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How do we acquire language?
nativist theory, behaviorist theory, interactionist
Nativist Theory
- believe children are predisposed to talk
- minimal impact from the environment
- view language exposure as "triggers" for the natural process
Nativist theory - Human biology
- specialized areas of the brain designated for language
- Wernick'es area
- Arcuate fasciculus
- Broca's area
- Motor cortex
- Mirror neurons
Wernicke's area
formulation of language and processing takes place
Arcuate fascicles
"super highway" for neurons traveling to Broca's area
Broca's area
expression, motor output, planning, telling mouth what to do, sequence movements
Motor Cortex
sending messages to mouth
mirror neurons
fires neurons needed for speech
plasticity
constantly changing
- self organizing neural network
- "forever learner"
naming deficit
haven't had time to organize words yet, they['re confused a little
- 18to20 months of age
- sudden confusion for previously learned words - huge growth spurt
age of acquisition effect
- you can see when you look at word retrieval (coming up with a word)
- word retrieval happens quicker for words that are already established/ they have acquired earlier and they have a strong connection with the word
Ex words: mom, dad, move, up, cup, bottle, no, siblings name
family history
research to support genetic influence
- kids that have a difficultly gaming language most likely have a family history
- kids that acquire language quickly, most likely had family members that found it easy too
assumptions of the nativist theory
- Chomsky
- innate ability to acquire language
- language is acquired quickly and early in life learning alone can not account for acquisition
- words come in around 1 year
- similar experience for all humans; all grammatical rules for organizing language
- different but have rule based language system
- if language was learned you would have a more conscious understanding of what you were doing to produce sentences
linguistic universals
common features of all languages
language acquisition device - nativist theory
theoretic place in the brain where language devices are stored
transformational generative grammar
Chomsky
- unlimited amount of sentences to be created
- phrase structure rules underlying rules of words and phrases
- transformations rearrangement of deep structures as they move to the next level of structure
phrase structure rules underlying rules of words and phrases
- "deep"
- rules are universal and operate in all languages
- describes the relationship between basic elements of sentences while they are thoughts
- completed before written or spoken
- basic elements of a sentence
transformations rearrangement of deep structures as they move to the next level of structure
- "surface"
- not universal
- unique to each language
- how deep structures are shaped and organized to make sentences grammatically correct for each language
deep level
- linguistic universals
- though level
- same for all languages
- LAD holds knowledge
- elements of the thought/sentence
transformation level
rules are applied to make thoughts grammatically correct for a specific language
- unique to each language
surface level
what we realize as language
- what makes language, language
- how we communicate with one another
- basic relationships between words we want to say
deep thought level example
** sees an apple
- original thought "the apple color is __"
transformation of thought
- resulting in surface structure
- specific to linage
- what color is the apple?
- is the apple red or green?
- what makes it grammatically correct when speaking
nativist theory challenges
- language is unique to humans
- language acquisition is complete by the age of 5 (language continues to change over a lifetime)
- language models given when addressing children are short/simple and easy to master provided in a manner to promote further learning
Behaviorist theory
- focus on behaviors/patterns children demonstrate
- says language is learned/response to the environment
- relationships between the environment and language... environment is the most important factor in language development
- language is something we "do" not something we "have"
- behaviors are learned by imitations, reinforcement and successive approximations
Ex: imitations/copying behavior
behaviorist theory - operant conditioning
- BF Skinner
operant
any behavior whose frequency can be effected by responses that follow it
EX: saying up and kid picks up toy
reinforcement
something that increases likelihood that behavior will occur again
- not always positive
punisher
decrease frequency of behavior
discriminative stimulus
reminded to perfform
EX: reminding kid to say thank you
delta stimulus
signal that reinforcement will follow
EX: playing harder for praise that follows performance
aversive stimulus
warns that there will be an unpleasant consequence for behavior
shaped behavior
behavior is shaped by response behavior
- shaping behavior for desired behavior
- small Changs in expectations
chaining
- specific step by step behavior
- Chaining steps of a sequence together
- one step to the next
** helpful to use pictures
5 functions of conditioned verbal behaviors (Skinner)
echoic
tact
mand
intraverbal
autocratic
echoic
imitate
tact
naming of objects, actions or events
mand
request/demand
intraverbal
social talk for different situations
autoclitic
using words/sentences based on observations and experiences
classical conditioning example
- Pavlov's dog conditioning
- important for vocal growth
- neutral stimulus that is paired with something to hold meaning
- doesn't mean anything until being paired
- neutral stimulus paired with something
Behaviorist theory - challenges
- James
- imitation
- new utterances that have never been heard
- productions containing incorrect grammar not present in adult model (not true imitation)
- decrease in the amount of imitation after the age of 2 but language changes over the life span
Interactionist theory
- most CURRENT view
- incorporates biology and environment into language acquisition (learned behavior)
- language is not directly taught but the language input is given
- 3 categories/views (semantic, cognitive, social)
** all 3 cool at nature and nurture
Interactionist theory- semantic viewpoint
- meaning through grammar
- generate meaning and grammar
- sentences have two parts
Fillmore's case grammar
modality: sentence characteristics (verb tense)
proposition: relationship between nouns and verbs in sentences
- most important
- determine underlying meanings of sentence
Filmore's 7 Universal Cases
agentive, dative, experiencer, factitive, instrumental, locative, objective
agentive
initiator of an action
Ex: Sam(N) kicked(V) his friend
dative
animate object of person being affected by verb
EX: Sam gave(V) him(N) a bruise
experiencer
animate object or person that experience the verb
EX: Bob(N) cried(V) when he was kicked
Factitive
Object that is the product of the action
EX: He kicked(V) the anthill(N)
instrumental
inanimate object that causes the action
EX: the kickball(N) broke (V) the window
locative
place where the verb occurs
EX: he kicked (V) the ball at the park (N)
objective
noun phrase is determined by the meaning of the verb
EX: Sam kicked (V) the ball to me (N)
** noun determines the verb that's used
interactionist theory - cognitive viewpoint
- associated with Piaget's cognitive theory
- languages emerges as a result of cognitive organization and development
- see language skills increase, the cognitive skills increase
- language is developed with the purpose to form concepts, remember them and manipulate them for thinking and talking; provides a logical structure for communication
cognition and language correlations
symbolic play, problem solving, imitation
symbolic play
ability to understand and words represent things (nouns)
problem solving
use language to get things done, work with others, how do I solve problem?
imitation
learning new cognitive skills, imitating
information processing theory
attempts to relate structure and function
- think of lang acq as a computer processor
competition model
- bates and Whinney)
- function generates structure using our information processing system
- gathers info, puts it into a code, reads the code, holds it in memory, and allows for retrieval when needed
- when enough language evidence is gathered changes are made to the information processing system
differentiating different objects (cows and horses)
Parallel distributed processing (Ex of competition model)
experience activities and strengthens connections; others weaken and fade away
- the more we experience something the stronger it becomes, the less, the weaker
interactionist theory ...
includes both extreme viewpoints (nativists and behaviorist)
- biological basic for language acquisition
- learns langue creativity using the biological means they are born with
- accounts for variations among language development in children (varying experiences cause different connections in the way information is processed/used)
social interactionism
both biological and environmental factors are important
- occurs due to early social interactions (social interaction between child and caregiver)
language acquisition support structure (LASS)
children communicate socially before they are able to produce language
zone of proximal development
how adults provide model is just out of reach; one step harder to keep child learning or changing to make steady progress
EX: putting toy where child can't reach it yet
communicative intent
have to have this to communicate
- intent that leads to child to responding to wants/ needs
- they have to want to talk to you
moterease/parent ease
adaptations adults make when talking to kids
EX: baby talk
expansion
- social viewpoint
- adult repeats what child says but adds additional words or structures to do
EX: kid- "I go out" parents- "I want to go out to eat"
interactionist theory speech act theory
- idea that utterances are used to "get things done"
- every speech act consists of 3 parts
locutionary act
expression of words
illocutionary act
motive/purpose
direct speech act
direct comment/request
indirect speech act
"its really not in here"; motive behind speech without just saying it
perlocutionary act
comment/utterance; affect on listener
- how they take what was said
communication breakdown
taking it in a way that wasn't intended/intent of what was said
interactionist theory overview
- langue development is a product of nature and nurture (environment and learning)
- view the child as an active participant
- child's communication attempts are met with adult feedback and the child responds