Intro Flashcards

1
Q

Logical problem of language acquisition (LPLA)

A

The manner in which children acquire language is not predicted by the kind of language they hear
The grammar of a language is acquired by children:
* subconsciously,
* quickly,
* relatively uniformly,
* without explicit instruction or correction, and
* based on input that can sometimes be of poor quality

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2
Q

Input

A

Children’s exposition to language

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3
Q

True or false : children universally make the same kind of mistakes when learning their L1

A

True

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4
Q

Negative evidence

A

Evidence for what is not possible in a language (e.g. correction)

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5
Q

Direct negative evidence

A

Explicitly telling the child their utterance is incorrect

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6
Q

Recast (a type of indirect negative evidence)

A

Reformulating the child’s utterance, to indirectly indicate that the child’s utterance is incorrect (more common evidence)

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7
Q

Positive evidence

A

Evidence of what is possible in a language

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8
Q

Type of evidence we give more to children

A

Positive evidence

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9
Q

Developmental problem of language acquisition

A

If children are preequiped with expectations of how language works, why are they not learning language quicker ?

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10
Q

Language acquisition is a process of ____ creation

A

Grammar

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11
Q

Observation that drives universal grammar

A

Some aspects of language cannot be learned from input only

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12
Q

Induction

A

Going from examples to general rule

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13
Q

Structure dependent rule

A

Rule that refers to an underlying structure (e.g. hierarchical structure of syntax)

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14
Q

Structure dependence is an example of a …

A

Learning bias

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15
Q

Poverty of the stimulus

A

Idea that the input to children is missing important information

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16
Q

Innate biases prevent children from considering analyses of language that are incompatible with human _____ according to UG

A

Grammar

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17
Q

Lexicon

A

Contains all lexical entries for a language

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18
Q

Linear hypothesis of yes-no questions movement

A

Move the first verbal element to the front of the sentence (e.g. “He is happy” turns into “Is he happy?”)

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19
Q

Case in which the linear hypothesis fails

A

When there is a verbal element in the subject such as in “The man who is in custody is guilty.” (creates “Is the man who in custody is guilty”)

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20
Q

Structure dependent hypothesis of yes-no questions movement

A

Move the verbal element in the main clause (after the subject) to the front of the sentence

21
Q

True or false : children do not make linear hypothesis mistakes in yes-no questions movement

22
Q

Bias that prevents children from making linear hypothesis mistakes

A

Language has a hierarchical organization; not a linear one

23
Q

Children mostly hear ___ auxiliary questions

24
Q

Poverty of the stimulus is linked not to amount, but to precise evidence needed to overcome the problem of _____

25
True or false : double auxiliary questions are extremely rare in the input children receive
True
26
Language is inherently _____ in terms of how it can be analyzed
Ambiguous
27
Reason why children do not see the ambiguity of language
They are predisposed to learn language in a structural manner
28
Age at which children understand almost everything about the phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics of their language
6 years old
29
Grammar
System of rules and constraints on: *Production, perception and patterning of speech sounds; * Formation and interpretation of words and sentences.
30
Generalization
Once children acquire appropriate rules for forming different structures, they may overapply these rules to irregulars
31
How we can know a child has developed a rule
When they make overgeneralization errors that go beyond adult's grammars
32
3 sources of syntactic ambiguity
1. Different syntactic structures can have the same meaning: e.g. active sentence vs passive sentence 2. Unambiguous sentences, but similar structures: e.g. The doll is easy to see. vs The doll can see easily. 3. Ambiguous sentences with different possible structures: e.g. The chicken is ready to eat.
33
True or false : Children do not necessarily have the same rules as adult speakers.
True
34
Children may not acquire linguistic rules at the same age or rate, but they usually share the same ____ of acquisition
Order
35
2 properties that makes something a bias in UG
1. Innate 2. Purely linguistic
36
Bias that explains why children reject the linear order hypothesis of subject-auxiliary inversion
Syntactic movement respects constituency. We know this is a bias because children would need to hear double-auxiliary sentences to reject hypothesis 1, yet this type of sentence is extremely rare in the input to children.
37
Innate learning biases prevent children from considering analyses of the input that are incompatible with ...
The grammatical systems of all languages
38
Intransitive ‘break’
Denotes a change of state (e.g. it broke)
39
Transitive ‘break’
Denotes causation (e.g. she broke it)
40
Errors kids make based on verbs that permit transitive and intransitive uses
- Using intransitive verbs as transitives (e.g. You giggle me)
41
Children’s errors go beyond the input to which they are exposed but the errors are ...
Rule governed
42
2 errors caregivers tend to correct the most
- Semantic overextension; - Morphological overregularization
43
Semantic overextension
Extension of the meaning of a word based on its salient properties (e.g. ball for all round objects)
44
Morphological overregularization
Applying a rule to that should not apply in irregulars
45
Reason why negative evidence does not help reduce mistakes during language acquisition
Even if children realize their mistake, they won't necessarily be able to change their grammar to correct it
46
Metalinguistic awareness
Ability to consciously reflect on the structure of language
47
Children only learn their L1 from ______ evidence
Positive
48
True or false : children cannot be taught the grammar of their language
True