Language Acquisition

Question 1

All (normal) human children:

Answer 1

• learn a language.
• can learn any language they are exposed to.
• learn all languages at basically the same rate.
• follow the same stages of language acquisition.

Question 2

Language Acquisition

Answer 2

the process of building the ability to understand a language and using it to communicate with others.

Question 3

Innateness Hypothesis

Answer 3

argues that our ability to acquire (human) language is innate (genetically encoded.)

Question 4

Universal Grammar

Answer 4

refers to the “set of structural characteristics shared by all languages”

Question 5

Overviews of sign language

Answer 5

• have gesture system
• have morphology rules
• have syntactic rules
• have semantic rules
• have dictionary of arbitrary signs

Question 6

Theories of Acquisition

Answer 6

1. Imitation
2. Reinforcement
3. Active Construction of a Grammar
4. Connectionist Theories

Question 7

Main Idea of Imitation

Answer 7

Children imitate what they hear

Question 8

Problems with Imitation

Answer 8

• Children produce things not said by adults.
• Children often fail to accurately mimic adult utterances.
• Children may invent a new language in the right circumstances.

Question 9

Main Idea of Reinforcement

Answer 9

Children learn through positive and negative reinforcement.

Question 10

Problems with Reinforcement

Answer 10

• Ignores how children initially learn to produce utterances
• rarely occurs
• fails when it does occur
• fails to explain children’s own grammar rules and why children seem impervious to correction.

Question 11

Active Construction of a Grammar

Answer 11

• Children invent grammar rules themselves.

- Ability to develop rules is innate.

Question 12

What active construction of a grammar explains which imitation/reinforcement can’t:

Answer 12

• Children are expected to make mistakes
• Children are expected to follow non-random patterns
• Regression

Question 13

Connectionist Theories

Answer 13

Claims that exposure to language develops and strengthens neural connections.

Question 14

Problems with Connectionist Theories

Answer 14

-predicts that any pattern is learnable bu humans, but this is demonstrably false.

Question 15

Imitation

Answer 15

Is necessary but not sufficient.

Question 16

Reinforcement

Answer 16

Is virtually unsupported.

Question 17

Active Construction of a Grammar

Answer 17

Nicely accounts for predictable deviations from adults grammars, and the various stages of grammar development.

Question 18

Connectionist Theories

Answer 18

Account for frequency effects, can also account for regular deviations from adult grammars.

Question 19

Basic Idea of Critical Period

Answer 19

There is a critical period in development during which a language can be acquired like a native speaker.

Question 20

Strong Hypothesis of Critical Period

Answer 20

After this critical period, it is impossible to acquire a language as well as a native speaker.

Question 21

Weak Hypothesis of Critical Period

Answer 21

There are ‘sensitive periods’ during which the ease of learning certain aspects of language decline.

Question 22

Stages of Development

Answer 22

0. Prelinguistic
1. Babbling
2. One-word
3. Two-word stage
4. Beyond 2-word stage

Question 23

Prelinguistic

Answer 23

• Babies make noise, but not yet babbling.

- Sensitive to native and non-native sound distinctions.

Question 24

Babbling

Answer 24

• Starts at about 6 months of age.
• Not linked to biological needs.
• Pitch and intonation resemble language spoken around them.

Question 25

One-word

Answer 25

- Begins at age 1. - Speaks one-word sentences. - Usually 1-syllable words. - Consonant clusters reduced. - Words learned as a whole, rather than a sequence of sounds.

Question 26

Two-word stage

Answer 26

- Starts at about 1.5-2 years of age. - Vocabulary of +/- 50 words. - Sentences consist of two words.

Question 27

Beyond 2-word stage

Answer 27

- Sentences with 3+ words. - Begins using function words. - Have already learned some aspects of grammar. - Grammar resembles adult grammar by about age 5.

Question 28

Children's acquisition of language occurs:

Answer 28

- quickly. - without explicit instruction. - uniformly.

Question 29

What must a child learn?

Answer 29

- The sounds of language. - The sounds patterns of a language. - Rules of word formation. - How words combine into phrases/sentences. - How to derive meaning from a sentence. - How to properly use language in context. - Lexical items (words, morphemes, idioms, etc.)

Question 30

Examples of living organisms having innate behaviors:

Answer 30

- Newly hatched sea turtles moving towards the ocean. - Honeybees performing dances for communication. - Birds flying.

Question 31

Attempts to explain Innateness Hypothesis

Answer 31

- Speed of acquisition - Ease of acquisition - Uniformity of acquisition process - Uniformity in adult language - Universalities across language

Question 32

The goal of theoretical linguistics:

Answer 32

is to discover the properties of Universal Grammar.

Question 33

Acquisition process of Active Construction of a Grammar

Answer 33

- Listen - Try to find patterns - Hypothesize a rule for the pattern - Test hypothesis - Modify rule as necessary

Question 34

Parameter

Answer 34

determines the ways in which language can vary.

Question 35

Head parameter

Answer 35

specifies the position of the head in relation to its compliments within phrases for different language.

Question 36

Theories of Language Acquisition

Answer 36

- Imitation, Nativism, or Behaviorism - Innateness or Mentalism - Cognition - Motherese or Input

Question 37

Imitation, Nativism, or Behaviorism

Answer 37

Based on the empiricist or behavioral approach

Question 38

Innate or Mentalism

Answer 38

Based on the rationalistic or mentalist approach

Question 39

Cognition

Answer 39

Based on the cognitive-psychological approach

Question 40

Motherese or Input

Answer 40

Based on the maternal approach to language acquisition