First Language Acquisition Flashcards
We are _________ to learn languages
pre-disposed
What are the 2 methods used to study language acquisition?
- Naturalistic (documentation)
2. Experimentation
What are disadvantages of the naturalistic approach?
- It can be limiting (time length)
- There are many things that the observer cannot control and know
Language learning isn’t _______
Memorization
When does cooing start?
2 months
When does babbling begin?
About at 6 months
What is the difference between babbling and cooing?
Cooing is preparation for vowel sounds whereas babbling is preparation for consonants.
When does babbling end and words being?
About 12 months
Approximately how many words have children learned by 18 months.
50
Are vowels or consonants mastered first?
Vowels
What type of (placement) consonant comes first?
Stops come before other consonants.
What are the last type of consonants to be aquired?
Interdentals
What specific type of stop/sounds are acquired first?
bilabials
b, m, p
Phonemic contrasts start happening at the ______ of words first.
beginning
Why is it harder to contrast end-of-word phonemes?
because they are unreleased and harder to articulate
At 2 years old, what consonant sounds are still missing (7)?
- Liquids
- Palatals
- Voiced fricatives
- Affricates
- Interdentals
- /h/
At 4 years old what consonant sounds are still missing.
- interdentals
- /ʒ/
- Marked consonants are mastered later
In all cases _______ of the sounds is preceded by _______
Production
Perception
If there is an _______ (final or initial) syllable, they keep that one.
Give an example
- Unstressed Final
Tomato > mejdo (ends of words are important)
What syllable structure i most common for children and give an example of how this is used.
CV
dog > /da/
What are the 5 process that children use to alter tougher consonant sounds?
- Stopping ( s > t)
- Fronting ( g > d)
- Gliding ( ɹ > w)
- Denasalization ( n > d)
- Assimilation ( sup > zup)
Why are nouns most common?
They carry more meaning
The average adult has how many words?
60 000 words
How many words does the average 6 year old have?
14 000
How many times to 2-5 year olds need to hear a word before they learn it.
Once
What 3 assumptions much the child assume to fully understand the word.
- The whole object assumption
- The type assumption
- The basic level assumption
What does the whole object assumption mean?
They have to grasp that the word doesn’t mean just one section
i.e. Dog doesn’t mean “leg” or “black”
What does the type assumption mean?
This means that the word applies to all forms of the word
i.e. dog doesn’t just mean maggie
What’s the basic level assumption?
This means that the word refers to a particular basic kind of the word
i.e. dog refers to canines nto all animals.
What is an overextension error and an example?
This happens when specific word is given too broad of a meaning. This is when the basic level assumption isn’t applied.
i.e. Cat meaning all animals
How is overextension practice?
This buys the kid time within conversation until the precise word is learned.
What is under extension?
This happens when the type assumption isn’t applied
i.e. The dog only refers to maggie
Learning words goes hand in hand with learning ______
Concepts
What is the order of acquisition for adjectives?
- several dimensions described at once (big or small)
- One dimension (long or short, high or low)
- Secondary, single dimension aspects (thick or thin, deep or shallow)
What test is used to determine if a person understand morphemes?
The Wug test.
This test allows them to see if children can apply morphological rules to words that they’ve never seen before.
What is the first morpheme acquired?
-ing
What is accepted first, the plural or possessive or grammar marked /s/
the plural comes first, then possessive, then the -s used to mark first person singular verbs.
Which type of morphemes are learned first?
Bound morphemes are free before free ones.
What are the 6 aspects that determine morpheme acquisition order?
- Frequency
- Position
- Syllabicity
- Regularity of markings
- Lack of Allomorphy
- Non-Fusional Affixes
Morphology: Frequency
This plays a role, but it not the only relevant factor
Morphology: Position
Children pay attention to the ends of words.
Morphology: Syllabicity
Kids notice morphemes that are full syllables
i.e. -ing vs -s
Morphology: Regularity of Markings
Those more common are learned faster
Morphology: Lack of Allomorphy
Learning that there are several forms for one morpheme slows things down too
i.e. different -s meanings
Morphology: Non-Fusional Affixes
Plura -s vs third person singular -s.
Children prefer more _____ structures when forming words
Transparent
To build words, children use both derivation and compounding. Which one to they prefer?
Compounding
What to children learn, quickly, about derivational affixes?
They they appear closer to the root.
What is a holophrase and what are it’s tendencies?
- This is one word in a child’s speech that represents a whole sentence in normal adult speech.
- They tend to be nouns because they whole more meaning
- These are part of production
What occurs with a couple months of the holophrase stage?
- The two word stage emerges
- These are also holophrastic, but there are function items included.
What types functional words are a part of the two-word stage?
auxiliaries, determiners or affixes
What stage happens after the 2-word/holographic stage?
Telegraphic Stage
What are characteristics of the telegraphic stage and when does it start?
Not all function words are there yet (including inflectional morphology)
This happens around 2 years old
The telegraphic stage is most like ______ aphasia
Broca’s
But without the effort
How many times do irregular verbs need to be heard before mastery?
several hundred.
What word order is the default by age 4?
SOV
Which questions come first for kids: Inversion of yes-no or “wh-“ questions.
yes-no questions
When do “wh” questions begin?
between 2-4
At what age to the correct interpretation of passives occur?
seven or eight years old
What is the general conclusion of motherese?
This is potentially helpful. but unnecessary.
Want are characteristics of motherese (5)?
- Exaggerated stress
- Slow speech with lots of pauses
- Short sentences
- Here and now vocab
- Lots of repetition
Who learns their L1 faster: Those without or with motherese?
Neither. They develop at the same time.
Do children learn grammar from being corrected by their parents?
No
What is recast?
This is the reformulation of an ungrammatical string using a grammatical string.
Is the any direct relationship between language and cognitive development?
No, people with low intelligence can still be very good with language
Is there a critical period for learning first languages?
Yes, before 6 years is ideal
