语言学概论第十章Language Acquisition

1、Chapter 10 Language acquisition 名字。名字。Definition:lLanguage acquisition-refers to the childs acquisition of his mother tongue, i.e. how the child comes to understand and speak the language of his community. it refers to first language not second language acquisionlChildren all over the world learn to

2、 speak at about the same time unless they suffer from extreme external deficiency.l How do children accomplish this?l What enable children to learn words and string them together into meaningful sentence?l What facilitate children to develop the grammatical system of their language?l What help them

3、to achieve the communicative competence using the language to express their various needs?Discussion!differences between the term of acquisition and learning 语言习得：通常指在自然的语言环境中，通过旨在沟通意义的言语交际活动，不自觉地，自然地掌握或获得第一语言。典型的例子是儿童习得第一语言。 语言学习：通常指在学校环境下，有专门的教师指导，严格按照教学大纲和课本，通过讲解，练习，记忆等活动，有计划，有系统，有意识地对语言规则的掌握。典型的

4、例子是成人在学校学习第二语言。example: Mathematics？ the subject Mathematics is learned, not acquired.Three main theories of child language acquisitionthe behaviorist view 行为主义理论行为主义理论the innatist view 语法积极天生主义理论语法积极天生主义理论the interactionist view 互动主义理论互动主义理论 the focus of their debate is whether the innate ability o

5、r the language environment plays a crucial role in the process of a childs language acquisition.Three main different theories concerning how language is learnedBehaviorist viewInnatist viewInteractionist viewthe behaviorist（行为主义论）lproposed by B.F.Skinners(斯金纳)lTraditional behaviorists view language

6、as behavior and believe that language learning is simply a matter of imitation and habit formation. Imitation Recognition Reinforcement (gradually, habit-forming)A behaviorist view of language acquisitionl Children do not imitate adults speech in much the same way as parrots do, they imitate words s

7、electively and according to their own understanding of the words or patterns, which is based on what the children have already known instead of what is “available” in the environment.l Sometimes children are very much in charge of the conversation and activities with adults, children seem to pick ou

8、t patterns and generalize them to new contexts. They create new forms or new uses of words, until they finally figure out how the forms are used by adults.advantages although the behaviorist view is under challenge and criticism because of its inadequacy, but it seems to be reasonable in some degree

9、. for example, childrens learning of a language needs immitation and reinforcememt; its necessary to form certain habit in order to master a language.disadvantages it fails to explain how children acquire more complex grammatical structures of the language.Examples: a. Johnis mother loves himi,j.b.

10、* Hei loves Johnis mother.c. Hisi, mother loves Johni. The inadequacy of behaviorist view lies in the fact that children do not imitate adults language in much the same way as parrots do. the innatist view（语法天生主义论）proposed by Chomsky According to the innatist view of language acquisition, human bein

11、gs are biologically programmed for language.An innatist view of language acquisitionl 1st: All children virtually learn their native language which is so complicated at almost the same time.l 2nd: Children successfully master the basic structure of their language or dialect in various conditions.l 3

12、rd: The language children exposed to may not contain examples of all the information which they eventually know.lAccording to the innatist view of language acquisition, human beings are biologically programmed for language and that the language develops in the child just as other biological function

13、s such as walking. LAD-language acquisition deviceLAD 语言习得机制lChomsky referred to the innate language ability as language acquisition device (LAD). lThe Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a postulated “organ” of the brain that is supposed to function as a inborn device for language acquisition.Lang

14、uage Acquisition Device (LAD)l According to Chomsky, there are aspects of linguistic organization that are basic to the human brain and that make it possible for children to acquire linguistic competence in all its complexity with little instruction from family or friends. He argues that LAD probabl

15、y consists of three elements: a hypothesis-maker, linguistic universal, and an evaluation procedure.UG普遍语法lLater Chomsky refers to this innate endowment天资 as Universal Grammar. lUniversal Grammar includes a set of principles which can be used to explain child language acquisition.lUG is an endowment

16、 that all children are born with. If children are pre-equipped with UG, then what they have to learn is the way in which their own language makes use of these principles. An innatist view of language acquisitionl TG(Transformational-Generative )grammar sees language as a system of innate rules. A na

17、tive speaker possesses a linguistic competence, or a language acquisition device. l Although Chomsky does not intend to make his model a representation of performance, i.e., the language actually used in communication, applied linguistics find TG grammar useful in certain aspects. l This view serves

18、 as an answer to the logical problem of language acquisition that the behaviorist view fails to recognize.Logical Problem of Language Acquisition逻辑问题逻辑问题lThe logical problem refers to the fact that children come to know more about their language than what they could reasonably be expected to learn f

19、rom their living environment. lso,when exposed to confsing information or when guidance or correction is not avalable, children can discover for themselves the ultimate rules of the language system.examplesJohn saw himself.Himself saw John.(the reflexive pronoun must follow the noun it refers to)loo

20、king at himself bores John.John said that Fred liked himself.John said that Fred lke himself.(the closest noun phrase uaually be the antecedent )John promised Bill to wash himself.Merit & DeficiencylMerit: in a way serves as an answer to the logical problem of language acquisition that the behav

21、iorist view fails to recognize.lDeficiency: no evidence about what the UG( universal grammar) is and how does it work. interactionist view互动主义理论互动主义理论lThe interactionist view holds that language develops as a result of the complex interplay between the human characteristics of the child （儿童身上的人类特点）（

22、儿童身上的人类特点）and the environment in which the child develops. lThe interactionist theory emphasizes the importance of the interaction between biological and social (nature and nurture) aspects of language acquisition. An inter-actionist view of language acquisitionl Adults speak differently when talkin

23、g to little children: (i.e., motherese, or child-directed-speech (CDS), or caretaker talk, to make themselves understood by children.)l Characteristics:l 1.Slow rate of speechl 2.High pitchl 3.Rich intonationl 4.Shorter and simpler sentence structuresl 5.Frequent repetitionl 6.Paraphrasing and limit

24、ed vocabularyl In addition,topics closely related to “here and now” environment.l The comprehensible language samples exposed to children are important, only when conversation provide the right level of language that children are capable of processing can they facilitate childrens language acquisiti

25、on, otherwise, it is insufficient for children to learn the languages structure.conclusion lIt is important for children to be exposed to comprehensible language. The interactionist view calls for the quality of the language samples available in the linguistic environment, only when the language is

26、modified and adjusted to the level of childrens comprehension, do they process and internalize the language items. Summary of these three theorieslThe behaviorist view sounds reasonable in explaining the routine aspectslthe innatist accounts most plausible in explaining childrens acquiring complex s

27、ystemlthe interactionist description is convincing in understanding how children learn and use the language appropriately from their environment Cognitive factors in child language development l1) Language development is dependent on both the concepts (children form) about the world and what they fe

28、el stimulated to communicate at the early and later stages of their language development. l Cognitive factors in child language developmentl2.The cognitive factors determine how the child makes sense of the linguistic system himself instead of what meanings the child perceives and expresses. Cogniti

29、ve factors in child language developmentlMany careful studies of childrens acquisition sequences and errors in various languages have revealed that: Children have some “operating principles” for making sense of language data.The acquisition of negative forml 1. At first, the negative element is not

30、part of the structure of the sentence, its simply attached to the beginning or end，as in:l No singing song.l No the sun shining.The acquisition of negative forml 2. The negative element is inserted into the sentence, instead of no or not, children may use dont or cant, but they do not yet inflect th

31、ese for different persons or tenses:l I no want envelope.l he no bite you.l He dons want it.The acquisition of negative forml 3. Children begin to produce the appropriate part of do, be or the model verbs, to suit the person or tense:l you dont want some supper.l Paul didnt laugh.l I am not a doctor

32、.The acquisition of negative forml It demonstrates that in the course of acquiring the native language:l 1st: children seem to look initially for a system which is rule-governed in a consistent way.l 2ed: then a system in which the clues to meaning are clearly displayed.l 3rd: finally the one in whi

33、ch each item or distinction has a definite function in communicative meaning.Language environment l Two important factors in language acquisition theories: the linguistic environment children are exposed to and the age they start to learn the language. they bear remarkable relevance to their languag

34、e development.l In behaviorist approach, language environment plays a major role in providing both language models to be imitated and necessary feedbacks. (the positive reinforcement or reward encourages childrens efforts and facilitates the correct learning while the negative feedback discourages c

35、hildren to repeat the “mistakes”)l The innatist view emphasizes more on childrens internal processing of the language items to be learnt. The environment functions as a stimulus that triggers and activates the pre-equipped UG to process the materials provided by the linguistic environment around the

36、 children.l The interactionist view calls for the quality of the language samples available in the linguistic environment, only when the language is modified and adjusted to the level of childrens comprehension, do they process and internalize the language items. l Childrens ability to develop norma

37、l behaviors and knowledge in environment doesnt continue indefinitely and that children who have never learnt language for various reasons cannot return to normal if these deprivations go on for too long.l lEric Lenneberg, a biologist, argues that the LAD, like other biological functions, works succ

38、essfully only when it is stimulated at the right time - a specific and limited time period for language acquisition.Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) l The strong version of CPH suggests that children must acquire their first language by puberty or they will never be able to learn from subsequent exp

39、osure.l The weak version holds that language learning will be more difficult and incomplete after puberty. (Supported in Victors and Genies cases) There are two versions of the CPH.l Despite the above mentioned differences, there are consensus that have been reached that there is a critical period f

40、or first language acquisition. This is proved by the recent natural experiments conducted by Elissa Newport and her colleagues (1990) on 3 groups of deaf sign users;l Their research results showed that the native signers outperform both the early signers and the later signers and were highly consist

41、ent in their use of grammatical forms. 10.5 Stages in child language development l1st: Phonological development lChildren are born with an ability to discriminate and produce sounds and the acquisition of sounds is universal across all culture and languages, the sequence in which the sounds are acqu

42、ired works like a system of pre-requisites, i.e., the child must pass each stage before he can proceed to the next one.2nd: Vocabulary development Children do not learn the meaning of a word “all at once”, when a child learns a new word, he may well under-extend or over-extend it. 1) Under-extension

43、 (birds are not animals) 2) Over-extension (the extension of categories or analogies, of family resemblances) 3) Lexical Contrast (children have conventional words for things, they use conventional words for something else when a proper word is available, then they contrast it with other words.) 4)

44、Prototype theory (children may begin a word with a prototype and extend its features later.)3rd: Grammatical development l 1) Telegraphic speech(content words, lacking of function element, no syntactic or morphological markers, i.e. no use of inflections for number, person or tense, etc, around the

45、age of 2. their noun+noun can be equal to a number of different grammatical relations which will be expressed later by other syntactic devices. e.g., Mommy sock) 2) Sentences of three main elements (the grasp of principles for sentence formation, e.g., daddy kick ball.)Grammatical developmentl As ch

46、ildren learn vocabulary they are also learning morpho-syntax rules or grammar.l Children acquire their first morphemes in a predictable order, which is to a large extent determined by the linguistic complexity rather than the frequency of input.l Childrens learning of question construction:l 1. using a question intonation: a rising pitch at the end of the sentence.l 2. children merely “take on” a question word in front of the sentence without changi