language acquisition under challanging circumstancesarmonls/500/500_first_words.doc · web...

Dr. Sharon Armon-LotemFirst words

First words: Form, content, rate and the vocabulary spurt.

Reading: Kim M, McGregor K.K, Thompson C.K. 2000. Early lexical development in English- and Korean-speaking children: language-general and language-specific patterns. J Child Lang. 27(2):225-54.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoD-wwTu4dA&feature=related

First 50 Words of 1 Israeli girl (Keren) - in Order of Acquisition

From: Dromi, E. 1987. Early Lexical Development. Cambridge UP.

Word Gloss Word Gloss1 buba doll 26 baat = taba'at ring2 myau = xatul cat 27 nadned swing3 dubi teddy 28 mayim water4 tutu = rakevet train 29 ken yes5 ia = xamor donkey 30 nyar paper6 hupa for contact 31 apit spoon7 hine here 32 cet go out, get out8 cifcif = cipor bird 33 uga cake, cookie9 tiktak = sha'on clock 34 dod uncle = man10 ima Mommy 35 etze this, it11 pil elephant 36 et pen12 mu = para cow 37 od more, another13 pisa = peca sore 38 day enough! no more14 toda thanks 39 imaima unclear15 oto = mxonit car 40 tik bag, purse16 bamba pretzel 41 boi(li) come (to me)17 aba Daddy 42 mita bed18 am = oxel eating 43 . nuf = yanshuf owl19 haw = kelev dog 44 laa)mod (to) stand, get up20 kaki poop 45 te tea21 ze this, it 46 xam hot22 ix = fuya yucky 47 nok = tinok baby23 en allgone 48 noranora = meod,nora very24 apchi = lehitatesh sneeze 49 kuku peekaboo25 or light 50 kax take, Masc. Sg. Imp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoD-wwTu4dA&feature=related

Dr. Sharon Armon-LotemFirst Words

What is a word?

From comprehensible words to meaningful words

Consistent phonetic shape similar in many cases to the adult phonetic shape Consistent use in similar though not identical contexts Repeated production until an adequate response is achieved Use of gestures (in a schema) Consistent feedback

Meaningful words have similar meaning in the child and the adult lexicon

Early lexical acquisition: content

People Animals Food Body parts Clothing Vehicles Household items Space and motion Social routines Activities

Keren’s full sample of 337 words (based on repeated use in similar contexts) falls into the following categories: words for objects (59%) including names and all other nouns, activities (14%), adjectives (4%), social routines (7%), unclassified words for which the category is not obvious (16%). Are the proportions the same for the first 50 words?

The unclassified words take a bigger chunk at the beginning.

How many of the first 10 words belong to each category? Of the first 20 words?

Horizontal vs. vertical acquisition.

At the beginning of the one-word phase, children show a tendency to acquire words of different semantic fields – horizontal acquisition. Later on, they add words of the same semantic field – vertical acquisition.

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First 50 Words of 3 American Children - in Order of Acquisition From: Stoel-Gammon, C. & J. Cooper, 1984. Patterns of early lexical and phonological development. Journal Child Language 11: 247-272, Table 4

Daniel Will Sarah12;2 - 16;2 11;0 - 16;2 12;2 - 19;01 light 26 nose 1 baby 26 apple 1 uh-oh 26 ticktock2 uh-oh 27 fire 2 mommy 27 nose 2 alldone 27 ball3 wha that 28 hot 3 doggie 28 bird 3 light 28 go4 wow 29 yoghourt 4 juice 29 alldone 4 down 29 bump5 banana 30 pee-pee 5 bye-bye 30 orange 5 shoes 30 pop-pop =

fire6 kitty 31 juice 6 daddy 31 bottle 6 baby 31 out7 baby 32 ball 7 milk 32 coat 7 don't throw 32 hee-haw8 moo 33 wack-wack 8 cracker 33 hot 8 moo 33 eat9 quack 34 frog 9 done 34 bib 9 bite 34 neigh10 cookie 35 hello 10 ball 35 hat 10 three 35 meow11 nice 36 yuk 11 shoe 36 more 11 hi 36 sit12 rock [N] 37 aoole 12 teddy 37 ear 12 cheese 37 woof-woof13 clock 38 Big Bird 13 book 38 nitenite 13 up 38 bah14 sock 39 walk 14 kitty 39 paper 14 quack-quack 39 hoo-hoo =

owl15 woof-woof 40 Ernie 15 hi 40 toast 15 oink-oink 40 bee16 daddy 41 horse 16 Alex 41 O'Toole 16 coat 41 tree17 bubble 42 more 17 no (no) 42 bath 17 beep-beep 42 mi-mi =

ferry18 hi 43 mommy 18 door 43 down 18 keys 43 ss = snake19 shoe 44 bunny 19 dolly 44 duck 19 cycle 44 ooh-ooh =

monkey20 up 45 my 20 wha tha 45 leaf 20 mama 45 yack-yack

=talk21 bye-bye 46 nut 21 cheese 46 cookie 21 daddy 46 hohoho =

Santa22 bottle 47 orange 22 oh wow 47 lake 22 siren sound 47 bye bye23 no 48 block 23 oh 48 car 23 grr 48 doll24 rocky [V] 49 nite-nit 24 button 49 rock 24 more 49 kite25 eye 50 milk 25 eye 50 box 25 off 50 Muriel

Which word category is most frequent? Why?

Is this the same in all languages?

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Kim M, McGregor K.K, Thompson C.K. 2000. Early lexical development in English- and Korean-speaking children: language-general and language-specific patterns. J Child Lang. 27(2):225-54.

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How is word meaning acquired?

Reading: Markman, E. M. 1994. Constraints on word meaning in early language acquisition. Lingua 92, 199-227

Sources of information:

Grammatical form class

Inference from communicative intent

Meticulous (careful) caregiver

Word learning constraints

Word learning constraints

Taxonomic - terms refer to entities of the same kind (rather than to the thematic relation between objects) – the labeling gamehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYSu1y2dFtI&feature=related

Whole object – a novel label refers to an object rather than its parts

Mutual exclusivity – one label for each object – motivates reference to parts and properties and overrides the taxonomic assumption leading to proper names

These constraints are modulated by nonlinguistic context, by children problem solving and processing abilities and by the pragmatics and syntax of the language. The constraints are default assumptions – probabilistic biases that provide a good first guess. These are constraints as part of a theory of learning rather than internal constraints a-la UG. As such they are not special purpose mechanisms.

Processes in meaning development

Regular extension

Underextension

Overextension

Unclassified – context bound

Dromi: 212 out of 337 showed regular extension at some point. 98 of the 212 were regular all along. At the beginning, words move from one category to another. Later acquisitions were more regular.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYSu1y2dFtI&feature=related


First words of a bilingual child (Shelli) – classified From: Berman, R. 1977. The role of proper nouns at the one-word stage. TAU ms. Berman, R. 1978. Early verbs. International Journal Psycholinguistics 5: 21-29Age People Nursery words Other

Word Gloss Word Gloss Word Gloss18 mos idzi = Itsi father alo = hello phone am =

xamhot

uti= Ruti mother shshsh sleeping doi dog, Dollylala= Lela sister dyo horsieback lo ~ now noaba Daddy xxxx animals in book oto car, tractor, busDadi = David

Daddy, cousin

grgrgr airplane (category-label)

haw-haw dog, horse, etc.19;0 aba ~ idzi buw 'moo' bo come ms. Imp.

Mimi cousin haw dog (d)ubi teddyBele Yonti, dyo camel, horsie kele(v) dogeli/ali = Shelly

self xexexexe cat inne here [deictic]

miyi = Miri

sitter Oyi! surprise lililili give me

li to-mebu bookdo doll

19;15 ima ~ uti mother i?o donkey uki cookieaba only her

Dadkuku cock ke(n) yes

upala all-fall-down20 digdi tickle oto ship (in picture)

(n)umi sleepies pele pelicanbay-baydele(t) door, openkxi take, Fem. Imp

20;15 Sya = Siya

dog kuku peekaboo zuzi move, Fem. Imp

Koko dog zse wanting(Shar)on cousin hine when asked

where X is(R)oni cousin od moreeli ~ ali self in

mirrorsay outside

may(im) Water (category) tap, sprinkler, bottle, coffee, bath

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Early lexical acquisition: rate & the vocabulary spurt

Dromi, E. 1986. The one-word period as a stage in language development. In I. Levin (ed.) Stages and Structure: Reopenning the Debate. Ablex. 220-245

Figures 1 and 2

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Clark, E. V. 1994. The Lexicon in Acquisition. Cambridge University Press.

Figures 2-3 and 2-4

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Reading: Goldfield, B. A. and J. S. Reznick. 1990. Early lexical acquisition: rate, content, and the vocabulary spurt. Journal of Child Language 17, 171-183

Figures 4 and 5

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Dromi (1986): Lexicon: 337 words Age: 0;10,12 - 1;5,23 Beginning: words enter very slowly up to around 10 words 10th-21st week: up to 10 words a week 21st-24th week: 18 words a week. 25th: 44 new words – vocabulary spurt A decline from week 28th and on. Word combinations emerge on week 32 Two smaller bells with picks at weeks 11 and 21 The rate is curvilinear.

Clark (1994):

Lexicon: 337 words

Age: 1;0,10 - 1;9,24

Beginning: 1 to 7 words a week

12th-25th: 5 to 12 words a week

26th-41st: 10 to 20 words a week

Smaller picks all along, but no one spurt

Word combinations emerge on week 9 and increase gradually until week 29

A spurt of word combinations starting on week 29

Goldfield and Reznick (1990), Fig 4&5:

“Gradual [growth] with occasional spurt intervals alternating with intervals of slower growth” (p. 177)

Lexicon: 75-100 words

Ages: 1;2 – 1;9 (Later-born)

Average of 2 to 5 words a week

Gradual growth in the use of nouns staying around the 50% level (compared to the “spurt group” with a rise from 30% to 80%)

What are the possible explanations for these differences?

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Individual differences: focus on objects vs. activities, focus on combinations rather

than single words.

Variation in the input – the naming game

Different in methods of data collection

Size of the studied lexicon

Is there a difference between comprehension and production?

Benedict, H. 1979. Early lexical development: comprehension and production. Journal of Child Language 6, 183-200

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