Evidence for Nativism

Lesson 6

According to Empiricism

a language learner encounters primary linguistic data in h=their environment, receives instruction/conditioning from caregivers, and uses general cognitive abilities to convert this experience into knowledge of language

According to Nativism

a child encounters primary linguistic data in their environment and uses the Language Acquisition device provided by Universal Grammar to convert that data into knowledge of language

Prediction of Empiricism. We should observe individual differenced in the following in language learning

Some people won’t have any language.
Some people will take longer to learn it.
Different people in a community will have completely different
grammars.
Different children will go through completely different processes in
learning language.
Also, certain languages will be harder for a child to learn.

Predictions of Empiricism

experience is necessary. children who are never exposed to a language will never have a language

(Empiricism) Outcome of language acquisition should bear a relationship to general intelligence:

success at learning language will correlate with success at other mental tasks

learning language will take about the same amount of time as other complex tasks

Nativist response to Emp predictions

Universality, uniformity, rapidity, concistency of stages

Universality

all human societies have (always had language

all children acquire at least on language (aside from pathology)

Uniformity of EASE

Any human child can acquire an human language in about 5 years. That is, all human languages are equally easy for children to learn

Uniformity of SUCCESS

All children acquire a grammar that is virtually indistinguishable from their language models P(parents peers, caretakers)

Rapidity

Children acquire language much more rapidly than other information of similar complexity (algebra, calculus)

Consistency of stages

Children acquiring the same language pass through highly similar acquisition stages

Can children succeed at acquiring language even when they are not exposed to a full language in their primary linguistic data?

Yes, in certain circumstances (nativism)

In Empiricism, what does an individual’s general intelligence (IQ) correlate with?

their success and speed in acquiring language

Conditions that indicate developmental double dissociation between intelligence and linguistic abilities

Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and Williams Syndrome

Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

developmental disorder that affects language with no additional cognitive deficits

Children diagnosed with SLI show:

Normal (non-verbal) IQ

Normal socialization

Some areas of language are OK

Severe problems with certain parts of language

What parts of language do children with SLI have problems with?

Delay in producing first words

Problems in articulating speech sounds

Simplified grammatical production (leaving off noun, verb endings)

Comprehension difficulty with complex speech

Examples of production by children with SLI

It’s a Flying finches, they are

They boys eat four cookie

Carol is cry in the church

Cause of SLI

genetic

Evidence for genetic nature of SLI?

comes from twin studies: identical twins are more likely to share a diagnosis than fraternal twins

SLI suggests that there are children of normal intelligence who fail to acquire language in a typical fashion

Intelligence is not sufficient for language acquisition

Williams Syndrome

Developmental disorder that causes broad cognitive deficits but leaves language intact

Children diagnosed with Williams Syndrome show:

Cardiovascular difficulties

An average IQ of 55

Limited motor control

Excessively social

Language preserved

Facial features of Williams Syndrome

elfin or youthful

Who has difficulty with visual-spatial tasks and can see detail but cannot organize them in space?

children with Williams Syndrome

Language production of children with Williams Syndrome is:

fluent, coherent, and free from grammatical errors

Example of language production by a child with Williams Syndrome

They’ve got the habit of doing that. They lose, they’ve lost my
bank book twice in a month, and I think I’ll scream. My mum went
yesterday to the bank for me. She said, “They’ve lost your bank
book again.” I went “Can I scream?”

Cause of Williams Syndrome

Genetic: deletion of ~25 genes on chromosome 7

What might the deleted genes’ function be linked to (Williams Syndrome)

protein production — cardiovascular difficulties — and to visuospatial cognition

Williams Syndrome suggests that:

there are children with impairment of general cognition who nevertheless succeed to acquire language in a typical fashion. General intelligence is not required for language acquisition

Double Dissociation

General (non-verbal) intelligence is entirely independent of linguistic competence

Nativism or Empiricism predicts correlations between linguistic ability and generative cognitive abilities and intelligence.

Empiricism. Nativists found that these are not confirmed.