Introduction Flashcards
Logical problem of language acquisition (LPLA)
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
Input
Children’s exposition to language
True or false : children universally make the same kind of mistakes when learning their L1
True
Negative evidence
Evidence for what is not possible in a language (e.g. correction)
Direct negative evidence
Explicitly telling the child their utterance is incorrect
Recast (a type of indirect negative evidence)
Reformulating the child’s utterance, to indirectly indicate that the child’s utterance is incorrect (more common evidence)
Positive evidence
Evidence of what is possible in a language
Type of evidence we give more to children
Positive evidence
Developmental problem of language acquisition
If children are preequiped with expectations of how language works, why are they not learning language quicker ?
Language acquisition is a process of ____ creation
Grammar
Observation that drives universal grammar
Some aspects of language cannot be learned from input only
Induction
Going from examples to general rule
Structure dependent rule
Rule that refers to an underlying structure (e.g. hierarchical structure of syntax)
Structure dependence is an example of a …
Learning bias
Poverty of the stimulus
Idea that the input to children is missing important information
Innate biases prevent children from considering analyses of language that are incompatible with human _____ according to UG
Grammar
2 major components of language according to UG
Lexicon and computatinal unit
Lexicon
Contains all lexical entries for a language
Computational unit
Series of procedures or rules that combine lexical entries from the lexicon
True or false : according to UG, children already have a fully formed computational unit
True
Linear hypothesis of yes-no questions movement
Move the first verbal element to the front of the sentence (e.g. “He is happy” turns into “Is he happy?”)
Case in which the linear hypothesis fails
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”)
Structure dependent hypothesis of yes-no questions movement
Move the verbal element in the main clause (after the subject) to the front of the sentence
True or false : children do not make linear hypothesis mistakes in yes-no questions movement
True
Bias that prevents children from making linear hypothesis mistakes
Language has a hierarchical organization; not a linear one
Children mostly hear ___ auxiliary questions
Single
Poverty of the stimulus is linked not to amount, but to precise evidence needed to overcome the problem of _____
Induction
True or false : double auxiliary questions are extremely rare in the input children receive
True
Language is inherently _____ in terms of how it can be analyzed
Ambiguous
Reason why children do not see the ambiguity of language
They are predisposed to learn language in a structural manner
Age at which children understand almost everything about the phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics of their language
6 years old
Grammar
System of rules and constraints on:
*Pproduction, perception and patterning of speech sounds;
* Formation and interpretation of words and sentences.
A child’s grammar is not always a part of their native language, but we should expect their grammar to be …
Part of other languages.
Generalization
Once children acquire appropriate rules for forming different structures, they may overapply these rules to irregulars
How we can know a child has developed a rule
When they make overgeneralization errors that go beyond adult’s grammars
3 sources of syntactic ambiguity
- Different syntactic structures can have the same meaning: e.g. active sentence vs passive sentence
- Unambiguous sentences, but similar structures: e.g. The doll is easy to see. vs The doll can see easily.
- Ambiguous sentences with different possible structures: e.g. The chicken is ready to eat.
Series of grammars (G)
Language acquisition is based on increased input and increased understanding of the onput, creating a series of grammars
E.g. :
input → Ginitial → output
input → Ginitial+1 → output
…
input → Gend-state → output
True or false : Children do not necessarily have the same rules as adult speakers.
True
Children may not acquire linguistic rules at the same age or rate, but they usually share the same ____ of acquisition
Order
2 properties that makes something a bias in UG
- Innate
- Purely linguistic
2 hypotheses for subject-auxiliary inversion
- Linear order (structure independent) hypothesis:
Move the first auxiliary verb to the front of the sentence. - Structure-dependent hypothesis:
Move the auxiliary verb in the main clause (i.e., the aux that is after the subject) to the front of the sentence.
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.
Innate learning biases prevent children from considering analyses of the input that are incompatible with …
The grammatical systems of all languages
Intransitive ‘break’
Denotes a change of state (e.g. it broke)
Transitive ‘break’
Denotes causation (e.g. she broke it)
Errors kids make based on verbs that permit transitive and intransitive uses
- Using intransitive verbs as transitives
(e.g. You giggle me)
Children’s errors go beyond the input to which they are exposed but the errors are …
Rule governed
2 errors caregivers tend to correct the most
- Semantic overextension;
- Morphological overregularization
Semantic overextension
Extension of the meaning of a word based on its salient properties (e.g. ball for all round objects)
Morphological overregularization
Applying a rule to that should not apply in irregulars
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
Metalinguistic awareness
Ability to consciously reflect on the structure of language
Children only learn their L1 from ______ evidence
Positive
True or false : children cannot be taught the grammar of their language
True
