Language Acquisition Exam 1

Daniel's nine ideas about language Gass 2013, Chapter 2 & 3 Yule 2020, Chapter 15 Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

Langauge

Is an agreed upon arbitrary combination of sounds to give meaning to thought and things. Explanation:

* is always evolving and changing
* the world has more phonemes than English has
* made up of a sound system, vocabulary and grammar

Daniel

Dialect

A variety of a particular language which has a certain set of lexical, phonological, and grammatical rules that differ

Explanation: changes in different social, economical, occupational, educational, and political settings. Most countries have a standard (superior) dialect.

Daniel

Prescriptivism

How language should be used

Daniel

Descriptivism

The way people actually speak. Most sociolinguists tend to be descriptivists because they want to understand how people actually use language in everyday interaction.

Daniel

Grammar

Definition 1: system of rules we use to arrange words into meaningful English sentences
Definition 2: the whole system of rules which make up a language

Daniel

Characteristics of all grammar

all languages...


1. have grammar
2. are equal
3. are alike in a basic way
4. change overtime
5. have subconscious grammatical knowledge

Daniel

Universals

Generic rules (ex all cars drive on one side of the road) Language - rules all languages follow

Example: All languages have nouns and verbs, or If a language is spoken, it has consonants and vowels

Daniel

Parameters

Specific rules (ex in America we drive on the right)

Languages - specific languages follow specific rule

Example: the rules of English ("i" comes before "e" after "c")

Daniel

Is language change normal?

YES!

* respond to changes in environment/society
* shifts in sounds of words and grammar (who vs whom)
* simplification
* change in meaning (gay)

Daniel

Are some language better than others?

NO! Language is about how one communicates with their family and friends and all should be respected so others can communicate

* language of stereotypes
* we made judgments based on how someone speaks
* prejudices make pressure for people with different dialects to want to speak "standard"

Daniel

Gestures

Meaning is expressed and can be observed while someone is speaking

Explanation: the ways in which people use their bodies to communicate with one another

Example: making a twisting motion with your hand to explain opening a bottle

Yule 2020, Chapter 15

Signs

A language, a way to communicate with one's hands instead of speech

Explanation: the language of the Deaf

Example: American Sign Language

Yule 2020, Chapter 15

Emblem

Function like a fixed phrase that does not depend on speech. A need for social communication.

Example: "thumbs up"

Yule 2020, Chapter 15

Iconics

Gestures that seem to echo or imitate the meaning of what is said

Explanation: adds meaning and explanation to the conversation

Example: tracing a square in the air to show the shape and size of a box

Yule 2020, Chapter 15

Deictics

Gestures used to point at things or people

Explanation: pointing to a specific nouns being discussed

Example: the birthday cake

Yule 2020, Chapter 15

Beats

Short, quick movements of the hand/fingers, accompany speech but not a way of speaking (does not add meaning)

Explanation: used to emphasize what is being said

Example: when you flap your arms when talking carry no particular content but you are still moving your body

Yule 2020, Chapter 15

Alternative sign language

A system of hand signals developed by speakers for limited communication in a specific context where speech cannot be used

Example: monks can use this during their periods of silence

Yule 2020, Chapter 15

Origins of ASL

Thomas Gallaudet has a Deaf neighbor named Alice Cogswell, he travels to find a way to communicate her, and brings back Laurent Clerc (a Deaf Frenchman). Together they opened up The American School for the Deaf (1817). ASL is a combination of home signs and FSL

Yule 2020, Chapter 15

articulatory parameters of ASL

* shape - configuration of the hand
* orientation- palm up or down
* location- relation to head and body
* movement- how the hand/ body moves during the sign

Yule 2020, Chapter 15

Oralism

Method of training or educating deaf persons through speech reading without using signs or fingerspelling. Following 1960 William Stokeo's work, ASL not not considered a language and people thought it would inhibit spoken language. ASL passed secretly from child to child outside of the classroom.

Yule 2020, Chapter 15

longitudinal study

A small amount of subject restudied and retested over a long period with very detailed information. Uses more descriptive data: qualitative, narration, examples.

Advantages - indicates the degree of stability of individual differences over long periods, reveals individual children's patterns of change over long periods

Disadvantages - time consuming, costly, subject loss, survivorship effects, repeat testing

Gass 2013, Chapter 2 & 3

cross-sectional study

Large number of participants over a single point in time with a controlled output and tasks. Is is quantitative and has statistical analysis.

Advantages - quick, inexpensive, able to look at different ages at the same point of time

Disadvantages - uninformative about stability of individual differences over time, insufficient detail/ vague

Gass 2013, Chapter 2 & 3

Analyze Data

What are we looking for? similarities, differences, patterns, connections

Data can be ambiguous with no right answer, there are always exceptions


1. identify
2. Find patterns, explain, and create hypothesis
3. Test hypothesis

Gass 2013, Chapter 2 & 3

Learner Corpora

Select or compiled learner data annotate, extract, analyze and interpret the date

Advantages: manipulated and analyzed by computer, generally much larger samples of learner data, don't have to start from scratch

Disadvantages: can't control the data or get more information, is limited to what they have/ task perform/ instruments used

Example: The International Journal of Learner Corpus Research, British National Corpus, The Advanced Learner English Corpus

Gass 2013, Chapter 2 & 3

Verbal Report

Tools used to understand the cognitive process involved when participants perform a task (their though process) Types:

* think-aloud (during)
* stimulation recall (after)
* post production interview (feedback)

Gass 2013, Chapter 2 & 3

Replication

The essence of the scientific method that involves observation that can be repeated and verifies by others

Explanation: This it critical in SLA so one can know if what they are testing is a fluke or a pattern

Gass 2013, Chapter 2 & 3

MLU (mean length of utterance)

The average number of morphemes used in an utterance to measure a children language growth and grammatical development

Gass 2013, Chapter 2 & 3

Foreign Language Learning (FLL)

This refers to the learning of a language, usually in a classroom setting, in a context where the target language is not widely used in the community (for example, learning French in China).

Example: If am a Native Speaker of Spanish learning English in Spain, this would be FLL because English is a foreign language there.

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Gass 2013, Chapter 2 & 3

Second Language Acquisition

The process by which children who have already established a solid foundation in their first language learn an additional language

Explanation: Where the language being learned is used in the community (for example, learning Italian in Florence).

Example: If I travel to Ireland to learn English, that would be SLA, because English is a second language for me in a context where it is widely spoken by Native Speakers

Gass 2013, Chapter 2 & 3

Parentese / Child-directed Speech

Special speech register used by adults and older children when speaking to younger children/infants. Found in many language but not every feature is found in every language

Characteristics: slower, exaggerated intonations, a higher pitch range and longer pauses, more stress, shorter utterances, repetition, paraphrase, more questions

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

What can a child do, linguistically, before age two?

* Babble (marginal and reduplicated) - 4 to 8 months
* Jargon - 8 to 12 months
* First Word - 12 months over/under extension can distinguish sounds and distinguish the language their mother speaks have 50 words - 12-24 months
* Two word stage - 18 - 24 month

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

What can a child do, linguistically, after age two?

They learn 10 new words a day and can make simple sentences

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

metalinguistic awareness

The ability to think about/reflect on language as a system

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

overextension

The overly broad use of words, overgeneralizing their meaning

Explanation: a child's use of a word for objects or items that share a feature or property

Example: using "dog" to refer to all animals with four legs

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

underextension

The failure to apply a new word more generally to objects that are included within the meaning of the word

Explanation: a child's use of a word with a narrower meaning than in the adult's language

Example: using "dog" to only refer to the family's pet

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Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

Developmental sequences

* Babbling (6-8 months)
* One-word stage (9-18 months)
* Two-word stage (18-24 months)
* Telegraphic stage (24-30 months)
* Later multiword stage (30+ months)

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

auditory discrimination

The ability to tell the difference between one sound and another sound. Is very important in the development of phonemic awareness.

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

Wug Test (Berko, 1958)

Test if children truly grasped the rules behind grammar or if they were simply memorizing and mimicking words they have heard.

Explanation: A test of a child's knowledge of morphology (word formation). Children were shown a picture of a Wug, and then shown a picture of 2 of these creatures and asked "There are 2...". Unanimously the children said Wugs with the plural ending of -s.

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

Word

A symbol that stands for the object or concept that it names

Explanation: What age do you learn 1st word

Example: think about how babbling becomes a word - sounds has meaning

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

Innatism (Nativism)

We are born with the innate (natural)/genetic way to understand different behaviors including language and grammar (Plato)

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

Behavorism

Theoretical view proposing that learning principles can explain most behavior and observable events rather than mental activity are the people objects of study (Skinner)

Example: "milk" is the word for nutritive substance

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

transfer

Influence of the L1 in using the L2, or vise versa this can include phonology, syntax, and semantics

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

Interference

Influence of L1 in the L2 when it leads to an error or vice versa Explanation: the effect of language learners' first language on their production of the language they learn, or the learners' first language influences their second or and their foreign language. The effect can be in any aspects of language, such as grammar, vocabulary, accent, spelling and so on.

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

first language acquisition differences

* learn/expose at the earliest stages of life
* no other language knowledge to rely on
* is needed to survive, get their needs and wants
* feelings and emotion are linked to L1
* it is ok if mess up
* content: learns at home/natural environment
* immersed exposure
* child directed speech (CCD)
* learns to read/write much later

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2

second language acquisition differences

* learning target language after infancy and early childhood. - Their L1 is already established
* has their L1 to fall back on if necessary, but can also result in L1 related errors
* level of anxiety when L2 has not been mastered
* is expected to be more fluent since they r older
* content: learns at school and academic environment
* limited exposure
* others will not necessarily slow down/ use CDS
* learns to read/write at the same time as speech
* rarely passes for a native speaker

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2ww

Similarities be FLA & SLA

* learner needs to be exposed to the target language, repetition, formulaic sequences/expressions (routine), understand more than they can produce, restructure their interlanguage overtime, overgeneralization, have listening and reading skills before literacy skills,

Hummels 2021, Chapter 2