LIN 201

1
LIN 201

• Fall 2007
• Lecture VI (6)
• Language Acquisition I

2
Announcement

• Today, 200 PM to 340 PM, 114 HL, Barbara E.
  Bullock and Almeda Jacqueline Toribio (Penn
  State), Haitianized Spanish in the Dominican
  Republic Linguistic reality or racial
  profiling?

3

• Those who havent taken Quiz 1 yet because of the
  holiday must take it before Thursday. Please
  make arrangements by email or in person.

4
Reminders (1)

• Exam I one week from today (9/24) in class.
• Review Session, Thurs., 9/20, 200-320 PM, 104
  Physics Bldg.
• Review Materials, CR, pp. 45-50.

5
Reminders (2)

• The material this week will not be on Exam I. It
  will be on Exam II.

6
Agenda for today

• 1. Summary to this point.
• 2. Conclusion of A Special Brain
• 3. Child language.
• 4. Innateness.
• 5. (Non-)Mechanisms of acquisition.
• 6. Results of your answers to the questions about
  the boy and the trees from Recitation.
• 7. Videotape Playing the Language Game.

7
Agenda

• 1. Summary to this point.

8
Summary Language

• Knowledge Lexicon, Rules
• Use is stimulus-free
• Little instruction
• Autonomous module (not a part of general
  intelligence)
• Left hemisphere (Brca, Wrn)

9
Agenda

• 2. Video A Very Special Brain (Williams
  Syndrome) (concl.). Questions on p. 41-42 of the
  Course Reader.

10
Agenda

• 3. Child language.

11
Child language (24 mos.)

• Knowledge Lexicon, Rules.
• Use is stimulus-free.
• Little instruction.
• Autonomy (separate module) comparative speed of
  acquisition.
• Left hemisphere (though less clearly).

12
Agenda

• 4. Innateness.

13
The Nature/Nurture problem in psychology

• Nature what is innate or inborn.
• Nurture what is acquired on the basis of
  experience.

14
Innateness (1)

• Central question What aspects of linguistic
  competence are innate (inborn) and what aspects
  are acquired on the basis of experience? the
  Nature/Nurture problem with respect to
  linguistic competence.

15
Innateness (2)

• A given aspect of linguistic competence is either
  innate or it is learned on the basis of
  experience. If it couldnt have been learned on
  the basis of experience it must be innate.

16
Innateness (general)

• Claim Much of linguistic knowledge is innate.
• Evidence (1) Complexity of knowledge and
  earliness of acquisition (by age 4 years) with
  little effective instruction.

17
Agenda

• 5. (Non-)mechanisms of language acquisition.
• a. Imitation.
• b. Reinforcement.
• c. Analogy.
• d. Structured input.

18
a. Imitation

• Claim Language is not acquired entirely through
  imitation.
• Evidence FR.

19
b. Reinforcement (1)

• Definitions
• Positive reinforcement The child is rewarded
  for producing grammatical utterances.
• Negative reinforcement The child is corrected
  for producing ungrammatical utterances.

20
b. Reinforcement (2)

• Claim Acquisition of language is not due
  entirely to reinforcement.
• Evidence FR.

21
c. Analogy

• Claim Language acquisition is not due entirely
  to analogy.
• Evidence See FR, pp. 316-317 and the video
  Playing the language game.

22
d. Structured input (1)

• Claim Language acquisition is not due entirely
  to the (simplified) nature of input from the
  childs caretakers.
• Evidence FR.

23
Mechanisms Sum

• Imitation -- Plays some role but not sufficient
  for acquisition to take place.
• Reinforcement (correction) -- Insufficient.
• Analogy -- Insufficient.
• Structured input -- Insufficient.

24
Agenda

• 6. Results of Boy and trees experiment from
  Recitation.

25
Boy and trees (1)

• Story on p. 41 of the Course Reader.
• Description The boy said at night in the bath
  (that) he (had) hurt himself climbing trees in
  the afternoon

26
Boy and trees (2)

• Each of you was asked either one of two
  questions
• 1. When did the boy say he hurt himself? or
• 2. When did the boy say how he hurt himself?

27
Boy and trees (3)

• Results Answers
• bath after- Question noon
• say he 25 21
• say how he

28
Boy and trees (4)

• Result With respect to the mental grammar
  (competence) of English, the question without how
  is ambiguous (two possible answers).

29
Boy and trees (5)

• Results Answers
• bath after- Question noon
• say he 25 21
• say how he 40 3

30
Boy and trees (6)

• Result The question with how is not ambiguous
  (only one possible answer).

31
Boy and trees (7)

• Claim The difference between the sentence
  without how (ambiguous) and the sentence with how
  (not ambiguous) is innate (inborn).
• Evidence In the tape.

32
Agenda

• 7. Videotape Playing the Language Game.
  Questions on pp. 57-58 of the Course Reader.