Nature versus Nurture
Remains the biggest debate. Empiricism vs. nativism
How much is built in? Chomksy’s three arguments are used to
defend nativism. Most modern researchers hold to an
interactionist p.o.v. Not as effortless as Chomsky proposed. Input is key.
Constructivism (Piaget)
Opposes behaviourism as well. “Sharing the same enemy never obliged anyone to
share the same crusade.” Piaget stipulates that inborn mental abilities work
upon environmental input (e.g., speech to child), resulting in cognitive development.
Language intricately tied to other cognitive structures (e.g., learning about people and things leads to subjects and objects).
Brain learning, rather than brain maturation.
What is innate?
Knowledge of language Domain specificity Modularity: dedicated sub-system, “mental organ”
Process: Encapsulation, unconsciousness, speed, shallow outputs, and obligatory firing
Biology: Ontogenetic universals, localization, and pathological universals
Can be nativist and not subscribe to modularity (Bates argues against based on brain plasticity and variations in language).
What is innate? Computational processes knowledge
Domain general Rule learning
Apply statistical regularities to new input. ABA rule versus AAB rule.
Statistical learning Infants can detect statistical regularities in input (e.g., vision,
musical tones) Infants can use stat learning for: Word segmentation, sound
acquisition, grammar rules (see below) So can monkeys and rats.
Other debates
Continuity Is change quantitative or qualitative?
Communication and language Formalists: rules and structure
Chomsky. Functionalists: social use
The why of language. Cultural convention. Social interactionist.
Research
Not going to cover design that much, assuming you know it.
Only focusing on procedures and techniques.
Research methods: Production
Speech samples. Can be spontaneous or structured (imitation). Min of 50 utterances. Limitation: context, act of observing Best to use AV Transcription
Depends of what you’re studying: phonetics, communicative competence, etc.
CHILDES MLU: normative
Other measures
Elicitation Related to
structured speech samples
Interviews Piagetian Is horse a word?
Why?
Research Methods: Comprehension
Usually used for norms (atypical) MacArthur-Bates CDI Parental report Normed for age & sex Strong reliability and validity PPVT 4 simple, black-and-white illustrations arranged in a multiple-choice
format. Select best example of orally presented word 17 sets of 12; progressively difficult. High reliability and validity.
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