Lec 5 Flashcards

1
Q
  • 4 main theories of how children learn language
  • x
  • behaviorist → what do they say?
  • the 4 spectrums
    • sociocultural context - 2 types
    • individual diff → 2 types
    • Active child → 2 types
  • behaviourist on the 4 spectrum
A

Theories: how do children learn language? (Dodds)

  • 1 Behaviorist account
    • Caregivers support language learning through reinforcement
      • Ex. kids say I want cookie -> given cookie -> reinforced
    • Parents correct children when they make mistakes
    • Parents reward child when they are correct
      • -ve punishment: absent of what they want
      • +ve punishment: presence of aversive shit
      • +ve r: presence of what they want
      • -ve r: absent of what they hate
    • Do parents actually teach children this way?
      • Not really
      • Ex. You hv coffee -> bb said juice -> parents are still happy
    • X
    • 4 spectrum:
      • Nature vs nurture
      • Sociocultural context: egocentric, sociocentric
      • Indiv diff: homo vs heterogeneity
      • Active child: passive vs active
    • x
    • Nature vs nurture: behaviorist = nurture (extreme)
    • Sociocultural context = sociocentric
    • Indiv differences = heterogeneity
      • Each child has diff amount of reinforcement (ex. strict vs lousy parents)
    • Active Child = middle
      • Child has to internalize these experiences (rewards, punishments)
      • Parents
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2
Q
  • nativist:
    • 2 main arguments
    • L1 vs L2 activation patterns: same or different
    • nativist and the 4 spectrums
A
  • 2 Nativist account
    • Rebuttal to behaviorist
    • 1 These are neutral structure for language (ex. Broca’s, Wernicke’s)
    • 2 Universal grammar: if we have innate structures for language, then all human languages have something in common
      • Most lang have nouns and verbs, and interact similarly across languages
      • Some rare languages do not
    • Noam Chomsky: founder
    • x
    • All normally developing children acquire language
    • At neural lv, L1 (native language) looks diff from L2 (2nd language) at neural lv
      • i.e. different activation patterns
      • x
        • Nature vs nurture: nature (extreme)
      • Seed is there, but still needs water; language genes are there, but still needs teaching
    • Sociocultural context: egocentric, sociocentric = egocentric
    • Indiv diff: homo vs heterogeneity -> homo
    • Active child: passive vs active = passive
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3
Q
  • define connectionist account
    • 2 main ideas
    • 1 criticism
    • connectionist & 4 spectrums
A
  • 3: connectionist account (usage-based account/ info processing account)
    • Children learn language the same way they learn everything else (general purpose learning mech)
    • Computer simulations show that language can be learnt w/ repetitive input
      • More input -> better output
    • Counterargument: computers can’t produce and understand pragmatics (tone of language, may indicate mood)
      • Home assistance/Alexa: argue for and against connectionist approach
        • They speak, but no pragmatics
    • Nature vs nurture: somewhat Nurture
      • But child still need systems/biological to speak
    • Sociocultural context (egocentric, sociocentric): both
      • Input and output in Alexa are both important
    • Indiv diff (homo vs heterogeneity): somewhat heterogeneity
      • Depends on amount of input (more input, better output)
    • Active child (passive vs active): active
      • Detect input -> produce output
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4
Q
  • 3 main arguments on social interactionist
  • social interactionist and 4 spectrums
A
  • 4: social interactionist account
    • Some initial bias to learn language at birth (i.e. child’s desire to be social)
      • Biological bias: follow pointing, parent’s voice
    • Initial bias is more elaborated by experience
      • Parents teach language
    • These rs focus on how children learn words (less on grammar)
    • x
    • Nature vs nurture: Somewhat nurture
    • Sociocultural context: egocentric, sociocentric = sociocentric
    • Indiv diff: homo vs heterogeneity = heterogeneity
    • Active child: passive vs active = middle
      • Child needs to care about the cues
      • Also are passive receptors
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5
Q
  • 4 false beliefs on bilinguals
  • Main argument on why billinguals aren’t dumber
A
  • Common false myths about bilingualism
    • These are all wrong
      • 1 To be bilingual, you must acquire both languages at the same time
        • Simultaneous bilingual: learn together
        • Sequential bilingual: L1 then L2
          • Early sequential: both earlier on
          • Late sequential: L1 early on; L2 when they are in school
      • 2 Bilinguals mix their 2 languages b/c they are confused
        • Code switching
        • Ex. speak w/ parents: half, half
        • Ex. siblings: mainly Eng
      • 3 Bilinguals hv lower vocab than monolinguals do
        • Vocab size: only refers to 1 language
        • Bilingual (Eng and French) vs monolingual
          • For Eng vocab only, bilingual has more vocab
      • 4 Bilinguals hv non-linguistic cog disadv compared to monolinguals
        • Rs: think bilinguals hv info overload, so they suck
        • Not true tho
        • Bilinguals are maybe better at certain cog tasks (mixed results)
  • Two languages at once
    • More than half of the world is bilingual
    • Children growing up bilingual reach dev language milestones at roughly the same time as monolingual kids do
      • Ex. onset of speaking, vocab size, word choice
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6
Q

types of billingualism

  • early bilingualism
  • simultaneous bilingualism
  • sequential billingualism
  • x
  • how often do bilinguals code switch
  • 2 main reasons why they code switch
  • x
  • equal bilingualism vs language dominance
  • which is more common
  • dominant language and accent
  • Dupoux et al 2010
    • method
      • 3 gps
      • what is being tested
      • prediction
    • Result
    • implication
A

Early and late bilingualisms

  • Early bilingualism: learn language early on
    • Simultaneous bilingualism: learn 2 languages at the same time (from birth)
    • Sequential bilingualism: L1 then L2
  • Both are successful if started early in life

Code switching

  • Bilinguals often switch language b/w sentences or even mid-sentence
    • Dad I want to go to 公園
    • Code switching
  • Bilinguals are not confused when they code switch
    • Norm
    • More efficient; May prefer code switch
    • 1 Younger bilinguals may not have translation equivalence for all words
    • 2 If parents don’t speak Eng, you are forced to speak their language -> retain that language

Language dominance

  • Even early bilinguals may be dominant in one of their 2 languages
    • Ex. Parts of Montreal both Eng and French are dominant -> equal bilingualism, still rare
  • In 1 language, a child may hv
    • Larger vocab
    • Higher performance on cog burdensome linguistic task
  • Being dominant in one language does not mean that a bilingual will always have an accent in other language
  • X
  • Dupoux et al 2010 tested 3 gps
    • Spanish monolinguals
    • French monolinguals
    • French-Spanish bilinguals
    • X
    • Tested on a Spanish linguistic distinction that does not exist in French
    • Prediction: Spanish perfect > French-Spanish > French shit
    • Results
      • French monolinguals shit
      • Spanish monolinguals did well
      • Some bilinguals did well, some shit
      • This depends on where they were from 0-2 yp
    • Black = Spanish = good
    • White = French = shit
    • The bilinguals
      • Show same distribution in Spanish and French monolinguals
      • If they lived in Spain as infants -> did good
      • If they lived in French as infants -> shit
    • Shows how early env/context/input matters
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