LANGUAGE LEARNING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

1. LANGUAGE LEARNING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

2. high degree of similarity in the early language of children all over the world • Developmental Sequences: every child goes through similar stages of acquisition while s/he is acquiring their first langauge Characterıstıcsof fırstlangaugeacquısıtıon

3. Developmentalsequences

4. In his study on three children acquiring English as their first language, Brown has found that the grammatical morphemes appear in the following order in all three of them: Present progressive Plural –s Irregular past forms environmental frequency? Possesive ‘s cognitive complexity of meaning? Copula difficulty of pronunciation? Articles (the & a) Regular past Third person singular auxiliary Emergence of Grammaticalmorphemes (BROWN, 1973)

5. Stage 1 “No. No cookie. No combhair” • Stage 2 Daddy no combhair. Don’ttouchthat. • Stage 3 I can’t do it He don’twant it. • Stage 4 Youdidn’thavesupper. Shedoesn’twant it. I don’thave no morecandies. NegatIon(bloom,1991)

6. Appearance of wh- words What, Where ,Who,Why,When ,How Stage 1 Cookie? Mummybook? Where’sDaddy? What’sthat? (learned as chunks) Stage 2 (statementwithrisingintonation) Youlikethis? I havesome? Stage 3 Is theTeddy is tired? Do I can have a cookie? Whyyoudon’thaveone? Whyyoucathced it? Stage 4 Areyougoingtoplaywithme? Do dogslikeicecream? Whydogslikeice-cream? Questıons(bloom, 1991)

7. Thepreschoolyears • Bytheage of four, childrenacquireallthebasicstructures of theirlanguage, can uselanguageforverydifferentfunctionsandpurposes in a variety of settings, andhave a richvocabulary. • Metalinguisticawareness • Complexgrammaticalstructures (can produceabout 6 wordutterances) • Extensivevocabulary (4000-6000 words)

8. Continuedgrowth of vocabulary (duetoreading; terminology; differentstates of affairs) • Understandingthedifferencebetween form andmeaning • Differentregistersof speech Theschoolyears

9. B. F. Skinner, «VerbalBehaviour» • Is originally a psychologicaltheoryinvsetigatinganimalbehaviour in labenvironment • Is empirical in theory, focusing on stimulus-responsepairs • Arguesthatlanguageacquisitionfollowstheprocess of imitation-positivereinforcement-habitformation Behavıorısm

11. Theconversationbetween Peter (24 months) andtwoadults (Patsy, Lois). Peter: Getmore. Lois: You’regonna put morewheels in thedumptruck? Peter: Dumptruck. Wheels. Dumptruck. Patsy: Whathappenedto it (dumptruck)? Peter: Lose it. Dumptruck! Dumptruck!Dumptruck! Lois: Yes, thedumptruckfelldown. Peter: Dumptruckfelldown. Dumptruck. • TheconversationbetweenCindy (24 m) andPatsy. Cindy: Kawo? Kawo? Kawo? Patsy: Whataretherabbitseating? Cindy: Theyeating…kando? Patsy: No, that’s a carror. Cindy: Carrot (pointingtoeachcarrot on thepage). Theother…carrot. Theothercarrot. Theothercarrot. Patsy: Whatdoestherabbitliketoeat? Cindy: eatthecarrots. He eastcarrots. Theotheroneeatcarrots. Theybotheatcarrots. ımıtatıon

12. ımıtatıon

13. A REVIEW OF SKINNER’S “VERBAL BEHAVIOUR” BY CHOMSKY (1957) NoamChomsky B.F. Skinner

14. Therearecertainlinguisticphenomenathat “behaviourism” alonecannotexplain. Creativity in Uttterances Mother :Maybeweneedtotakeyoutothedoctor. Child :Why, so he can docmylittlebump? Father :I’dliketopropose a toast David (5 y.o) : I’dliketopropose a piece of bread. Whereımıtatıonfaıls

15. Question formation Randall (2;9): Are dogs can wiggle their tails? Are those are my boots? Are this is hot? Whereımıtatıonfaıls

16. INNATISM (CHOMSKY, 1965)

17. Language acquisition is similartootherbiologicalfunctions. • It is a part of children’sbiologicalendowment, peoplearebiologicallyprogrammedtoacquirelanguage as long as theyadequateinput is providedforthem in theenvironment. • TheLogical Problem of Language Acquisition • TheInnate Program • Principles of Universal Grammar INNATISM (Chomsky, 1965)

18. TheLogical Problem of Language Acquisition How comes it that human beings, whose contacts with the world are brief and personaland limited, are nevertheless able to know as much as they do know? BERTRAND RUSSELL, Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits, 1948 INNATISM (Chomsky, 1959)

19. TheLogical Problem of LanguageAcquisition Childrencometoknowmoreaboutthestructure of theirlanguagethantheycouldreasonably be expectedtolearn on thebasis of thesamplestheyhear. Example: Coreference (a) Johnsawhimself. (b) *HimselfsawJohn. (c) John saidthatFredlikeshimself (d) *JohnsaidthatFredlikeshimself. (e) John toldBilltowashhimself. (f) *Johntold Bill towashhimself. (h) John promised Bill towashhimself. (g) Johnbelieveshimselfto be intelligent. (f) *John believesthathimself is intelligent.

20. INNATISM (CHOMSKY, 1959) ThePoverty of theStimulusArgument Childrencannotsimply be learningbytheenvironmentalstimuliandpositiveevidence. Theenvironmentalstimuli is incomplete in manyways, full of performanceerrors, falsestarts, andhalf-sentences. Childrenhavenoaccesstothecomplexstructures of languageviaenvironmentalstimuli. Theyhavenoaccesstonegativeevidence.

21. thecompositionandproduction of an utterance is not simply a matter of stringingtogether a sequence of responsesunderthecontrol of outsidestimulationandintraverbalassociation, and […] thesyntacticorganization of an utterance is not somethingdirectlyrepresented in anysimpleway in thephysicalstructure of theutteranceitself. (Chomsky, 1959: 21) • John is easytopleaseJohn is eagertoplease Who climbs the Grammar-Tree distinctly knows Where Noun and Verb and Participle grows. John Dryden INNATISM (Chomsky, 1959)

22. I had intendedthisreview not specifically as a criticism of Skinner's speculationsregardinglanguage, but rather as a more general critiqueof behaviorist(I wouldnowprefertosay"empiricist") speculation as tothe natureof highermentalprocesses. Theconclusionthat I hopedtoestablish in thereview, bydiscussingthese speculationsin theirmostexplicitanddetailed form, wasthatthegeneral pointof viewwaslargelymythology, andthatitswidespreadacceptance is not theresult of empiricalsupport, persuasivereasoning, orthe absence of a plausiblealternative. (Chomksy, 1959:1-2) INNATISM (Chomsky, 1959)

23. THE INNATE MECHANISM: The child is assumed to be biologically equipped with knowledge of universal grammar—the basics of lang.structure. The child hasblueprints for all the possible types of lang. in her head. In the course of lang.development she settles on the particular grammar ofthe lang. surrounding her. INNATISM (Chomsky, 1959)

24. THE INNATE PROGRAM (has twosidesto it) Principles (Rulesthatareuniversal; Parameters theUniversalGrammar (UG)) (Rulesspecificto a givenlanguage) INNATISM (Chomsky, 1959)

25. THE UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR: Premise the linguisticsysteminvolves rules too abstract and complex to be learned without the aid of innate knowledge about the nature of the system . . . The child is equipped with a set of blueprints that define and limit what a human language can be like. Hypothesis: The child is assumed to be biologically equipped with knowledge of universal grammar—the basics of language structure. The child has blueprints for all the possible types of language (principles) in her head. In the course of language development she settles on the particular grammar of the language (parameters) surrounding her. INNATISM (Chomsky, 1959)

26. PrIncIples • An example of “principles”: Subjacency A. “No constituent can be moved over more than one bounding category.” B. It can move only from a layer that is subordinate and adjacent.

27. Bounding category: S (sentence) and NP (noun phrase) in English e.g.1: What did Sue destroy? (a correct sentence?) S Ø What [did Sue destroyt] ? e.g. 2: What did Sue destroy a book about? (correct?) S NPØ What [did Sue destroy (a book aboutt)] PrIncIples

28. Principles s [(That all of us but you were upset) is obvious.] S [(That all of us were upset) but you is obvious.] S S *[(Thatall of us were upset) is obvious] but you.

29. Parameters Definition: Any of the established limits within which something must operate. [dictionary definition] Strictly defined possibilities of variation across languages. A range of possibilities and languages choose within that range: every language must set its parameters.

30. Parameters An example: Pro-drop (an overt pronominal subject is dropped/optional): subjectless sentences English: I am going to the cinema. *Am going to the cinema. Spanish: “Yo voy al cine.” “voy al cine.” Italian: Io vado al cinema. (I go to the movies.) Vado al cinema. Spanish + Italian= pro-drop languages. (but English is not)

31. Principles and Parameters in Language Acquisition The primary role of UG in language development is to limit the hypotheses that a child can form concerning the rules of speech and ease with which language is acquired.

32. INNATISM: The Critical Reception UsuallycriticizedbytheCognitiveGrammarians on thefollowinggrounds: Thetheorycannot be empiricallytested. Is not psychologicallyplausible Underestimatesthe role of experience in learning Thestimuli is not as impoverished as Chomsky has assumed Childrenareexposedtomanychances in thelanguagearoundthemthathelpthemdeveloptheirgrammar.

33. The Interactionist/Developmental Perspectives: Cognitive Grammarians No seperate “module” of grammar in the mind. Language acquisition is another example of children’s general ability to learn from experience. What children need to know is available to them in the language they are exposed to as they hear it used in thousand hours of interactions Develoment of cognitive abilities (object permanence, stability of quantities, logical inferencing etc.) play an important role in language development

34. The Interactionist/Developmental Perspectives: Cognitive Grammarians Connectionism Children acquire links or “connections” between words and phrases and the situations in which they occur. Any characteristic of the object or the event associated with each other may trigger the associated word or phrase from memory. Connectionism is not only a process of associating words and phrases with other words and phrases that occur with them, it is also a process of associating words with grammatical morphemes and other phrases that occur with them, and attributing some meaning to them. (How?)

35. The Interactionist/Developmental Perspectives: An example of Cognitive Grammar: Construction Grammar Developed by Ronald Langacker (2008) Constructions are main carriers of meaning. Constructions are stored pairings of form and function. They are stored in memory as patterns. Grammar is symbolization; learning grammatical phrases is similar to learning vocabulary items and doing some abstraction. Example (1) We laughed. John sneezed. (2) We laughed our conversation to an end. John sneezed his tooth right across the road. (3) She dragged the child into the car. He wiped the mud off his shoes. He pushed the book down the table. Form: V Xn in/off Xn Meaning: caused motion

36. The Interactionist/Developmental Perspectives: An example of Cognitive Grammar: Construction Grammar How are Constructions Learned? if mental constructions are the basis of grammar, then the task for the language learner is to make abstractions and to arrive at schematic mental representations of meaningful grammatical forms. Children can do this with the help of three basic cognitive skills (i) pattern-finding, (ii) entrenchment, (iii) analogy. the ability to form perceptual and conceptual categories of “similar” objects and events. the ability to form sensory-motor schemas from recurrent patterns of perception and action. the ability to perform statistically based distributional analyses on various kinds of perceptual and behavioral sequences. the ability to create analogies (structure mappings) across two or more complex wholes, based on the similar functional roles of some elements in these different wholes.