hardly be

found in empirical studies (parents do not use it).

(3) Grammar Construction Theory

There is an innate LAD, which is part of the UG.

The LAD is biological (immature mature).

5.3 Stages of Language Acquisition-1

(longitudinal viewpoint)

(1) Babbling

Before 10 months, children are babbling.

(2) One-word Stage

They begin to be at the one word stage when they use

one word for a semantic unit.

(3) Two-word Stage

After two-word stage, children are fast in their

language production. In a very short time, children

can speak like adults.

5.3 Stages of Language Acquisition-2

(grammatical components)

(1) Phonology

Children have acquired what a phoneme is.

(2) Syllable Structure

They are also sensitive to syllable structure.

(3) Syntax

They use intonation for the distinction between

statements & interrogative sentences.

(4) Semantics

Children may run into difficulties in overextension or

underextension (the real target or object puzzled).

5.4 Two Hypotheses (LA & UG Two Hypothesis)

LA is more or less based on the theory of UG, which

claims that all the language share a certain aspects in

grammar structure.

(1) Innateness Hypothesis

The language acquisition device is biologically given.

It is no different from other organs in that it grows up,

it matures, and it fades away.

(2) Critical Period Hypothesis

Language can be acquired without difficulties before

puberty. After puberty, language will be acquired

with difficulties.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!!!