Language Acquisition Final

Phonology

the sound system of the language and the rules that govern it (minimal pairs)

Morphology

rules that govern how morphemes are used and how words are formed

Syntax

rules that govern how morphemes are used and how words are formed

Semantics

meaning of words and combinations of words

Pragmatics

transmittal of info to others in communicative appropriate ways

Form

Phonology, Morphology, Syntax

Content

Semantics, Lexicon

Use

Pragmatics, Sociolinguistics

Nature

Biological like geans

Nurture

language of surrounding adults, hearing their own speech, social feedback

Phones

set of sounds of a language (ex: /g/)

Phonemes

sounds that create constrasts in meaning

Allophones

sounds that differ but do not contrasts meaning

Newborns cry and Produce Vegetative Sounds (0 weeks)

biological functioning; uses same basic processes of speech

Cooing and Laughter (8 weeks)

content/happy; share production & sound qualities with vowel

Vocal Play (Expansion State) (16 weeks)

* production of a variety of consonant and vowel sounds (developing control over production abilities)
* Infants string together sounds into increasingly complex series → Marginal Babbling
* Consonants of Vocal Play Follow typical trajectory

Reduplicated Babbling (Canonical Babbling) (36 weeks)

* repeated sets of same syllables (mam or dododo)
* Communicative & non-communicative settings
* Deaf infants produce early pre-speech sounds, but rarely canonical babbling in speech (but if exposed to sign will babble manually)

Whole Word Processes

* weak syllable deletion
* final consonants deletion
* assimilation (\~C harmony)
* reduplication
* Canonical Templates

Weak syllable deletion

banana → \[nænæ\]

Final consonant deletion

hat → \[ha\]

Assimilation (\~C harmony)

tub → \[b^b\] +voice/place

Reduplication

two identical syllables on one of the syllables in the target word

* Sesame Street → \[si:si\]

Canonical Templates

Assimilate new word either to another similar sounding word in lexicon or to a preexisting whole-word sound pattern

* C+V+/j/+V+C or berries → /bejas/

Segment/Sound Substitutions

* Stopping
* Fronting
* Gliding

Stopping

fricative → stop; see → \[ti:\]

Fronting

back → front; gone → \[dan\]

Gliding

liquid → glide (/l/ & /r/ to /w/ & /j/); rabbit → \[wæblt\]

Segment/Sound Reduction

* Consonant Cluster Reduction

Consonant Cluster Reduction (Simplification)

reducing the number of consonants in a consonant cluster in onset or coda position; Ex: CCVC → CVC

Mental Lexicon

phonology, syntactic class, & definition

Word Segmentation

* use statistical cues by 9 months
* track statistics of syllables
* use rhythmic & phonotactic cues
* child directed speech helps

Word Referent Mapping

* initial fast mapping based on only a few exposures
* whole object assumption
* mutual exclusivity assumption

Word extension

extension to new examples, essential for full word meaning knowledge

Morpheme

smallest meaningful unit in language

Syntax

* rules for how long words can be combined and ordered
* word order matters
* the baby hit the ball not = the babu hit the ball
* Some orders are ungrammatical: hit baby the ball

Descriptive Grammar

* rules not consciously followed
* provide description of language knowledge

Prescriptive Grammar

* rules taught in class/by parents
* markers of etiquette and education

Linguistic Competence

ability to produce and understand well-formed, meaningful utterances

Communicative Competence

ability to use utterances appropriately in various communicative interactions

Pidgins

communication systems create when there is no common language

* used in restricted circumstances
* limited linguistic structures

Creoles

* pidgin → creolization → creoles
* children who hear a pidgin as their input will create a new language that is much more linguistically complex
* provides insight into learner’s contribution to process of language development
* since structure of creole was NOT present in pidgin input → must come from the mind of the learner

Human Vocal Tract

specialized for creating sounds

Human Brain

brain functions lead to language

Aphasia (Left Hem)

injury to left hemisphere results in severe language problems

Split brain patients

cannot verbally describe what they see in their right visual field (which is seen by the left hem)

Processing of Pragmatic info (right hem)

jokes, sarcasm, figurative lang, narratives, & indirect requests

Patients with left hem removed

retain most of their competence in semantics & pragmatics, but are severely impaired in syntax and phonology

Broca’s area

* grammatical processing
* Broca’s aphasia: produce content words but severe difficulties with function words and syntax

Wernike’s area

* lexical access & integrating semantics with syntax
* Wirnike’s Aphasia: produce fluent sentences with function words. Content words are often semantically inappropriate & sometimes nonsense words

Equipotentality Hypothesis

both hemispheres have potential to holt language ability

* specialization occurs as function of experience

Invariance hypothesis

both hemispheres have potential to host language innately

Critical Period Hypothesis

children must acquire language within a particular time window in order to be able to acquire it all

Communicative function of speech (Communication)

Central function of language, but the desire to communicate alone cannot explain language development

* even babies with little need to communicate verbally still learn language
* even if communication is a motivation for learning, it doesn’t explain HOW learning happens

Communication function of speech (desire to communicate)

* children raised in isolation do NOT create full own language
* groups of children without language input DO create own language
* Younger siblings typically acquire conversational skills earlier than older ones

Joint Attention

a social communicative act in which a person jointly attends to both an object and another person

* @10-12 mos: develop critical joint attention skills, including pointing and gaze-following
* JA is critical for support word learning
* by 18mos: use speaker’s gaze direction to guide their attention to an object being labeled

Primary Intersubjectivity (infants)

ability to relate to another person

* cooing and smiling

Secondary Intersubjectivity (\~10)

ability to share one’s experience with another

* turn-taking games

Intention Reading

ability to interpret (or read) another person’s intentions

* pre-linguistic infants able to read goals of another person
* @ 18mos: able to infer probable goals of another person
* critical for supporting word learning
* use speaker’s eye-gaze, emotional expressions, & other social cues to infer what object they intend to label
* Infants will not learn words from non-intentional beings (like robots)

Hearing in the womb & newborn attention to speech

* hearing develops in utero
* fetuses can remember what they hear
* after birth: prefer mother’s voice & specific passages

Perceptual Narrowing

between 6 & 12 mos, infants change how they perceive speech, tuning to their native language

* babies are born as universal listeners: can discriminate all of phones of the world’s languages
* perceptual tuning to native language contrasts @ 6-12 mos: vowels: @ 6 mos & consonants: @ 12 mos
* Can discriminate phonemes in their native language (\~12 mos +)

Distributional learning of sounds

* distribution of sounds vary by language
* If /r/ & /l/ are phonemic, there are clear examples of each phoneme & fewer examples of intermediate sounds (between /r/ & /l/)

Categorical Perception

* Voice Onset Time (VOT): time lag between air passing through the articulators & the vocal cords vibrating (onset of voicing)
* Even though VOT is a continuous acoustic dimension, we do not hear sounds between /p/ & /b/
* Instead we hear each sound as belonging to one category: either p or b
* babies at 4 mos can perceive sounds categorically too
* Categorical perception: property of the AUDITORY system (& chinchillas too)
* Language takes advantage of categorical perception to begin to distinguish possible phonemes, but it is not a language specific ability

Statistical learning mechanisms

* track information in the input signal
* organize according to simple statistical procedures
* e.d. transitional probabilities; distributions of info
* fluent speech contains no breaks, but words were coherent statistical unite

Rule Learning

* find abstract patterns in the input
* 18 mos old extract syntactic rules with minimal exposure
* after listening for 2 mins of ABA sequences, infants could tell ABA from ABB sequences

Phonological Memory (Attention & Memory)

* refer to how many sounds in new sequences one can remember
* predicts current and future vocab sizes
* e.g.: non-word repetition tasks

Central Executive Function (Attention & Memory)

* helps one juggle competing demands
* children with language disorders have difficulties with this

Whorfian hypothesis

* weak version: language influences thought in certain ways (Linguistic Relativity)
* Strong version: language determines though/cognition (Linguistic Determinism)

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Theory Of Mind

* General ability to understand that other people have mental lives which guide their actions
* hallmark skill of this general ability is passing a false belief task

Variety in bilingualism

* extent of exposure
* type of exposure
* social circumstances

Simultaneous Bilingualism

* child learns multiple languages from birth
* Exposure: 1 or both parents vs. community

Sequential Bilingalism

* child begins to acquire another another language after acquisition of first language is well under way
* Immigration:
* Dominant language of country (e.g. english) as well as language of parents (heritage language - may be of a minority group)

First Language Acquisition

* Simultaneous Bilinguals
* Both languages from birth

Second Language Acquisition

* Sequential Bilinguals
* begin second language after first is underway (to some extent)

Fusion (lang differentiation)

initially, children do not differentiate the languages and fuse them into a single one. Differentiation happens later

Autonomous Differentiation (Language Differentiation)

children separate the languages and acquire each separately

Interdependent Differentiation (Lang Differentiation)

children separate the languages, but they influence each other during acquisition

Specific Linguistic Ability (Child Characteristics Nature)

* Differences in DG abilities
* Academic language skills correlate highly 1st and 2nd languages

Personality Traits (child characteristics nature)

* highly sociable children, and children with lower anxiety ten to acquire 2nd lgs better

Age of Acquisition (Child Characteristics Nature)

Particularly for ‘accent’ → earlier is better

Additive vs. Subtractive Environment (Social & Communicative Environment Nurture)

* how society views the language
* 1st & 2nd languages are supported vs. only 1 receives adequate support

Instrumental vs. Integrative motivation (Social & Communicative Environment Nurture)

* Integrating into social community = higher success
* Less successful when learning for a particular purpose vs. being part of the community

Code Switching

deliberate use of multiple languages in a single conversation

* Follows linguistic rules: subject & object pronouns match the main verb: \**yo went,* \*mira him
* Constrained by social & communicative purposes: e.g.: to promote social solidarity and or social exclusion

Metalinguistic Awareness (Cognitive Consequences)

* knowledge about how language works
* Why: from knowing multiple languages

Executive Function (Cognitive Consequences)

* ability to control attention and to flexibly shift attention
* Why? due to using multiple languages

Immersion (in community language)

The curriculum is delivered entirely in the language of the community. Children with limited language proficiency are provided with extra language instruction outside the class. This is also know as “sink or swim.” The goal is proficiency in the community language. this is the most common sort of program for language minority children in the US

Transitional Bilingual

At school entry (typically Kindergarten), the curriculum is delivered primarily in the children’s home language, with the proportion of community language instruction increasing. Usually instruction is entirely in the community language by the end of the third grade. The target population is minority language speakers with limited proficiency in the community language

Developmental Bilingual or Dual language programs

The curriculum is delivered in both the students’ home language and in the language of the community. The proportion of instruction provided in each language is different in different programs. The goal is bilingual and biliterate proficiency. The students typically come from minority language homes

Two-Way programs

The curriculum is delivered in two languages and half of the students are native speakers of the community language, while half are native speakers of the other language. The students come from both majority language and minority language homes

Immersion (in a second language for majority language speakers)

The curriculum is provided partially or entirely in a language other than the students’ home language. Early immersion begins in Kindergarten or first grade, middle immersion begins in fourth or fifth grade, late immersion begins in seventh to nineth grade. The goal is bilingual and biliterate proficiency. The students are typically majority language speakers, and the goal is to promote proficiency in a language that is of national, cultural, or economic significance. There are, for example, French immersion programs in Canada for children from English speaking homes and Estonia immersion programs in Estonia for children from Russian speaking homes

Aspects of language that continue to improve over school years

They are in place by age 5, but specific components continue to develop:

* phonology
* lexicon
* grammar
* pragmatics
* sociolinguistics

Phonological Development

By 5yo → largely mastered phonological systems; improvements through adolescence

* Improve: Phonological memory, Rapid naming, Phonological awareness
* All predict reading ability

Phonological Memory

ability to repeat novel sound sequences (ex: non-word repetition tasks)

Rapid Naming

ability to quickly retrieve and produce known words

Phonological Awareness

ability to think about the sounds in your language

Syllable structures and tapping

* in preschool:
* trouble tapping out # of syllables
* can break syllable into onset & rime (dog → /d/ + /a g/)
* By 6 yo
* 90% succeed in tapping out syllables
* 70% can break syllables into phonemes (dog → /d/ + /a/ + /g/)

Language related activities

* Nursery Rhymes aid in syllable structure knowledge at 3yo → predicts reading at 6 yo
* better if you learn to read (particulary alphabetic systems)

Changes in the Lexicon

Vocab grows rapidly through school years:

* Lexical complexity
* Lexical density
* Lexical diversity
* Abstractness
* Specialization

Learning Word Formation Processes (Lexicon)

* Compounding: (compound = give-man vs derivational morph = giver)
* Derivational morphology abilities improve

Word Learning Processes (Lexicon)

School-aged children use two advanced word learning processes:

* Quick Incidental Learning (QUIL) → figure out a word from its context
* Direct instruction → definitions provided