1st Language Acquisition

1. 1st Language Acquisition How do humans acquire speech

2. Language acquisition • We are not born speaking! • We have a language instinct, but we must acquire our language nonetheless. • If we think of all that is entailed in knowing a language, it seems a challenge.

3. Language instinct • Our language instinct does not tell us what specific language to learn or particular structures to memorize. • It does provide us with an innate knowledge of basic language features, present in all human languages. • LINGUISTIC UNIVERSALS > UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR • Humans then learn to specialize this universal grammar for the particulars of their language.

4. Innateness of language • How do we really know this is an innate ability? • The biologist Eric Lenneberg defined a list of characteristics that are typical of innate behaviors in animals.

5. Innate behaviors . . . • emerge before they are necessary. • do not appear as the result of a conscious decision. • do not appear due to a trigger from external events. • are relatively unaffected by direct teaching and intensive practice. • follow a regular sequence of “milestones” in their development. • generally observe a critical period for their acquisition

6. 1. Emerge before necessary • When is language necessary? • When do children usually begin speaking/using language coherently? • Is this criterion met?

7. 2. Are not conscious • Does a child decide to consciously pursue certain skills? • Do babies make a conscious decision to start learning a language? • Is this criterion met?

8. 3. Are not triggered • What would prompt a child to take up soccer? • What would prompt a child to begin speaking? • Is this criterion met?

9. 4. Cannot be taught • We CAN teach grammar, and prescriptive rules of language. But we’re not talking about that here. • We correct children’s errors sometimes. Does it help? • In fact, “coaching” seems to hurt rather than help language ability in children. • Is this criterion met?

10. 5. Follow milestones • In spite of different backgrounds, different locations, and different upbringings, most children follow the very same milestones in acquiring language. • For example, around 12months • Around 24 months • By 30 months • Is this criterion met?

11. 6. Observe a critical period • What is a critical period? • For first language acquisition, there seems to be a critical period of the first five years, during which children must be exposed to rich input. There is also a period, from about 10-16 years, when acquisition is possible, but not native-like. • For SLA, the issue is more complicated… More later. • Is this criterion met?

12. The Critical Period Hypothesis • CPH: Proposed by Lenneberg • This hypothesis states that there is only a small window of time for a first language to be natively acquired. • If a child is denied language input, she will not acquire language • Genie: a girl discovered at age 13 who had not acquired her L1

13. More evidence for the Critical Period Hypothesis • Second Language Acquisition: • Younger learners native fluency. • Older learners (>17) never quite make it. • ASL Acquisition: • Children of Deaf Adults (CODAs) have an advantage over later-learners of ASL in signing • Aphasia: • Less chance of recovery of linguistic function after age 5.

14. L1 acquisition • Sound production/babbling • Phonological acquisition • Morphological/Syntactical acquisition • Semantic development

15. Acquisition of phonetics • Few weeks: cooing and gurgling, playing with sounds. Their abilities are constrained by physiological limitations. • 4 months: distinguish between [a] and [i], so their perception skills are good. • 4-6 months: children babble, putting together vowels and consonants. This is not a conscious process! Experiment with articulation • 7-10 months: starts repeated babbling. • 10-12 months, children produce a variety of speech sounds. (even ‘foreign’ sounds)

16. Acquisition of phonology • 18 months: Sound substitution ‘dat’ ‘wawa’. Non-fixed perception of phonemes, entire words are single units, unaware of meaning distinctions due to single sounds • 15-21 months: words as a sequence of phonemes. Mastery of sounds differing maximally: mama, dada. CV is main syllable structure. They reduce = banana  [na.na] 2 syllable words, stressed/unstressed

17. The acquisition of morphosyntax • At about 12 months, children begin producing words consistently. • One-word stage (holophrastic stage): • Name people, objects, etc. • An entire sentence is one word • Two-word stage: • Approximately 18-24 months • Use consistent set of word orders, with structure determined by semantic relationships • agent+action (baby sleep) • possessor+possession (Mommy book)

18. Acquisition of Semantics • Overextensions: • Using ‘moon’ for anything round • Using ‘dog’ for any four-legged animals • Underextensions: • The word ‘mammal’ may not include whales, etc

19. Second Language Acquisition Differences from L1 acquisition Teaching Methods

20. Terms/Associations • Native Language = 1st lang = L1 • Second Language = L2 = target lang • Second Lang Acquisition (SLA) • Research investigates how people attain proficiency in a lang which is not their mother tongue

21. Differences b/w L1 and L2 • Difference b/w child and adult grammars • Difference b/w beginning and advanced L2 learner’s grammars • Interlanguage grammar • Transfer

22. Mastering the L2 • Communicative competence • Grammatical accuracy • Sociolinguistic ability

23. Second Lang Teaching Methods • Grammar-translation • Direct method • Audio-lingual method