Today we will be:

1. Today we will be: Reviewing language aquisition

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQettw8c9BY&feature=fvwrel

3. What does „language aquisition“ mean? • = The way in whichwelearnlanguages. • theprocessoflearning a native or a secondlanguage.

4. Language acquisition • We are not born speaking! • Language must be acquired. • If we think of all that is entailed in knowing a language, it seems quite a challenge. What Does a Baby Hear?

5. Language instinct? • Language is innate – only surface details need be learned? • Human brain pre-programmed for language? • Language a result of general cognitive abilities of the brain? • Neither tells us what specific language to learn or particular structures to memorize.

6. Language Universals • What evidence is there for innate knowledge of certain basic language features present in all human languages? • LINGUISTIC UNIVERSALS > UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR • All languages have: • A grammar • Basic word order (in terms of SOV, etc.) • Nouns and verbs • Subjects and objects • Consonants and vowels • Absolute and implicational tendencies • E.g., If a language has VO order, then modifiers tend to follow the head)

7. “Universal Grammar” • Humans then learn to specialize this “universal grammar” (UG) for the particulars of their language. • Word order, syntactic rule preferences • Phonetic and phonological constraints • Lexicon • Semantic interpretations • Pragmatic ways to converse

8. 5. Follow milestones • In spite of different backgrounds, different locations, and different upbringings, most children follow the very same milestones in acquiring language.

10. 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.

11. 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 (-- Isabelle and Victor) • Normal hearing child born to deaf parents, heard language only on TV, did not acquire English L1

12. So how DO we learn our first language?

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

14. Caretaker Speech • A register characterized by: • Simplified lexicon • Phonological reduction • Higher pitch • Stressed intonation • Simple sentences • High number of interrogatives (Mom) & imperatives (Dad) Caretaker Speech

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 • Early stage: Unanalyzed syllables • 15-21 months: words as a sequence of phonemes. • Mastery of sounds differing in distinctive features (e.g., voicing) • Duplicated syllables: mama, dada - CV is main syllable structure. They reduce = banana [na.na] 2 syllable words • Early mastery of intonation contours (even in non-tone languages) • Perception comes before production (‘fis’ or ‘fish’?) Phonological Processes

17. Lexicon • Begin with simple lexical items for people/food/toys/animals/body functions • Lexical Achievement: • 1-2 years old 200-300 words (avg) • 3 years old 900 words • 4 years old 1500 words • 5 years old 2100 words • 6-7 years old 2500 words • High school grad 40,000 – 60,000 words! • “5,000 per year, 13 words a day”--Miller & Gildea

18. But Don’t Animals Know Words, Too? • Yes, but…what about…? • Just (very) brilliant vs. just (only)a little dirty vs. a just (right)person • Blunt (dull)instrument vs. blunt (sharp)comment • I was literally (meaning figuratively) climbing the walls. • Clip (on) a pin vs clip (off)hair • Cleave (together) vs cleave (apart) • Dust (remove) or dust (sprinkle) • And what does inflammable mean?

19. 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: N-V, A-N, V-N… • With structure determined by semantic relationships • agent+action (baby sleep) • possessor+possession (Mommy book) • Telegraphic stage (only content words)

20. Negative Formations • Negatives • 1st stage - attach no/not to beginning of sentence (sometimes at end) • 2nd stage – negatives appear between subject and verb (don’t stayed at beginning in imperatives, but not can’t) • 3rd stage – appearance of nobody/nothing & anybody/anything & inconsistent use of “to be” verb is and auxiliary “dummy”do verb.

21. Question Formations • 1st stage – wh- word placed in front of rest of sentence: Where daddy go? • 2nd stage – addition of an auxiliary verb: Where you will go? • 3rd stage – subject noun changes places with the auxiliary: Where will you go?

22. Acquisition of Semantics • Concrete before abstract: • ‘in/on’ before ‘behind/in front’ • Overextensions: • Using ‘moon’ for anything round • Using ‘dog’ for any four-legged animals • Underextensions: • The word ‘bird’ may not include ‘pigeon’, etc

23. Reviewing Linguistic Stages • 6-12 weeks: Cooing (googoo, gurgling, coocoo) • 6 months: Babbling (baba, mama, dada) • 8-9 months: Intonation patterns • 1-1.5 years: Holphrastic stage (one word) • 2 years: Two-word stage • 2.5 years: Telegraphic stage • 3,4 – 11 years: Fluent speech w/errors • 12 years+: Fluent speech