Early multi-word speech: Nativist approaches Flashcards
What do nativist assume about language learning?
Children approach
the task of learning language with innate machinery that is
specific to language
Children approach
the task of learning language with innate machinery that is
specific to language
Is this the nativist or constructivist approach?
Nativist
Children approach
the task of learning language with innate machinery that is
specific to language
This can be described as…?
Language Acquisition Device
or
Universal Grammar (UG)
Language Acquisition Device or Universal Grammar (UG) is known as…?
The way children approach
the task of learning language with innate machinery that is
specific to language
Children’s utterances are creative because they have
access to innate grammatical rules
Is this…?
a. Nativist
b. Constructivist
a. Nativist
Children’s utterances are creative because creativity is based on the use of lexical frames learned from the language children hear, with new items inserted into variable ‘X’ slots
e.g. I want X
Is this…?
a. Nativist
b. Constructivist
b. Constructivist
Children observe adult word order because they have an
abstract rule
Is this…?
a. Nativist
b. Constructivist
a. Nativist
Children observe adult word order because they pick up highly frequency lexical frames from their input (which, of course, follow the adult word order)
Is this…?
a. Nativist
b. Constructivist
b. Constructivist
Generalisations demonstrate that children learn these patterns gradually from distributional analysis of the language they hear
Is this…?
a. Nativist
b. Constructivist
b. Constructivist
Generalisations (e.g. adding inflections to words, wug ->
wugs) provide evidence of abstract (innate) rules
Is this…?
a. Nativist
b. Constructivist
a. Nativist
What do Nativists argue about utterances that are creative?
Children’s utterances are creative because they have
access to innate grammatical rules
What do Constructivists argue about utterances that are creative?
Children’s utterances are creative because creativity is
based on the use of lexical frames learned from the
language children hear, with new items inserted into variable ‘X’ slots
e.g. I want X
What do Nativists argue about observing adult word order?
Children observe adult word order because they have an
abstract rule
Subject - Verb - Object
What do Constructivist argue about observing adult word order?
Children observe adult word order because they pick up
highly frequency lexical frames from their input (which, of course, follow the adult word order)
What do Nativists argue about generalisations?
Generalisations (e.g. adding inflections to words, wug ->
wugs) provide evidence of abstract (innate) rules
What do Constructivists argue about generalisations?
Generalisations demonstrate that children learn these patterns gradually from distributional analysis of the language they hear
Simply = Children generalise patterns based on the sounds they hear
Assume that grammar is a symbolic computational system which processes the relationships between abstract variables
Is this…?
a. Nativist
b. Constructivist
a. Nativist
What do Nativists assume about grammar?
Assume that grammar is a symbolic computational system which processes the relationships between abstract variables
Assume that grammatical categories and rules are given apriori in the child’s brain from birth (UG)
Is this…?
a. Nativist
b. Constructivist
a. Nativist
Predict that the acquisition of a particular aspect of
grammar should have an all-or-nothing quality.
‘As soon as an item is assimilated into a class, that item automatically inherits the privileges of that category.’
Is this…?
a. Nativist
b. Constructivist
a. Nativist
What do nativists assume about grammatical categories?
Assume that grammatical categories and rules are given apriori in the child’s brain from birth (UG)
What do nativists predict in the acquisition of a particular aspect of grammar?
Predict that the acquisition of a particular aspect of
grammar should have an all-or-nothing quality.
‘As soon as an item is assimilated into a class, that item automatically inherits the privileges of that category.’
As soon as a child learns that the word “dog” is a noun, they will treat any other noun words like “dog”
What does this suggest about nativists’ view on acquisition of grammar?
Acquisition of a particular aspect of grammar should have an all-or-nothing quality
What are the 2 general predictions nativists have?
1) Children should learn these innately specified aspects of grammar very early on
2) Children should show consistent treatment of
members of a particular grammatical category
According to Radford, ‘…Once a child is able to parse an utterance such as “close the door!”, he will be able to infer from the fact that the verb “close” in English precedes its complement “the door”, that all verbs in English precede their complements…’
What does this mean?
Children will catch on to the fact that an object has to come after the verb in English sentences
What are the 4 principles and parameters of nativist approach to language acquisition?
1) All the possible rules for languages are innate.
2) Grammar is universal (UG) – the rules of grammar apply in all languages.
3) Where the rules of grammar differ across languages, they do so in highly constrained ways which are encoded by
parameters (kind of like a lightswitch, can switch on an off)
4) Children need to work out which parameter settings apply for the language they are learning.
What do nativists believe about rules of language?
All the possible rules for languages are innate.
What do nativists believe about grammar?
Grammar is universal (UG) – the rules of grammar apply in all languages
What do nativists believe about the rules of grammar across languages?
Where the rules of grammar differ across languages, they do so in highly constrained ways which are encoded by
parameters
(kind of like a lightswitch, can switch on an off)
What do nativists believe about children leaning parameter settings for language?
Children need to work out which parameter settings apply for the language they are learning.
Give 2 examples of parameter settings
1) Word order
Verb-Object (English) or Object-Verb (Japanese)
2) Subject use
In some languages subjects are obligatory (English)
In others subjects are
optional (Italian)
I eat sashimi
What word order does this follow?
Verb-Object (English)
“Watashi-wa sashimi-o tabe-tai-desu“
= I sashimi eat-want
Object-Verb (Japanese)
It is raining
Does this sentence have an obligatory or optional subject?
Obligatory (English)
Sta piovendo = is raining
Does this sentence have an obligatory or optional subject?
Optional (Italian)
What are the 2 theoretical advantages of universal grammar?
1) Avoids problem of explaining how children
acquire complex grammatical rules
2) Allows a unified theory of acquisition across languages whilst explaining how languages differ
Avoids problem of explaining how children
acquire complex grammatical rules
What is this an advantage of?
Universal grammar
Allows a unified theory of acquisition across languages whilst explaining how languages differ
What is this an advantage of?
Universal grammar
Children’s early utterances (usually) observe adult word order
What is this evidence of?
That the relevant parameter is set
Children are productive from early on (allgone sticky)
What is this evidence of?
Children are applying rules of grammar
There are some evidence that children understand the role of word order (Subject-Verb-Object transitive construction) from preferential looking studies at what age…?
Age 2 yrs or earlier
What are the 3 empirical evidences for principles and parameters of the nativist approach?
1) Children’s early utterances (usually) observe adult word
order
= Taken as evidence the relevant parameter is set
2) Children are productive from early on (allgone sticky)
= Taken as evidence they are applying rules of grammar
3) Some evidence that children understand the role of word order (Subject-Verb-Object transitive construction) from
age 2 yrs or earlier from preferential looking studies
Describe preferential looking/pointing studies
1) The infant looks at 2 pictures on the screen
e.g. A picture of a monkey hugging the frog
e.g. A picture of a frog hugging a monkey
2) They hear a sentences that describes one of the pictures
e.g. “The frog is kradding the monkey”
3) Experimenters measure where the children the children look at to see if they are able to match the sentence with a suitable image
At what age can children identify the correct picture to match Subject-Verb-Object sentences from a choice of 2 causal actions
1 year 9 months
Children aged 1;9 can identify the correct picture to match _____ sentences from a choice of 2 causal
actions
Subject-Verb-Object
Children aged 1;9 can identify the correct picture to match Subject-Verb-Object sentences from a choice of 2 causal actions
What is this evidence of?
List 2 things
Being able to set the word order parameter and universal grammar
What did constructivists argue about comprehensions vs production?
Maybe children require stronger knowledge for language production compared to comprehension
Because production requires more detailed knowledge
Children learn enough details for comprehension but not enough for production
What are the 3 theoretical problems for universal grammar?
1) Parameters not clearly specified.
- How many parameters are there?
- Which aspects of language are coded by parameters
and which are not?
2) Unclear how children avoid setting parameters
incorrectly.
- Want a drink?, Got to go now
3) Bilingualism
- How do children set two (or more) versions of same parameters?
Bilingualism is a theoretical problem for…?
Universal grammar
Bilingualism is a theoretical problem for universal grammar? Why?
How do children set two (or more) versions of same parameters?
It is unclear how children avoid setting parameters
incorrectly
Why?
Because in informal/causal conversations in English, we sometimes drop the subject
e.g. Want a drink? instead of Do you want a drink?
Unclear how children avoid setting parameters
incorrectly is a theoretical problem for …?
Universal grammar
Parameters not clearly specified is a theoretical problem for…?
Universal grammar
Children display limited knowledge of Subject-Verb-Object word order in production and act-out studies
What is this evidence of?
Evidence against the principles and parameters of nativist approach
Naturalistic data studies provide evidence of partial,
lexically specific knowledge within a grammatical category
– verbs, auxiliaries, determiners
What evidence does this provide
Evidence against the principles and parameters of nativist approach
Many studies show a very close relation between what children hear, how often, and what and when they learn
What evidence does this provide?
Evidence against the principles and parameters of nativist approach
List 3 evidence against the principles and parameters of nativist approach
1) Children display limited knowledge of Subject-Verb-Object word order in production and act-out studies
2) Naturalistic data studies provide evidence of partial,
lexically specific knowledge within a grammatical category
3) Many studies show a very close relation between what
children hear, how often, and what and when they learn
Nativist approaches provide an account of children’s early multiword utterances that emphasises their similarity to …?
Adult language
Continuity accounts (that posit grammatical rules from the outset) explain development in terms of ….?
Limitations on performance rather than limited knowledge
Simply = Limitations in how knowledge is expressed not limitation of knowledge itself
Children’s language develops (changes over time).
What do many researchers argue?
That this provides evidence that they do not start out with a full innate universal grammar (contra continuity accounts)
Children’s language develops (changes over time).
This provides evidence that they do not start out with a full innate universal grammar
What is one solution to this problem?
To build in a part of universal grammar that matures over time according to a biologically-determined timescale.
Who proposed the maturational model?
Radford (1990)
At what age do infants go through the Lexical Stage of development?
Around 20 months
At the Lexical Stage of development (around 20
months), children’s utterances consist of mainly …?
Content words
e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives and prepositions
But other parts of the corresponding adult utterance are omitted
At what age do infants go through the functional stage?
Around 24 months
At the Functional Stage (around 24 months) what happens to the child’s innate grammar?
The child’s innate grammar ‘matures’ and the parts governing the use of more complex grammatical components switch on;
For instance:
1) Auxiliary verbs (e.g. to mark modality,
certainty, futurity - can, will, might)
2) Determiners (to
distinguish definite and indefinite referents - a/the)
3) Inflections (to mark tense and agreement-watch/watched, I watch/He watch-es)
What does Radford’s (1990) maturational model propose?
List 2 points
There are 2 stages of development
1) Lexical Stage of development
Utterances only contain content words
2) Functional Stage of development
Innate grammar matures
Kathryn no like celery
Is this an example of…?
a. Lexical utterances
b. Functional utterances
a. Lexical utterances
Hair wet
Is this an example of…?
a. Lexical utterances
b. Functional utterances
a. Lexical utterances
I don’t need that
Is this an example of…?
a. Lexical utterances
b. Functional utterances
b. Functional utterances
She likes icecream
Is this an example of…?
a. Lexical utterances
b. Functional utterances
b. Functional utterances
Mummy doing?
Is this an example of…?
a. Lexical utterances
b. Functional utterances
a. Lexical utterances
I watched the ducks
Is this an example of…?
a. Lexical utterances
b. Functional utterances
b. Functional utterances
A 20 month old infant is more likely to say which sentence?
a. I’m pulling this
b. I don’t need that
c. Pig say oink
d. I watched the ducks
c. Pig say oink
A 24 month old infant is more likely to say which sentence?
a. I’m pulling this
b. Hair wet
c. Pig say oink
d. Hands dirty
a. I’m pulling this
What does the maturational model explain?
Explains why early utterances are not fully
grammatical
True or False?
The maturational model cannot be applied to developing children who are deaf or blind
False
The maturational model can be applied to developing children with normal hearing, deaf, blind despite their experiences of the world being different
What are the 3 advantages of the maturational model?
1) Explains why early utterances are not fully
grammatical
2) Allows for development over time so more likely
to fit the empirical data
3) Similar results for developing children with
normal hearing, deaf, blind, despite their experiences of the world being different
What are the 3 problems with the maturational model?
1) Difficult to identify precise point in development when maturing aspects of the grammatical system come ‘on-line’
2) From earliest stages children show some use of
most grammatical functions, although inconsistent, and varies across languages
3) At around 24 months, children’s use of many
‘functional’ words related to lexical frames
Difficult to identify precise point in development
when maturing aspects of the grammatical
system come ‘on-line’
This is an empirical problem for…?
Maturational model
From earliest stages children show some use of
most grammatical functions, although
inconsistent, and varies across languages
This is an empirical problem for…?
Maturational model
At around 24 months, children’s use of many
‘functional’ words related to lexical frames
Can I X?, Don’t X etc
This is an empirical problem for…?
Maturational model
Universal grammar approaches claim innate abstract grammar, but explain changes in children’s language over development in terms of …?
Biological maturation of parts of the grammatical system or due to gradual learning from input
What is the Linking problem?
How do children link up their innate knowledge of
grammatical categories to the words they are
hearing?
Is the linking problem specific to…?
a. Nativist approach
b. Constructivist approach
a. Nativist approach
How do children link up their innate knowledge of
grammatical categories to the words they are
hearing?
This is known as…?
The linking problem
Children learn words from their environment but how do they know which category the words belong to, especially when caregivers don’t label particular words as nouns, verbs
This is known as…?
The linking problem
What is the solution for the linking problem?
Semantic Bootstrapping
Assumes:
Grammatical (syntactic) categories and rules innate
This is known as…?
Semantic Bootstrapping
What is semantic bootstrapping related to?
Meaning
How does Semantic
Bootstrapping help with the linking problem?
Children use semantics (meaning) to map words in the input onto innate grammatical syntactic categories by using innate Linking Rules to map semantics onto syntax
Simply = They access meaning of words from the real word
What is Semantic Bootstrapping?
When children use semantics (meaning) to map words in the input onto these innate syntactic categories by using innate Linking Rules to map semantics onto syntax
Simply = They access meaning of words from the real word
When children use semantics (meaning) to map words in the input onto these innate syntactic categories by using innate Linking Rules to map semantics onto syntax
Simply = They access meaning of words from the real word
This is known as…?
Semantic Bootstrapping
How do children link rules between meaning and syntax?
The child ‘links’ individual words to innate grammatical categories
(e.g. noun, verb, adjective, preposition, …)
When given the word “Attribute”, a child assumes the word is a …?
a. Preposition
b. Noun
c. Verb
d. Adjective
d. Adjective
When given the word “Table”, a child assumes the word is a …?
a. Preposition
b. Noun
c. Verb
d. Adjective
b. Noun
When given the word “Run”, a child assumes the word is a …?
a. Preposition
b. Noun
c. Verb
d. Adjective
c. Verb
When given the word “In”, a child assumes the word is a …?
a. Preposition
b. Noun
c. Verb
d. Adjective
a. Preposition
When given the word “Run”, a child assumes the word is a verb
What does this suggest?
The child links individual words to innate grammatical categories
True or False?
A child can only link grammatical categories
False
They can also link semantic roles and syntactic roles
How do children link semantic roles?
List 2 categories
1) Agent = the person carrying out the action
2) Patient = the person or thing affected by the action
Children can link ______ by:
1) Agent = the person carrying out the action
2) Patient = the person or thing affected by the action
Semantic roles
How do children link syntactic roles?
1) Agent = Subject of sentence
2) Patient = Object of sentence
Children can link ______ by:
1) Agent = Subject of sentence
2) Patient = Object of sentence
Syntactic roles
Describe how linking words with the experiment involving the sentence “wug tamo pim”
List 5 points
1) ‘Wug’ means ‘dinosaur’
2) ‘Pim’ means ‘puppet’
3) Ps are shown a picture. The agent in this picture/event is the puppet (‘Pim’)
4) So the puppet is the Subject
5) So the Subject comes after the Object in this language (Object-Verb-Subject word order)
1) ‘Wug’ means ‘dinosaur’
2) ‘Pim’ means ‘puppet’
3) Ps are shown a picture. The agent in this picture/event is the puppet (‘Pim’)
4) So the puppet is the Subject
5) So the Subject comes after the Object in this language (Object-Verb-Subject word order)
What does this show?
Children are able to link words through their understanding of Object-Verb-Subject word order
What are the 3 problems with working out grammatical categories from meaning?
1) Not all verbs are actions (Believe, want, need)
2) Not all nouns are concrete objects (Idea, dream, justice)
3) Not all subjects are agents (She wants a drink)
1) Not all verbs are actions (Believe, want, need)
2) Not all nouns are concrete objects (Idea, dream, justice)
3) Not all subjects are agents (She wants a drink)
These are problems related to…?
Working out grammatical categories from meaning
What is the solution to the problems with working out grammatical categories from meaning?
List 2 points
Use a form of distributional analysis to determine word
order for the language from prototypical sentences.
Then apply knowledge of word order to work out
grammatical category of more abstract terms
Use a form of distributional analysis to determine word
order for the language from prototypical sentences.
Then apply knowledge of word order to work out
grammatical category of more abstract terms
This is a solution to…?
Problems with working out grammatical categories from meaning
Sentences that follow the Subject-Verb-Object word order
This is known as…?
Transitive sentences
Give an example of using prototypical sentence to work out word order and
grammatical categories for non-prototypical
Prototypical transitive sentence:
The cat [Agent=Noun=Subject]
Chased [Action=Verb]
The mouse [Patient=Noun=Object]
What are transitive sentences?
Sentences that follow the Subject-Verb-Object word order
The cat [Agent=Noun=Subject]
Chased [Action=Verb]
The mouse [Patient=Noun=Object]
This is an example of…?
A transitive sentence
Mapping the words you are learning to innate systems is known as…?
Semantic bootstrapping
What are the 3 advantages of semantic bootstrapping?
1) Explains how children break into innate system.
2) Explains why early utterances follow adult word order.
3) Explains how children learn verbs which are not
actions, nouns which are not objects etc
These are advantages of…?
1) Explains how children break into innate system.
2) Explains why early utterances follow adult word order.
3) Explains how children learn verbs which are not
actions, nouns which are not objects etc
Semantic bootstrapping
Semantic bootstrapping explains how children break into …?
Innate systems
Semantic bootstrapping explains why early utterances follow…?
Adult word order
Semantic bootstrapping explains how children learn verbs which are not…?
Actions, nouns which are not objects, etc.
What are the 2 disadvantages to semantic bootstrapping?
1) Many of children’s early lexically-specific utterances are not semantically prototypical, and therefore are unlikely to be based on innate knowledge of semantic linking rules
e.g. I want a drink, I don’t like it
2) In passive sentences, the noun phrase (NP) which is
usually the object of an active transitive becomes the subject
1) Many of children’s early lexically-specific utterances are not semantically prototypical, and therefore are unlikely to be based on innate knowledge of semantic linking rules
e.g. I want a drink, I don’t like it
2) In passive sentences, the noun phrase (NP) which is
usually the object of an active transitive becomes the subject
These are problems with…?
Semantic bootstrapping
Many of children’s early lexically-specific utterances are not semantically prototypical
What does this mean?
Children’s utterances are unlikely to be based on innate knowledge of semantic linking rules
Children’s utterances are unlikely to be based on innate knowledge of semantic linking rules
Why?
Many of children’s early lexically-specific utterances are not semantically prototypical
e.g. I want a drink, I don’t like it
Children’s utterances are unlikely to be based on innate knowledge of semantic linking rules
What do constructivists argue about this?
Children may not know the grammar yet but they say phrases like this because they’ve heard it somewhere before
In passive sentences, the noun phrase (NP) which is
usually the object of an active transitive becomes _____?
The subject
The cat (agent: Subject) chased the mouse (patient:Object)
Is this:
a. Active sentence
b. Passive sentence
a. Active sentence
The mouse (patient: Subject) was chased by the cat (agent:Object)
Is this:
a. Active sentence
b. Passive sentence
b. Passive sentence
In passive sentences, the noun phrase (NP) which is
usually the _____ of an active transitive becomes the subject?
Object
Why are passive sentences a problem?
If the child hears passive utterances early on, they may use semantic bootstrapping to conclude that their language is object-verb-subject
(e.g. the postman
was bitten by the dog)
There would be problems parsing other utterances
What would result in problems parsing other utterances?
Passive sentences in early language development
Some nativists propose that the passive ‘Parameter’
doesn’t mature until what age?
5 years
Why are passive sentences learned late, according to nativists?
The passive ‘Parameter’
doesn’t mature until later (5yrs)
True or False?
Children do not hear and use passive sentences from fairly early on
Children do hear and use passive sentences from fairly early on, especially in some other languages
Nativist approaches claim an innate abstract…?
Universal grammar
_____ is proposed as a solution based on children’s perceptual understanding of the world around them and innate linking rules
Semantic Bootstrapping
Semantic Bootstrapping is proposed as a solution based on …?
List 2 points
1) Children’s perceptual understanding of the world around them
2) Innate linking rules
Nativists assume children operate with _____ knowledge specific to grammar
a. Learned
b. Innate
b. Innate
Assumes children operate with innate knowledge specific to grammar
a. Nativist
b. Constructivist
a. Nativist
According to nativists, to account for differences between languages, grammar is encoded in …?
Principles and Parameters
______ assume children start out with full grammatical knowledge
Continuity accounts
What do continuity accounts assume about grammatical knowledge?
Children start out with full
grammatical knowledge
What do maturational accounts assume about grammatical systems?
Parts of the grammatical system ‘switch on’ at different stages in development based
on a predetermined biological timetable
______ assumes parts of the grammatical system ‘switch on’ at different stages in development based
on a predetermined biological timetable
Maturational accounts
What is the key challenge of the nativist approach?
The linking problem
How do children link up the language they hear with their innate grammar?
This is known as…?
The linking problem
