1Psych 56L/ Ling 51:Acquisition of LanguageLecture 2Introduction ContinuedAnnouncementsReview questions for introduction availableA Little HistoryThe linguistic capabilities of children have been asource of fascination since ancient times.First recorded language acquisition experimentconducted by Egyptian king Psammetichus,described by Greek historian Herodotus infourth century B.C. He ordered that two infantsbe raised in isolation by shepherds who wouldnever speak to the infants.Test: What language would children speak?Assumption: It would be “original” language ofthe peoples of the world.(Results: They ended up speaking Phyrigian, notEgyptian. Any ideas why?)Language without input?Ongoing research question: What language does the braincreate when it is not given an existing language to learn?How to test this a little more ethically than total enforcedisolation: study the gestural communication systemscreated by deaf children of hearing parents who use theoralist tradition of not communicating via sign languagewith their children.Children invent “signs” and combine them in two and three-sign sequences. This suggests the ability to combine is anatural one for human beings.2Language without input?Ongoing research question: What language does the braincreate when it is not given an existing language to learn?Another way to test this: “wild” children who have not beenexposed to language during the early part of theirchildhoods - usually not so successful at languageacquisition- wild-boy of Aveyron, ~12 yrs old, discovered in thewoods. Never learned more than a few words.- Genie, 13 years old when discovered, locked in a roomsince the age of 18 months. Somewhat more successful atlearning language, but missing many aspects of languagestructure.Investigating normal language developmentDiary studies: keeping diaries of children’sdevelopment. Charles Darwin did this withhis son (Darwin, 1877). Seemed to followthe progression we now expect.Other diary studies: Clara & Wilhelm Stern’s 1907 DieKindersprache and Werner Leopold’s (1939-1949) four volumeaccount of his daughter’s acquisition of English & German.Modern diary studies: Bowerman 1985, 1990; Dromi 1987; A.Gopnik & Meltzoff 1987; L. Bloom, 1993; Naigles, Vear, &Hoff 2002Chomskyan RevolutionChomsky 1957: Syntactic StructuresInnovation: What speakers do is not asinteresting as the mental grammar thatunderlies what speakers doSo, if adults have a mental grammar thatexplains what they do when they talk, childrenmust have a mental grammar that explainswhat children do when they talk.New formation of language development: Whatare children’s grammars like and how do theyeventually achieve adult grammars?Progression of Study1960s: grammatical development (focusing onstructure of sentences)Later 1960s: focus on semantics (meaning)Late 1970s: added language use (pragmatic &sociolinguistic development)1980s & 1990s: back to syntax, but also stillworking on word meaning (lexicon) andpragmatics (language use); also, interest inphonological development3Current ApproachesLanguage socialization: language development is learning tocommunicate in the way the adults in the social or culturalgroup do.Focus: Language as a vehicle for social interactionTypical work: description of children’s language use on socialcontexts and an account of the social processes by whichchildren come to use language in the manner of their cultureCurrent ApproachesLanguage as a complex cognitive system that mapssounds to meaningFocus: Language Acquisition Device - what is it?Informationfrom theenvironmentLanguage AcquisitionDeviceLanguage AcquisitionCurrent ApproachesLanguage as a complex cognitive system that mapssounds to meaningFocus: Language Acquisition Device - what is it?Biological approach Premise: language development is bestunderstood as a biological process.Focus: description of the genetic bases of thehuman language capacity and its disorders +description of the structures and processes inthe brain that serve language developmentCurrent ApproachesLanguage as a complex cognitive system that mapssounds to meaningFocus: Language Acquisition Device - what is it?Linguistic approach Premise: LAD contains some domain-specificknowledge about the structure of language (thisis often called Universal Grammar).Focus: description of children’s prior linguisticknowledge and how that knowledge interacts toproduce knowledge of a particular languageKnowledgespecificallyabout humanlanguage4Current ApproachesLanguage as a complex cognitive system that mapssounds to meaningFocus: Language Acquisition Device - what is it?Domain-general cognitive approach Premise: Language acquisition is no differentfrom any other kind of knowledge acquisition;children can solve this problem in the sameway that they solve other problems (such asperception, for example)Focus: description of domain-general learningcapacities that serve language development,and the sources of input those capacities useUseful for allkinds oflearning (ex:grouping thingstogether intolarger units)Nature vs. NurtureThe debate in a nutshellIs the development of language in children the result ofhumans’ innate endowment (like upright posture & bipedallocomotion)? Or is it the result of circumstances in whichchildren are nurtured (like table manners and formal math,which depend on particular experiences)?Empiricism: all knowledgeand reason come fromexperienceNativism: mind has some pre-existing structure it imposes tointerpret experienceNativism: Why believe it?(1) Children acquire language rapidly(2) Children acquire language with very little conscious effort(3) Children acquire language without explicit instruction formost of itNativism: mind has some pre-existing structure it imposes tointerpret experience5Nativism: Why believe it?“Language learning is not really somethingthat the child does; it is something thathappens to a child placed in anappropriate environment, much as thechild’s body grows and matures in apredetermined way when provided withappropriate nutrition and environmentalstimulation.” - Chomsky, 1973Nativism: mind has some pre-existing structure it imposes tointerpret experienceInteractionist View“We on the other side think that learninglanguage is a long slog, which requiresfrom the child a lot of work. And the childis working as hard as he can, fifteen,sixteen hours a day. We think it requiresa relationship with an adult, and a wholeset of cognitive