First Language Acquisition Flashcards
What is a telegraphic sentence?
It is a part of the developmental sequence of language acquisition. Two-year-olds create simple sentences without function words and grammatical morphemes, like “Mom cookie.”
What is meant by ‘Universal Grammar’ (UG)?
It is the innate endowment of each human contains principles that are universal to human language. There is a fundamental similarity of the grammatical structure of each language. Children are born with this only have to learn how to apply it to the language they are growing up with.
What is the difference between ‘language larning’ and ‘language acquisition’?
acquisition = unconscious internalization of language knowledg, focus is on meaning rather than form learning = conscious process, lerner learns about the language itslf rather than trying to understand spcific messages
What is a wug test?
It is a test that is designed to investigate the acquisition of plural-formation and other rules of grammar as well as the implicit knowledge of linguistic morphology
What is fronting?
Fronting refers to constructions of sentences in which a word group that usually follows the verb is placed at the beginning of a sentence. (e.g. In June came ponderous heat)
o What is meant by ‘Universal Grammar?
We humans possess natural faculties in regards to language acquisition.
What is the interactionist/developmental perspective?
Language is one skill of the human childs ability to learn from experience.
Unlike the innatists, they see no reason to assume that there are specific brain structures devoted to language learning.
Give an example of a child’s metalinguistic awareness.
metalinguistic awareness = the ability to treat language as an object separate from the meaning it conveys.
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Who were Victor and Genie?
Victor and Genie were prime examples for the CPH. They grew up without any contact, where in bad mental and physical condition and had no language to communicate. Victor and Genie were never able to pick up a language to its fullest potential even though they have been provided with help.
What is the ‘Critical Period Hypothesis’ (CPH)?
Humans are genetically programmed to acquire certain kinds of knowledge and skill at specific times in life
What is the innatist perspective?
Language learning is a biological function; thus, language learning is as natural as learning to walk. It is claimed (by Noam Chomsky) that it would come naturally with age because it is in the human´s biology. The environment is just an additional contribution. Children are surrounded by unfinished sentences, false starts, and slips of the tongue, but are still able to learn how to divide grammatical and ungrammatical sentences. Children are born with the ability…
