First and Second Language Acquisition

First Language Acquisition (L1)

• Also known as native language, primary language, or mother tongue.
• Typically learned in early childhood as a natural part of growing up.
• Simultaneous Bilingualism: Acquiring multiple languages during early childhood.
• Sequential Bilingualism: Learning languages after the first language is established.

Theories of Language Acquisition

Imitation Theory

• Suggests children learn by listening to and reproducing speech around them.
• Problems:
  • Children produce utterances adults don't (e.g., "gaggy" for "doggy", "bu" for "blue", "nana" for "banana", "stop giggling me", "me want cookie").
  • Children can't always imitate when prompted (e.g., adult says, "Where can I put them?" child responds, "where I can put them.").
  • Doesn't explain productivity - how children create novel sentences.

Reinforcement Theory

• Proposes that children learn through praise for correct language and correction for errors.

• Problems:

  • Parents rarely correct grammar; they usually correct factual errors.
  • Corrections often don't work.
  • Example: Child says, "Me want cookie," and the adult may respond, "Oh, you want a cake,” emphasizing that there's cake rather than cookies present..

• B.F. Skinner:

  • Associated with imitation and reinforcement theories.
  • Believed L1 acquisition is the result of imitation, practice, feedback, and habit formation.
  • Habit formation: Stimulus (new language input) → positive response → habit formation.

Innateness Theory

• Noam Chomsky:
  • Humans are genetically predisposed to acquire language.
  • Children have an innate blueprint for language.
  • Universal Grammar: A universal, underlying structure for all languages that children use to acquire language.

Active Construction of Grammar Theory

• Children construct grammar rules by analyzing language input.
• They observe, absorb, and create patterns subconsciously.
• Overgeneralization: Applying learned rules incorrectly to irregular forms.
  • Morphological Examples: "goed" and "runned" instead of "went" and "ran," or "mouses," "mans," and "goosees" instead of "mice," "men," and "geese."
  • Syntactical Examples: Applying syntax incorrectly.

Critical Period Hypothesis

• Eric Lenneberg (1960s):

  • There is a critical period (birth to puberty) for language exposure.
  • Lack of exposure during this period hinders normal language acquisition.
  • Support comes from studies of feral and neglected children.

• Examples:

  • Isabelle: Isolated with her deaf mother until age 6.5; acquired language normally after intervention within two years and constructed questions like, "Why does the paste come out of if one upsets the jar?"
  • Genie (1970): Isolated until age 13.5; never learned language normally; constructed sentences like, "What red blue is in there?".

Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

• Study of individuals learning a language after their first language.
• Additional languages are called second languages (L2) or target languages (TL).

Differences Between L1 and L2 Acquisition

Problems Unique to Second Language Acquisition

L1 Transfer

• Application of linguistic features from L1 to L2.
• Also known as L1 interference, linguistic interference, or cross-linguistic influence.
• Types:
  • Positive Transfer: Correct use of L1 rule in L2 (e.g., Chinese speaker using adjective-noun order in English: "red dog").
  • Negative Transfer: Incorrect use of L1 rule in L2 (e.g., German speaker applying German word order to English: "Today go to the supermarket").

Fossilization

• Certain L2 features freeze or stop changing, regardless of correctness.
• If incorrect, the feature becomes permanent and uncorrectable.