essentials of l1 acquisition ss 2007. when does language acquisition begin?

Essentials of L1 Acquisition

SS 2007

When does language

acquisition begin?

Early speech production

1. crying, coughing, noises

2. babbling: babababa

Segmentation of the speech stream

• Phonological cues (e.g. pauses, intonation, stress)

• Distributional cues

bidtopt … ftulis … kji li optert …

Segmentation of the speech stream

ADULT: What’s that?

CHILD: That’s a nana.

How do children acquire their native language? My research focuses on the kinds of learning abilities required to master the complexities of language. Three broad issues characterize my work. One line of research asks what kinds of learning emerge in infancy. A second line of research probes the biases that shape human learning abilities, and the relationship between these biases and the structure of human languages. A third issue concerns the extent to which the learning abilities underlying this process are specifically tailored for language acquisition. Related research concerns infant music perception, and the relationship between music and language learning.

Early speech perception

English [ba] – [da]

Hindi [Ôa] – [ta]

Nthlakapmx [k’i] – [q’i]

Werker ánd Tees (1984)

German [Y] – [u]

Tür - Tour

Polka and Werker (1994)

Eraly speech perception

Japanese [l] – [r]

Tsushima et al. (1994)

Early speech perception

Phonemes are categories. Categories are mental constructs that underlie our perception of the world. There are everyday categories such as car and tree, and there are linguistic categories such as phonemes and noun phrases.

Early speech perception

What are categories good for?

Categories are shaped by experience: Every time a person encounters a particular entity it leaves a trace in memory.

Early speech perception

Emergence of phonemic categories

Emergence of phonemic categories

token cluster

attractor

Emergence of phonemic categories

/d/

/t/

attractor

Emergence of phonemic categories

/d/

/t/

Emergence of phonemic categories

attractor

/d/

/t/

Continuous perception

Categorical perception

Categorical perception

[p]

Categorical perception

Liberman 1957

[b]

VOT voice obset time

VOT voice obset time

VOT voice obset time

VOT voice obset time

Categorical perception

Categorization is predetermined by constraints

that coerce us to perceive continuous entities as

discrete categories.

Categorical perception

Eimas et al. 1971

Language is an instrument used to …

• express anger• ask a question• promise someone to do something• warn somebody

Pragmatic development

Language is learned in social interactions involving

three important components:

• speaker• hearer• things and events talked about

Pragmatic development

Bühler 1934 Organon Model

Pragmatic development

dyadic interactions

Pragmatic development

Triadic interactions

9-months revolution

Tomasello 1999

Pragmatic development

Lexical development

• People daddy, mommy, baby• Animals dog, kitty, bird, duck• Body parts eye, nose, ear• Food banana, juice, apple• Toys ball, balloon, book• Cloths shoe, sock, hat• Household objects bottle, keys, bath, spoon• Routines bye, hi, uh oh, night-night, no• Activities up, down, back• Sound imitating words woof, moo, ouch, baa baa, yum• Deictics that

Lexical development

1;2 – 1;3 First words

2;0 100-600 words

9-10 words a day

6;0 14,000 words

18;0 50,000 words

Vocabulary spurt

Symbolic nature of language

Onomatopoeica

buzz, murmur, hiss

cock-a-doodle-doo

Grammatical development

More car. 1;11

More that. 2;0

More cookie. 2;0

More fish. 2;1

More jump. 2;1

More Peter water. 2;4

Grammatical development

More car. 1;11

More that. 2;0

More cookie. 2;0

More fish. 2;1

More jump. 2;1

More Peter water. 2;4

Grammatical development

Block get-it. 2;3

Bottle get-it. 2;3

Mama get-it. 2;4

Towel get-it. 2;4

Dog get-it. 2;4

Books get-it. 2;5

Grammatical development

Spoon back. 2;2

Tiger back. 2;3

Give back. 2;3

Ball back. 2;3

Want ball back. 2;4

Lexically-specific constructions

More __ .

__ get-it.

__ back.

Lexically-specific constructions

No bed. 1;11

No bread. 2;0

No eat. 2;2

No milk. 2;2

No apple juice. 2;5

Lexically-specific constructions

Clock on there. 2;2

Up on there. 2;2

Hot in there. 2;2

Milk in there. 2;4

Water in there 2;5

Lexically-specific constructions

All broke. 2;0All buttened. 2;3All clean. 2;4All done. 2;4All gone milk. 2;2All gone shoe. 2;2All gone juice. 2;2All gone bear. 2;3

Lexically-specific constructions

Dat Daddy. 2;0

Dat’s Weezer. 2;0

Dat my chair. 2;1

Dat’s him. 2;1

Dat’s a paper too. 2;4

That’s too little for me. 2;9

Lexically-specific constructions

Rote

learning System

building

Item-specific

constructions

Errors

• Errors of omission

• Errors of commission

Errors of omission

Run away. 1;11

Drink milk. 1;11

Touch duck. 2;0

Wanna apple 2;0

Errors of omission

Put __ in there. 1;11

Take __ away. 1;11

Push __ in there. 2;0

Kimmy do __. 2;1

Put __ on. 2;1

Errors of comission

buy buyed

hit hitted

bring bringed

go goed (wented)

foot foots (feets)

child(ren) childrens

Errors of comission

Ritter RittersZettel ZettelsSchlüssel SchlüsselnElefant ElefäntenArzt ÄrztenBruder BrudernEsel EselsBall BällerBild Bildern

Overgeneralizations (2%)

correct (2,6) correct (3;5)

U-shaped development