Theories of Child Language Acquisition

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Theories of Child Language Acquisition
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Imitation ReinforcementInnateness
Active construction of a grammar
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IMITATION

• Children learn language by imitating
  words/sentences spoken around them.
• True, but only in part.
• Cannot explain systematic errors children make-
  departures from adult forms.
• Cannot account for production (and perception) of
  novel utterances
• Cannot explain situation involving disability
  affecting ability to speak, which, once overcome,
  results in realization of what has been learned.

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Reinforcement

• Parents correction of errors-
• not as common as we think usually dont help.

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Innateness Hypothesis

• Children are born with, at minimum, the ability
  to acquire any language and, possibly, the actual
  knowledge of linguistic universals.
• Critical age hypothesis after an particular age
  is reached, acquisition of a language becomes
  much more difficult (if not impossible).
• Be familiar with support for / arguments against
  the Critical Age Hypothesis in its strongest form.

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Active construction of a grammar

• Ability to develop rules is innate
• Children construct the rules based on exposure to
  input from the adult language.
• These rules are built on and modified as a result
  of new input.

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PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL ACQUISTION
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(1) infant speech perception. Evidence from
studies.(2) early vocalizations crying,
cooing, etc. (3) BABBLING begins at 4 -6
months. Both vowels and consonants are produced,
often in short sequences. Canonical babbling
(7-10 months) occurs when syllables are repeated
in sequence. Variegated babbling (10-12 months)
occurs when different syllables occur in
sequence. functions cross-linguistic
tendencies
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(4) 10-12 months child is acquiring a variety of
speech sounds, including but not limited to those
occurring in the sound inventory of native
language. evidence that as first words begin to
appear, knowledge of phonemic system is not yet
intact.(5) 1.5 - 2 years becomes more
necessary for phonemes to be acquired in order to
be able to attribute meaning to random clustering
of sounds.
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Acquisition of phonology common views / points
of debate

• Perception and production
• Usefulness of relational vs. independent system
  accounts.
• Phonological universals and emergence of
  phonology.

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Order in which speech sounds are mastered
general trends...1 - vowels acquired before
consonants 2- stops acquired first among
consonants3- labials often acquired first and
interdentals last.4- new phonemic contrasts
manifest themselves first in word-initial
position first.
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COMMON PHONETICS PROCESSES IN CHILDRENS
SPEECH...1 - deletion 2- substitution3-
assimilation
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1. Deletion

• 1. stov ? tov sm?l ? m?l d?sk ? d?k
• s consonant sequences - delete s
• 2. tray ? tay brum ? bum sl?m ?s?m
• stop liquid - delete liquid
• 3. fr?m ? f?m slip ? sip
• fricative liquid delete liquid
• 4. b?mp ? b?p d?nt ? d?t
• nasal voiceless stop - delete nasal

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2. Substitution

• 1. lajn ? yajn rejk ? wejk l?f ? y?f
• gliding
• 2. si ? ti zibr? ? dibr?
• continuant becomes stop
• 3. bim ? bib pajn ? pajd
• denasalization

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3. Assimilation

• 1. t?l ? d?l p?g ? b?g sup ? zup
• voicing assimilation of initial consonants
• 2. dagi ? gagi s?lf ? f?lf bebi ? bibi
• total assimilation (vowel/consonant)

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Syllables

• In earliest stages maximally simple syllables
  tend to be produced (without codas, without
  clusters).
• Asymmetries between syllable-initial and syllable
  final position
• Unstressed syllable truncation is a common
  process.

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PERCEPTION v. PRODUCTION child's ability to
perceive phonemic contrast precedes their ability
to produce them.
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Relationship between stages of acquisition in
children and crosslinguistic grammars.

• Rules which present themselves in stages of child
  phonological development often resemble very
  closely those attested crosslinguistically in
  adult languages, even when absent from the adult
  language being learned.
• Do you find that this supports a particular
  theory of language acquisition?

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ONE EXAMPLE

• UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR SET OF UNIVERSAL CONSTRAINTS
• LANGUAGES DIFFER IN CONSTRAINT RANKINGS, RATHER
  THAN CONSTRAINTS THEMSELVES.
• LEARNING A PHONOLOGICAL GRAMMAR IS ALL ABOUT
  LEARNING THE RIGHT RANKING OF CONSTRAINTS.

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MORPHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
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Developmental sequence of nonlexical morphemes
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1. -ing2. plural -s3. possessive -s4. the,
a5. past tense -ed6. 3rd person sg. -s7.
auxiliary be
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What determines this sequence?

• FREQUENCY?
• Relative frequency of morphemes in child-directed
  speech
• 1. the/a 4. be auxiliary 7. ed (past)
• 2. ing 5. s (possessive)
• 3. s (plural) 6. s (3rd p. sg)

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Other possibilities

• 1. Word-position
• 2. Relationship b/t form and meaning
• 3. Syllabicity
• 4. Exceptions
• 5. Allophonic invariance
• 6. Identifiable functions/meanings

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SYNTACTIC DEVELOPMENT
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Stages of development1. One word stage
(holophrases) (1-1.5)2. Two word stage
(1.5-2)word order learned or not at this stage
(see evidence in text)3. Telegraphic speech
(2-2.5)
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Syntactic development specific examples of
gradual acquisition of adult constructions.QUEST
IONS stagesinversion in yes/no questions vs.
wh-questions.SEE FURTHER DISCUSSION IN BOOK
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Semantic development
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Rapid vocabulary expansionLargest category of
words in childs early vocabulary?How do
children guess meanings of unknown
words?Common semantic errors
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ACQUISTION OF MEANINGcommon errors include
undergeneralization, overgeneralization and
complexive concepts.After child acquires close
to 100 words, the overgeneralized meanings narrow
and the undergeneralized meanings extend.
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Later acquired concepts

• Relational terms
• Deictic expressions

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Types of Methods used in Language Acquisition
Research

• Naturalistic Approach
• Diary studies
• Experimental Studies
• Cross sectional vs. longitudinal studies
• Types of procedures used.
• KNOW THE ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES OF BOTH GENERAL
  APPROACHES