PSY 369: Psycholinguistics

PSY 369: Psycholinguistics Language Acquisition

Acquiring language • Student in my psycholinguistics course Dr. Cutting, language sure is complicated. How do you expect us to learn all this stuff?

Acquiring language • Student in my psycholinguistics course Whadda’ ya mean, mommy. I can talk. I can understand what you say. What’s so hard? • 2 year old

Acquiring language • Student in my psycholinguistics course • How do we (humans) do it? How do we learn to use this complex behavior? • 2 year old

Overview • Some of the major issues • Imitation vs Innateness • Born to walk • Born to talk? • How much explicit teaching do we get? • Commonalities across languages and cultures • Language is complex everywhere • Sounds, words, syntax, and more • No primitive (simple) languages • Language development is similar everywhere • Similar stages

Typical language development 6 Months • Responds to his name • Responds to human voices without visual cues by turning his head and eyes • Responds appropriately to friendly and angry tones

Typical language development 12 Months • Uses one or more words with meaning (this may be a fragment of a word) • Understands simple instructions, especially if vocal or physical cues are given • Practices inflection • Is aware of the social value of speech

Typical language development 18 Months • Has vocabulary of approximately 5-20 words • Vocabulary made up chiefly of nouns • Some echolalia (repeating a word or phrase over and over) • Is able to follow simple commands

Typical language development 24 Months • Can name a number of objects common to his surroundings • Is able to use at least two prepositions • Combines words into a short sentence • Vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words • Volume and pitch of voice not yet well-controlled

Typical language development 36 Months • Use pronouns I, you, me correctly • Is using some plurals and past tenses • Knows at least three prepositions • Handles three word sentences easily • Has in the neighborhood of 900-1000 words • About 90% of what child says should be intelligible • Verbs begin to predominate

and the womb In the beginning… • Prelinguistic communication • We experience language before we’re even born What was that? You’re mumbling. • Normal human language uses sounds between 100 and 4000 Hz • Sound travels through skin and fluids too • In the womb, sounds up to 1000 Hz • Can’t hear individual words • But can hear: • Intonation, durations, rhythm, stress

and the womb In the beginning… • Prelinguistic communication • We experience language before we’re even born • Mahler (mid 80’s, in France) • 4 day old babies • Nonnutritive sucking method • Played French or Russian • Sucking pattern changed if language was switched • Sucking pattern didn’t change if language wasn’t switched • Babies knew (something about) the languages

Fetal heart monitor and the womb In the beginning… • Prelinguistic communication • We experience language before we’re even born • DeCasper, et al (1994)

and the womb In the beginning… • Prelinguistic communication • We experience language before we’re even born • DeCasper, et al (1994) Fetal heart monitor • Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during 34-38 weeks of pregnancy • After 38th week, two stories were played to the fetuses (but mom couldn’t hear it) • Same story • Different story

and the womb In the beginning… • Prelinguistic communication • We experience language before we’re even born • DeCasper, et al (1994) • Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during 34-38 weeks of pregnancy • After 38th week, two stories were played to the fetuses (but mom couldn’t hear it) Fetal heart monitor Decreased fetal heart-rate • Same story • Different story • Baby learned something about the story

The early days • After birth • Prelinguistic communication • Child-directed speech (motherese) • Phonological differences are key • Higher in pitch • More variable in pitch • More exaggerated intonation • All may help to orient and maintain attention of infant • May help “bootstrap” later learning

The early days • After birth • Prelinguistic communication • Early “conversations” • Turn taking behaviors • From the movie - breast feeding “conversations” • Parents interpret infant’s vocalizations as having meaning (also from the movie, Snow’s work)

100 % /ba/ 0 1 ... 3 … 5 … 7 The early days: phonology • Eimas et al, (1971) • Categorical perception in infants (1 month olds) Sharp phoneme boundary Young infants can distinguish different phonemes

The early days: phonology • A number of studies suggest that very young infants can perceive between a number of phonemic distinctions (e.g., Kuhl & Meltzhoff, 1997) • Not limited to their language context • However, as they age/experience their context language the ability to perceive some of these distinctions are lost (~10 to 12 months) • Categorical perception in infants • Nature/nurture debate: • Are humans “pre-programmed” to distinguish speech sounds?

We’re listening 1 ... 3 … 5 … 7 The early days: phonology • Eimas et al, (1971) • Categorical perception in infants (1 month olds) 100 Sharp phoneme boundary Chinchillas do it too! Kuhl and Miller (1975) % /ba/ Are they “pre-programmed to perceive human speech? 0

Prelinguistic communication • Prelinguistic gestures (around 8 months) • Demonstration that the infant is trying to communicate in some way • e.g., pointing behaviors • Criteria • Waiting • Persistence • Development of alternative plans

Early speech production • Vocal track differences Infant Adult • Infants vocal tracts are smaller, and initially shaped differently • The infant’s tongue fills the entire mouth, reducing the range of movement • As the facial skeleton grows, the range for movement increases (which probably contributes to the increased variety of sounds infants start to produce) • May be (in part) why production lags behind comprehension

Early speech production • The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern. • Role of both nature and nurture • Nature/Biology plays an important role in theemergence of cooing & babbling. • The form of the child’s vocalization is also affected by the linguistic environment.

Early speech production • 6 - 8 weeks: cooing • 4 - 6 months: babbling • The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern. • Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish • Clear consonants and vowels are produced • “da”, “gi”

Early speech production • 6 - 8 weeks: cooing • 4 - 6 months: babbling • The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern. • Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish • 6 - 7 months: Reduplicated babbling • “dada”, “gigi”

Early speech production • 6 - 8 weeks: cooing • 4 - 6 months: babbling • The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern. • Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish • 6 - 7 months: Reduplicated babbling • 8 - 9 months: CVC clusters may appear • “bod”, “tat”

Early speech production • The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern. • Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish • 10 or 11 months: Variegated babbling • Combining “incomprehensible words” • “dab gogotah” • Intonation patterns • May reflect phonological rules of spoken language context • By 12 to 14 months some evidence of language specific phonological rules

Early speech production Of course he said “arf.” What else did you expect his first word to be?

12 ms first words 2 yrs 200 words 3 yrs 1,000 words 6 yrs 15,000 words Language Sponges • Learning words • About 3,000 new words per year, especially in the primary grades • As many as 8 new words per day • Production typically lags behind comprehension

Language Sponges • Lots of individual differences • But there is also a consistent pattern

Vocabulary growth • Methods used to study this • Observational data (60s to present) • Diary studies • Parents record their kids language development • Taped language samples (Roger Brown) • Small numbers of children (Eve, Adam, Sarah) • Went to home every month made tape recordings • Extensive study needed • Hard to kids to “say all the words you know” or “say a question” • Early phonological production isn’t like adult production, often need to take great care deciding what the child meant • Large database CHILDES • Many kids, many languages, including children with language difficulties

Early speech production • Transition to speech No. … my fis. No. My fis! This is your fis? Yes, my fis. Your fis? Oh, your fish.

Early speech production • Transition to speech This is your fis? No, … my fis. • Can’t hear the difference? • Rejects adult saying fis • Can’t produce the correct sounds? • Sometimes, but evidence suggests not always the case • More general process of simplification • “frees up” resources for concentrating on other aspects of language learning Your fis. No, my fis. Oh, your fish. Yes, my fis.

Early speech production • Transition to speech • Early words • Common Phonological processes • Reduction • Delete sounds from words • Coalescence • Combine different syllables into one syllable • Assimilation • Change one sound into a similar sound within the word • Reduplication • One syllable from a multi-syllabic word is repeated

Early speech production • Developed in systematic ways • Sometimes simplifications of adult speech • Or relate to sounds of the objects • Demonstrate • Creative, not simply imitation • Learned importance of consistency of names • First words • Around 10-15 months (lots of individual differences) • Emergence of systematic, repeated productions of phonologically consistent forms • Idiomorphs - personalized words

PSY 369: Psycholinguistics