应用语言学chpt4FirstLanguageacquisition

1、First Language Acquisition First Language acquisition: a complex task for the child Stages of first language acquisition Key Issues concerning First Language Acquisition How children accomplish early mastery of L1(s)? Lead-in example: Mother: Where did you go with Grandpa? Child (3 ys.): We goed in

2、the park. Do you think it is a difficult job for a child to finish the dialogue?To segment the sound stream into meaningful units (words or phrases) - analyze.To combine them to arrive at the intended propositions - synthesize.To understand the question and produce appropriate utterance.General know

3、ledge of English grammar and semantics Try to see if you can understand the following utterances? Dedenlenereyegittinsen? (Turkish) Niselifanmau? (Hakka) Where did you go with Grandpa? 你吃饭了吗？你吃饭了吗？ The study of first language acquisition has great significance in that it can shed light on the origin

4、s of human language and language loss, etc. Prelinguistic Stage One-word Stage Two-word Stage Telegraphic Stage 电报式言语电报式言语 Fine-tuning Stage Prelinguistic Sounds 1 M. Intonational (语调) patterns 2-5 M. Cooing (咕咕) stage 5-12 M. Babbling (咿呀声) stageBy 6 Ms: able to distinguish all the Vs and most of t

5、he Cs of the worlds languages Language input enable them to discriminate among phonemes in his L1 and to disregard others. eg: Chinese children: ph (怕) p (爸) American children: pig big One-word Stage (holophrastic) (单词句的单词句的) 1 yr. emergence of first word 1 yr., 6 mos. Holophrastic stage Eg: Milk (I

6、 want milk.) Daddy (I see Daddy.) Two-word Stage （ 2 yrs. ）Two words; Content words, no function wordsEg: Mama book. Toy mine. Milk me. Sock pretty.双词句可以表示不同的语义关系和功能，如Mama Book 可表示以下语义： This is Mamas book. Mama gave me the book. Mama is reading a book. Telegraphic Stage 电报式言语；多语句电报式言语；多语句阶段阶段 （2 yrs

7、., 6 M） 2-5 words with little extra morphology Morphological overgeneralization Easier, more productive morphemes first Cathy build house. Cat stand up table. Daddy like this book. Chair all broken. I good boy today. What that? What her name? No sit there. Mummy no play. Me put it back. Baby no eat

8、appleFine-tuning (5-10 yrs.) - Refining grammar, building vocabulary - most of the basic L1 grammatical patternsComplex grammatical patterns continue to develop throughout the school years. Competence or performance Comprehension or production Nature or nurture Imitation or creative hypothesis-testi

9、ng Competence vs. performance (Chomsky) ：语言能力和语言使用 Langue vs. parole (Saussure) ：语言和：语言和言语言语 What are the similarity and difference between the two pairs of contrast? 共性共性：这两组区分都关注了抽象的语言系统（competence和langue）。 差异：差异：语言能力（competence）和语言使用（performance）的区别是从心理学角度研究学习者的语言能力和运用； 语言（langue）和言语(parole)的区别是从

10、社会学角度而言，前者为某一语言社区共有的语法体系，后者为个人具体使用的言语。 张三在大二时的英语水平对应_ 张三今天上课回答老师问题时犯了不少时态错误，但是做专四题目的时候很少犯时态错误，这是_ 方面的问题competenceperformance 在_中，张三说的“我”是指张三，李四说的“我”是指李四； 在_中，“我”既不是指张三也不是指李四，而是指说话人。Parole (言语言语)Langue(语言语言) 理论语言学家关注语言能力语言能力 社会语言学家关注语言使用语言使用 心理语言学家（儿童语言习得）要从学习者的语言使用情况来研究/推断其语言能力 （the process which li

11、nks childs performance to competence） Both fall into the scope of psychology and psycholinguistics. Production: easier, observable Comprehension: more difficult; can only be inferred Nature: innate faculty / inborn knowledge Nurture: environment / sensory experienceTraditional view: imitation Struct

12、uralism: uniqueness of languagesChomskyan view: Creative Hypothesis-testingUniversal Grammar :Universality of languages Do you think human languages are unique or universal? Do you think imitation is a very important way in first language learning? What about second language learning? Slobin的语言共同限制(

13、P43-44; 3 points) 人类语言的共性 （P44， 第二段） 儿童语言习得的共同特点 （P44-45， 5 points） 人类语言共性的证据不少，例如： 1. 几乎所有语言都是SVO,SOV,VSO中的一种 2.复数形式和否定形式分别比单数，肯定形式复杂1.意思一样的情况下，后置词比前置词更易于习得。(pay attention to the end) e.g. “a six-year-old boy” vs. “The boy is six years old.” 2.语言标记的四阶段：儿童先掌握语言中的无标记成分，然后再有限的情况下使用合适的标记，接着出现对标记的过分概括，最

14、后达到成人的系统e.g.: “go” - “went” as a word-“goed” as the past form of “go”- “went” as the past form of “go3. 若一语法系统的语义成分和表现形式之间有紧密的一一对应关系，它便能更早习得。e.g. “-s” (as in books, desks) vs. “men” & “feet”4. 当多个屈折方式行使同样的语义功能，且其形式选择具有任意性时，儿童起初会用简单的形式来代替一切。e.g.: “-ed” is used for irregular verbs5.语义上一致的语法规则习得早，错

15、误少 e.g. 幼儿几乎从来不会把 “-ing”形式用在静态动词上，犯“Shes knowing the answer.”之类的错误。10. Contractible Copula (系动词)11. Contractible Progressive Auxiliary 12. Future Conditional 13. Passive 14. Past Auxiliary1. Present Progressive 2. Plural 3. Past Irregular 4. Possessive Inflection 5. Uncontractible Copula 6. Past Reg

16、ular 7. Third Person Regular 8. Third Person Irregular9. Uncontractible Progressive Auxiliary Order of acquisition of English (L1) inflectional morphemes - Roger Brown, 1973Explanation 1: a natural desire to please their parents. Explanation 2: an urge to communicate their wants and needs to the peo

17、ple around them. Explanation 3: by imitation (Behavioristic Theories) Explanation 4: born with a natural ability to learn language (Nativist Theory).Explanation 5: the result of cognitive development (Cognitive theory)For Explanation 1: Children of even relatively indifferent parents successfully ac

18、quire language at the same rate.For Explanation 2: With childrens limited sphere of activity, communicative needs seem to be largely satisfied by gestures and such non-speech sounds as cries, grunts or squeals. 行为主义的语言习得理论源于行为主义的语言习得理论源于19世纪俄生世纪俄生理学家巴普洛夫（理学家巴普洛夫（Pavlov）的经典性条件）的经典性条件反射理论和美国心理学家华生反射理论

19、和美国心理学家华生(Waston)的的行为主义心里学理论。行为主义心里学理论。 该理论在该理论在20世纪世纪20-50年代曾风靡一时，此年代曾风靡一时，此后有关的学者将这种理论发展成为新行为后有关的学者将这种理论发展成为新行为主义。主义。 刺激一反应论是行为主义理论的基础。行为主义理论主张对人类行为进行客观的研究，强调采用严格的科学方法，研究可观察到的行为。通过条件作用，人们建立起刺激与反应之间的联系，复杂的行为是通过建立一系列的反应而学会的。行为主义理论将语言视为一种人类行为，认为语言这种行为跟人类的其他行为一样，是通过习惯的养成而学会的。 Imitation-reinforcement t

20、heories 模仿模仿-强化学习论强化学习论 Mediation theories 传递论传递论/中介论中介论 语言的发展始于幼儿最初发出的一些偶然的试验性的声音，幼儿这些早期的声音由幼儿的父母有区别地加以强化。这样，那些不是幼儿母语中的音位逐渐从他的发音中消失，而那些属于幼儿母语的特征的声音由于得到父母的强化而成为幼儿发音中主要的声音。 与此同时，幼儿父母发的声音对幼儿就成了次级强化物(比如父母在喂哺时跟婴幼儿交谈时的声音)。随着父母声音中的强化值增大并且成为儿童自己的发音时，儿童发出的声音的自身也变成了强化物。正是父母的直接强化加上幼儿的自身强化使得他们逐步掌握各种音位、音节直至词语；复

21、杂的句子和语法结构也是通过不断强化和累积而逐步习得的。 1. 婴儿偶然地发出m声后，父母就笑着过来抱他，“抱”这个动作就强化了婴儿发m这种言语行为。 2.小孩听到”Buy the bread” “eat the food” “Drive the car” 这样的句子，他就学会在什么条件下用 定冠词the，并且还通过条件发射学会吧the 跟后面的词联系起来，学会the出现在名词和形容词前面，而不是代词、动词等的前面。 在模仿一强化论者看来，儿童习得母语主要经过模仿一强化一重复一成形四个步骤。儿童学习语言就是对环境或是成人的话语作出合适的反应。如果反应是正确的，成人会给予物质的或口头的鼓励，儿童使

22、自己的言语行为得到强化，并进行重复，由此形成语言习惯。儿童正是通过这种“行为的塑造”逐渐培养起正确的语言习惯的。 刺激一反应论反对人类言语活动的任何内部事件，坚持认为言语行为的实际起因依赖于特定情境中所产生的特定言语反应之后的强化刺激。但实际上人类很多的言语行为并没有直接的可观察到的外部刺激和强化过程，同时，还有许多言语也并没有产生可观察到的外部反应。传递论就是为了弥补行为主义早期的刺激一反应理论不足而提出的一种理论。Mediation theory (传递理论传递理论), in which meaning was accounted for by the claim that the lin

23、guistic stimulus (a word or sentence) elicits a “mediating” response that is self-stimulating. An example by O.H.MowrerTom is a thief.有关小偷性质的联想看管好自己的钱包听到Tom就联想到小偷Mediation System外显刺激外显刺激隐含刺激隐含刺激隐含反应隐含反应外显反应外显反应 传递论的学者认为，语言能力的发展是一系列刺激一反应的连锁和结合。言语行为中的词、句都具有刺激的性质，可诱发出条件反应。一种反应又产生出另一种刺激，而后再诱发另外一种条件反应，如此

24、循环形成一个“刺激一中介过程一反应”链。 儿童通过模仿和选择性强化训练最初习得了某个词，该词因为与环境结合而成为以后习得其他词的刺激，从而使儿童习得下一个词，这样便形成了一个儿童习得词汇的线形词语链。儿童对句法结构的习得过程也与词汇习得一样。 以乔姆斯基为首的心灵主义学派认为，这种以乔姆斯基为首的心灵主义学派认为，这种理论在解释儿童语言习得上存在着严重问题理论在解释儿童语言习得上存在着严重问题。 强化只是影响儿童语言发展的一种而非决定性因素。且由于语言单位和规则的生成性，成人不可能对儿童的每一个言语行为都做出反应或鼓励。 强化几乎都是针对儿童话语的内容，而非其语法正确性。例:一儿童在描写一幅女

25、孩的图画时说“He a girl，便会得到父母的强化；如果他说成“He a boy”，便会为父母所改正。2. 强化论也不能解释儿童语言习得的惊人速度。(一个智力发育正常的儿童在5岁左右就能够基本上掌握母语中的复杂的语言结构)3. 强化论和传递论都不能解释儿童语言习得的创造性。儿童在其“语言接触”过程中，能够听懂无限多的句子，说出从未听到过的话Cookies are gooder than bread. Bill taked the toy. We goed to the store. Dont giggle me. Several facts of L1 acquisition:1. begi

26、nning at the same age, in much the same way, regardless of different languages.2. ending at the same age and with the same ability (basic phonological and grammatical operations in L1)3. childrens L1 knowledge input (the poverty-of-stimulus argument): a. simplified input complex linguistic competenc

27、e b. a finite subset of grammatical sentences general principles and constraints allowing for an infinite number of sentences c. children only get positive evidence, but no negative evidence. Positive evidence is evidence that a particular utterance is grammatical in the language that the child is l

28、earning. Negative evidence refers to information about which strings of words are not grammatical sentences in the language, such as corrections or other forms of feedback from a parent that tell the child that one of his or her utterances is ungrammatical.4. Children can understand and create novel

29、 utterances; their utterances are systematically different from those of the adultsChild: Pancakes away. Duh Duh stomach.Child: Daddy goed to work.例：吉妮，一个美国女孩，出生后的第20个月起即被父亲单独囚禁起来与世人隔绝。吉妮于13岁半被人解救出来之前，失去了语言习得的机会。由于过了语言习得临界期后开始学习母语，一直不能完全习得英语。 Children: limited memories, restricted reasoning powers a

30、nd nonexistent analytical abilities; perfect fluency Adults: superior intellectual powers; fossilization of L2 learning Children with superior intelligence do not necessarily begin to speak earlier or with better resultsExample of EinsteinEg: As he was a late talker, his parents were worried. At las

31、t, at the supper table one night, he broke his silence to say, The soup is too hot.“ Greatly relieved, his parents asked why he had never said a word before. Albert replied, Because up to now everything was in order. Born with LAD Certain amount of environmental stimuliFrom UGPG Universal Grammar is

32、 in the human brain. -Primary state Particular Grammar is acquired through study. - Mature state McNeill(1966)-LAD 由以下部分组成由以下部分组成a. 把语音和环境中别的声音区别开来的能力b.将语言事件进行分类，并对分类进行改进的能力c. 与语言系统的制约条件相关的知识d.能不断地做出评估并从接触的语料中建构出尽可能简单的系统。LAD notion is expanded into a system of universal linguistic rules (UG) that go

33、 beyond what was originally proposed for LAD.UG is the theory of the initial state of the faculty of language.The study of UG seek to determine what are the properties of language; its principles and parameters.UG research is to discover what children bring to the language acquisition process regardless of their environmental stimuli.1. Childrens language development is a gradual process of acquiring a more and more complex set of structures and rules for combining them. Hence its poss