LING1003 Language, Thought and Culture: First language acquisition

S.Matthews

The logical problem of language acquisition (Chomsky)

How do children develop knowledge of language without teaching or conscious learning?

Some inadequate solutions

1.

Parental correction Parents teach children to speak politely, not grammatically Aunt: Jau-mou giu Popo aa? Child: Popo! Grammatical correction does not seem to work when tried: Child: It is for what? Father: What is it for? Child: What is it for what?

More inadequate solutions

2. Imitation Children do imitate, but also produce forms they have never heard, e.g. It bleeded and it singed 3. motherese: do mothers simplify their language to make it easier for children to learn? Some parents in some cultures do simplify; others do not, as in Samoa

The Language Instinct

Chomsky's answer to the logical problem: the child follows inborn instructions Descartes innate ideas The Language acquisition device (LAD) Universal Grammar (UG) See Steven Pinkers The Language Instinct

The language instinct

language is a human instinct, children are born with an innate capacity to learn language. language develops in the child spontaneously, without conscious effort or formal instruction.

The Language Instinct

Chomsky: A special faculty in the mind responsible for the childs language acquisition Acquisition is triggered by exposure to language input Language development follows a maturational schedule like growth, puberty, locomotion etc This would explain why the processes of acquisition across modalities (spoken or signed) and across languages are so similar.

The Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Language input

LAD

Final State

spoken (auditory channel) or signed (visual channel)

A mental grammar for a particular language

Evidence for the language instinct

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Acquisition without input? the case of deaf twins and home sign the development of Nicaraguan sign language Specific Language Impairment (SLI) the K family and the FOXP2 gene: one defective gene results in impairment of morphology (and)

The Critical Period

Victor, Genie and Chelsea: wild and neglected children without exposure to spoken language in the early years These children failed to acquire the distinctive features of language, particularly syntax

Studying child language: Adam, Eve and Sarah

The CHILDES database: contains longitudinal data from Adam, Eve and Sarah; also French, Japanese, Cantonese etc.

Studying language acquisition: Universal stages (Roger Brown)

Babbling stage: da-da-da One-word stage: Daddy Two-word stage: Daddy go

The one-word stage

Reduplication (Cantonese) bo1-bo1 balloon naai1-naai1 milk gong1-gong1 San Po Kong Over-extension dog applied to all furry animals daddy applied to men in general

The two-word stage

Agent + action: Adam go Non-existence: allgone egg Grammar at the 2-word stage? baby milk the baby touches the milk? doll chair: the doll is in the chair or the chair belongs to the doll?

Summary
Language acquisition seems to be instinctive: language develops in the child spontaneously, without conscious effort or instruction. First language acquisition passes through regular stages of development Next lecture: bilingual first language acquisition

References
Brown, Roger (1973). A first language: the early stages. Harvard University Press. Chomsky, Noam (1986). Knowledge of Language: its nature, origin and use. Prager Books. Pinker, Steven (1994). The Language Instinct. Penguin.