Language Acquisition - PAGE_BY_PAGE Notes
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Topic: Language Acquisition (introductory definition and scope)
Language Acquisition is the study of how human beings acquire a grammar: a set of semantic, syntactic, morphological and phonological categories and rules that underlie their ability to speak and understand the language to which they are exposed. Example: A normal child born to English-speaking parents in the US.
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Key definition: Acquisition vs learning
Language Acquisition is the study of how transformation takes place from a mental state in which the child does not possess a grammar of a particular language to a mental state in which the child does.
This emphasizes the internal transformation from non-grammar to grammar rather than external imitation alone.
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Observation: The core idea is the transformation of internal linguistic knowledge.
The focus is on how a child’s mental grammar changes to include the language they are exposed to.
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Observation: A child acquiring English might form the plural of foot first as foots, then feets, then feetses, and finally feet.
Principle: Language is acquired in stages; not all changes are immediate or linear.
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Observation: A child might form an interrogative as "Why I cant go?" instead of "Why cant I go?"
Principle: Language is not learned by simple imitation alone; internal rules govern formation of questions.
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Observation: All normal children acquire a language, but not all children learn to read and write.
Principle: Human beings are genetically disposed to acquire language. They acquire the language, not learn it the way they learn to write.
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Observation: Many children gain a fairly sophisticated facility with language before mastering tasks like tying shoes, telling time, or adding numbers.
Principle: Language acquisition is subserved by a mental faculty designed specifically and solely for that purpose.
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Note: Paralinguistic stages are introduced as a related concept to the stages of vocal production; not detailed here but acknowledged as part of speech development.
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Three stages of vocal production
Crying stage
Cooing stage
Babbling stage
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Crying stage
Birth to 2 months
Includes reflexive sounds or involuntary sounds (e.g., burping, coughing, cries signaling hunger, anger, loneliness)
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Cooing stage
Characterized by vowel-like sounds
Lasts about 2-5 months
Cooing imitation by infant and caregiver; laughter begins in this stage
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Babbling stage
Syllable-like consonant-vowel sounds
Begins at the 5th month and established at the 6th month
Lasts for 12 months
Types:
Reduplicative or Syllabic Babbling: repetition of a syllable (e.g., "ba-ba-ba")
Variegated Babbling: strings that vary a consonant or vowel (e.g., "pa-ga-ba-ga")
Jargon Babbling: prosodic or intonational patterns
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Protowords: A form that does not correspond to an adult form but is used consistently by a child for a particular referent or situation.
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Patterns in L1 Development Before First Words
Earliest vocalizations include involuntary crying (when hungry or uncomfortable)
Cooing and gurgling indicate satisfaction or happiness
Babbling: babies use sounds to reflect characteristics of the different language they are learning
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Babbling details and patterns
Babbling: production of sound at will by conscious efforts
Begins at the end of the第三 month (late 3rd month)
Produces a limited number of sounds
Applies the sound in play
Reduplication: produces syllables consisting of consonants and vowels; e.g., Mamam, dodo, dada, mama, etc.
Patterns in L1 Development
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First Words (Holophrastic stage)
Around 12 months (one-word stage)
Babies produce one or two recognizable words (especially content words); single-word sentences
The one-word utterance may be used in contexts that would correspond to different grammatical constructions in adult language (e.g., Teddy could mean: “Where is my teddy?”, “Here is my Teddy”, or “I want my Teddy”)
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By age 2 years (two-word stage)
At least 50 different words
Telegraphic sentences (no function words and grammatical morphemes): e.g., "Mommy juice", "baby fall down"
Reflect the order of the language: e.g., "kiss baby", "baby kiss"
Creative combinations: e.g., "more outside", "all gone cookie"
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Most words are content words (open class)
Closed class words are absent or scarce
At age 2, only a small group of meanings (semantic relations) are expressed in children’s language (Brown)
Two-word utterances focus on semantic relationships rather than full grammar
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Semantic Relationships (examples)
Agent + action: Mommy come; Mara hit; etc.
Action + object: hit ball
Agent + object: Baby book
Action + location: Go park
Entity + location: Cup table
Possessor + possession: My teddy
Entity + attribute: Box shiny
Demonstrative + entity: That money
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Before two-word utterances, children understand word order and can exploit knowledge from listening to adult speech to guide acquisition of grammatical words
Two-word utterances follow patterns like:
Agent + action: Mara hit
Action + object: hit ball
Agent + action + object: Mara hit ball
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L1 Developmental Sequences
Acquisition of Grammatical Morphemes
Acquisition of Negation
Acquisition of Questions
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Acquisition of Grammatical Morphemes (Brown, 1973)
Present progressive -ing (e.g., running)
Plural -s (e.g., books)
Irregular past forms (went)
Possessive -’s (daddy’s hat)
Copula (am/is/are)
Articles (a/an/the)
Regular past -ed (walked)
Third person singular simple present -s (he runs)
Auxiliary be (is/are coming)
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Wug test (illustrative tool)
Demonstrates that children know rules for plural and simple past beyond memorized pairs
Example prompts:
Here is a wug. Now there are two of them. There are two .
John knows how to nod. Yesterday he did the same thing. Yesterday, he .
Conclusion: Children generalize language rules, not just memorize word pairs
Topic: Acquisition of Grammatical Morphemes
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Acquisition of Negation (Lois Bloom, 1991)
Stage 1: ‘no’ (e.g., “No go”, “No cookie”)
Stage 2: subject + no (e.g., “Daddy no comb hair.”)
Stage 3: auxiliary or modal verbs (do/can) + not (e.g., “I can’t do it”, “He don’t want it.”)
Stage 4: correct form of auxiliary verbs (did/doesn’t/is/are) + not (e.g., “You didn’t have supper.” “She doesn’t want it.”)
Note: Double negatives may occur (e.g., “I don’t have no more candies.”)
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Commentary on Negation (Bloom, 1991)
Children learn negation functions early (disappearance of objects, refusal, rejection) even at single-word stage
However, they take time to express these functions in sentences with appropriate word order
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Stage 1 Negation example
Example: “No. No cookie.”
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Stage 2 Negation features
Utterances longer; subject may appear
Negative word appears before the verb
Common constructions: “Daddy no comb hair.”, “Don’t touch that!”
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Stage 3 Negation features
Negative element inserted into more complex sentence (e.g., can’t, don’t)
May not vary forms for different persons or tenses: "I can’t do it.", "He don’t want it."
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Stage 4 Negation features
Attach negation to the correct auxiliary form (do/be):
Examples: "You didn’t have supper." "She doesn’t want it."
Note: Some errors persist (e.g., "I don’t have no more candies.")
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Acquisition of Questions (Bloom, 1991)
Order of wh-question words:
What (e.g., Whatsat? Whatsit?)
Where and who
Why (emerging end of 2nd year; common by age 3-4)
How and When (though not fully understanding adult responses)
Example: Child asks, "When can we go outside?" Mother replies, "In about 5 minutes." Child: "1-2-3-4-5! Can we go now?"
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Six stages of children’s question-making (Bloom, 1991)
Stage 1: Single words or short sentences with rising intonation (e.g., "Mommy book?", "Where’s Daddy?")
Stage 2: Word order of declarative sentences (e.g., "You like this?" "Why you catch it?")
Stage 3: Fronting (verb at the beginning) (e.g., "Is the teddy is tired?" "Do I can have a cookie?")
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Stage 4: Subject-auxiliary inversion in yes/no questions (not in wh-questions) (e.g., "Do you like ice cream?"; "Where I can draw?")
Stage 5: Inversion in wh-questions but not in negative wh-questions (e.g., "Why can he go out?"; "Why he can’t go out?")
Stage 6: Overgeneralization of inverted form in embedded questions (e.g., "I don’t know why can’t he go out.")
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By the age of 4:
Most children can ask questions, give commands, report real events, and tell stories with correct word order and markers most of the time
They have mastered basic structures of the language(s) spoken to them
They begin to acquire less frequent and more complex structures (passives, relative clauses)
They develop ability to use language in a widening social environment
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Holophrastic Stage
Babies produce one or two recognizable words (content words) and single-word sentences
The one-word utterance can serve multiple communicative purposes depending on context (e.g., Teddy could mean various things)
FIRST WORDS
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Telegraphic Stage (early two-word stage)
Telegraphic sentences: no function words or grammatical morphemes
Examples: "Mommy juice", "baby fall down"
Reflect the order of the language: e.g., "kiss baby", "baby kiss"
Creative combinations: e.g., "more outside", "all gone cookie"
TWO-WORD STAGE
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Telegraphic Stage reiteration
Most are content words (open class)
Closed class words are absent or limited
At age 2, limited set of semantic relations are expressed (Brown)
Reiteration of TWO-WORD STAGE concepts
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TWO-WORD STAGE: Semantic Relationships (relisted)
Agent + action: Mommy come; Mara hit
Action + object: hit ball
Agent + object: Baby book
Action + location: Go park
Entity + location: Cup table
Possessor + possession: My teddy
Entity + attribute: Box shiny
Demonstrative + entity: That money
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Before two-word utterances, children understand word order and can use knowledge from listening to adult speech to guide acquisition of grammatical words
Two-word utterances: Agent + action (Mara hit); Action + object (hit ball); Agent + action + object (Mara hit ball)
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Theoretical Approaches to First Language Acquisition (Overview)
Competing frameworks: Behaviorism/Empiricism, Innatism/Nativism, Interactionism/Developmental
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BEHAVIORISM (Skinner)
Language is the production of correct responses to stimuli through reinforcement
Language learning results from:
Imitation (word-for-word repetition)
Practice (repetitive manipulation of form)
Feedback on success (positive reinforcement)
Habit formation
The child’s environment shapes language via quality/quantity of input and reinforcement
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BEHAVIORISM (continued)
Children’s imitations are not random
Imitation is selective, based on what the child is currently learning
Practice of new forms is similar to substitution drills; children are often in charge of conversations with adults
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INNATISM (overview)
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Innatism claims
Children are biologically programmed for language; environment provides basic exposure
LAD (Language Acquisition Device) handles rest; innate endowment discovers underlying rules of a language system from natural language samples
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Chomsky’s critique of Behaviorism
Children know more about structure than expected from language input alone
Language includes uncorrected slips and false starts yet children distinguish grammatical from ungrammatical sentences
Parents do not systematically correct or instruct language
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LAD and Universal Grammar (UG)
LAD is a black box in the brain; contains universal principles common to all languages
With exposure to one language, the device maps innate UG principles to the language environment
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Evidence for Innatism
Most children learn native language at a time when learning other complex systems would be unlikely
Language appears to be separate from other cognitive developments and may be modular
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Additional Innatist evidence
Language input does not cover all linguistic rules; yet children acquire them
Animals cannot learn human child-like grammar; children acquire grammatical rules without explicit instruction
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Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH)
Lenneberg proposed a finite window for LAD to work effectively
Best evidence: virtually every child learns language on a similar schedule across different environments
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INTERACTIONISM (overview)
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Interactionist/Developmental Perspectives: Problems with Innatism
Innatists emphasize final state but neglect developmental processes
Language acquisition is an example of learning from experience; knowledge needed is largely available in the language environment
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Interactionist Assumptions
Language develops from the interplay of innate learning abilities and the environment
Developmental psychologists emphasize the environment more but acknowledge strong learning mechanisms in the brain
Language acquisition looks like other skill/knowledge acquisitions, not a completely isolated module
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Jean Piaget (Interactionist view 1)
Language depends on cognitive development; concepts like “bigger” or “more” depend on understanding
Development is built from interaction with observable, manipulable objects; knowledge emerges from action with the environment
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Piaget on language as symbol systems
Language is one of several symbol systems in childhood, not a separate module
Language represents knowledge children acquire through physical interaction
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CONNECTIONISM (overview)
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Connectionism contrasts with Chomskian innatism
Core idea: language does not require a separate mental module; learning is through general cognitive mechanisms
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Elman and colleagues (1996) on connections
Language learning through associations between words/phrases and contexts
A word evokes mental representations of its referent; seeing the referent evokes the word
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Connectionist perspective on language structure
Language learning involves linking words/phrases not only to external reality but to other words/phrases and to grammatical morphemes
Example: learning a gendered language involves associating appropriate articles and adjective forms with nouns
Emphasizes general associative learning across co-occurring elements