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First Language Acquisition

First Language Acquisition. Holger Diessel University of Jena holger.diessel @uni-jena.de http://www.holger-diessel.de/. Developmental stages. When does language acquisition begin?. Developmental stages. High amplitude sucking procedure. Developmental stages. Early speech production.

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First Language Acquisition

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  1. First Language Acquisition Holger Diessel University of Jena holger.diessel@uni-jena.de http://www.holger-diessel.de/

  2. Developmental stages When does language acquisition begin?

  3. Developmental stages High amplitude sucking procedure

  4. Developmental stages Early speech production • crying, coughing • babbling High-amplitude sucking procedure

  5. Developmental stages Early speech comprehension gdetrazwetiolp

  6. Developmental stages • Early words: • doggy, milk • that, there • up, down • hello, bye bye

  7. Developmental stages • Two word utterances: • Mommy gone • Doggy up • Baby there • More milk High-amplitude sucking procedure

  8. Developmental stages • Complex sentnces: • I wanna sing. • Think Daddy is there. • The picture I made.

  9. Developmental stages > 1;0 preverbal stage 1;0 – 1;3 first words 1;6 – 2;0 first two-word utterances 2;0 – 2;5 first complex sentences

  10. Topics • Emergence of phonemic categories • Emergence of grammatical categories and constructions • Emergence of linguistic productivity

  11. Nature and nurture • Learning theories: Children acquire language by means of general learning mechanisms. • Nativist theories: Language acquisition involves innate linguistic kowledge.

  12. Nature and nurture Jean Piaget 1996-1980 Noam Chomsky 1928

  13. Nature and nurture All child language researchers assume that language acquisition has genetically prespecified capacities!

  14. Nature and nurture What is innate?

  15. Nativist theory core periphery

  16. Nativist theory • Categories and principles • Parameters

  17. Head direction parameter • If a language uses the verb before the object (e.g. English), it is very likely that the language places words such as in and at (prepositions) before the noun and that auxiliaries precede the main verb. at home

  18. Head direction parameter • If on the other hand a language uses the verb after the noun (e.g. Japanese), it is very likely that the language places words such as in and at after the noun and that auxiliaries follow the main verb. home at

  19. Head direction parameter

  20. Head direction parameter The head is … • the semantically most salient element • the category determinant • the morphosyntactic locus

  21. Head direction parameter head initial head initial

  22. Head direction parameter head initial head initial

  23. Head direction parameter head initial head initial

  24. What is the evidence for linguistic innateness?

  25. The innateness hypothesis The uniqueness of human language

  26. The innateness hypothesis Specialized brain areas (Broca’s or Wernicke’s area)

  27. The innateness hypothesis Particular linguistic impairments (SLI children)

  28. The innateness hypothesis Critical period

  29. The innateness hypothesis The argument from the poverty of the stimulus

  30. The innateness hypothesis • Positive evidence • Negative evidence

  31. The poverty of the stimulus Chomsky: There is an enormous gap between the grammatical system of adult language and the “meager and degenerated input” children experience.

  32. The innateness hypothesis Arguments against the argument from the poverty of the stimulus: • The apparent gap is largely due to Chomsky’s view of grammar. • Nativist theory underestimates the power of inductive learning. • Nativists overestimate the speed of language acquisition.

  33. The poverty of the stimulus Negative evidence can eliminate errors. • (1) Sally goed home. • (2) Think doggy naughty. • (3) I falled the spoon.

  34. The poverty of the stimulus Do parents correct the linguistic mistakes of their children?

  35. The poverty of the stimulus CHILD: Want other one spoon, daddy. FATHER: You mean, you want the other spoon. CHILD: Yes, I want the other one spoon. FATHER: Can you say ‘the other spoon’? CHILD: other … one … spoon. FATHER: Say ‘other’. CHILD: Other. FATHER: ‘Spoon’. CHILD: Spoon. FATHER: ‘Other spoon’. CHILD: Other … spoon. [end of the game] CHILD: Now give me the other one spoon.

  36. The poverty of the stimulus Indirect negative evidence: Parents often repeat their children’s utterances when they are linguistically incorrect, implicitly correcting the error.

  37. The poverty of the stimulus

  38. The poverty of the stimulus

  39. The poverty of the stimulus

  40. The emergence of phonological categories English [ba] – [da] Hindi [Ôa] – [ta] Nthlakapmx [k’i] – [q’i] Werker and Tees (1984):

  41. The emergence of phonological categories German [Y] – [u] Tür - Tour Polka and Werker (1994)

  42. The emergence of phonological categories Japanese [l] – [r] Tsushima et al. (1994)

  43. The emergence of phonological categories /t/ attractor /d/

  44. The emergence of phonological categories /t/ attractor /d/

  45. Exemplar theory/view /t/ attractor /d/

  46. Categorical perception Continuous perception Categorical perception

  47. Categorical perception [p] [b] Liberman 1957

  48. VOT voice obset time

  49. VOT voice obset time

  50. VOT voice obset time

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