Introduction to the Study of language 1

First language acquisition

Department of English and American Studies,
University of Vienna
Today‘s session

1. Acquisition & learning

2. First language acquisition (FLA)
3. Conditions of FLA
4. Explaining FLA
5. Bilingual FLA
1. Acquisition vs Learning ?

building new knowledge structures and skills

Acquisition Learning

Unconscious activity Conscious activity

‚Picking it up‘ Attention to form
Intuitive Deliberate
Procedural knowledge Declarative knowledge

Distinction based on a hypothesis by Krashen (1982)

BUT no hard evidence of an absolute distinction has been produced
Language learning (1st & 2nd) involves both
2. First language acquisition

2.1 A linguistic species

2.2 Milestones in first language development

A species equipped for language

The capacity to learn language is deeply ingrained in us

as a species, just as the capacity to walk, to grasp
objects, to recognize faces. We don‘t find any serious
differences in children growing up in congested urban
slums, in isolated mountain villages, or in privileged
suburban villas.
(Dan Slobin, 1994)
Phylogenetic ~ referring to the development of the human
species as a whole

Ontogenetic ~ referring to the development of one

organism / one human being

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Phylogenetic perspective

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Human vocal tract

 teeth, tongue, larynx

adapted for
articulation

 costs

 benefits

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2.1. A species equipped for language

From birth to adulthood:

Baby crying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfXdaE7ph_I

Adult monologue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omg4lUwOZII

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First language acquisition (FLA)
People have always been interested in the origins of
language.
 linguists, psychologists, neuroscientists, medical
professionals, biologists, anthropologists, …

What happens when babies and small children learn

to speak?

First language acquisition – early stages (BBC program):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZatrvNDOiE
2.2. Milestones in L1 acquisition

1. Prelinguistic stage
2. Single-word utterances
3. First word combinations
4. Simple sentences

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1. Prelinguistic stage

Receptive pre-natal experience

prosody, rhythm, maternal voice > receptive ability well
developed at birth INPUT

Productive ability OUTPUT

Cooing (0-4 m)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Am18cXU0E

Babbling (from 5 m.)

experimenting with speech sounds, reduplication da-da-da,
CV-syllables
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPGekZreJLc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpUfinggniI
2. Single-word utterances

‘1st word’ around 12m

80-100 words understood when first word is
produced

context-bound
names for people, food, body parts, toys, clothes,
household items, animals

Holophrastic stage
1 word conveys the meaning of a whole sentence
"food" >"Give me food"
"up" > "Pick me up"
2. Single-word utterances

vocabulary size
first 50 words (slow growth rate)
vocabulary spurt in year 2
age 24m: 50-550 age 6: 15,000

influencing factors
amount/quality of input, birth order, caretaker
responsiveness, phonological memory….
3. Two-word stage

° Frequent combinations

agent + action Daddy sit

action + object drive car
agent + object Mummy sock
entity + location toy floor
entity + attribute crayon big

No morphology/overt grammar

Conversations with 2-year olds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP1xyXkxnxU (boy on the phone)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2EertzeHjM (girl at table)

4. Simple sentence stage

gradual emergence of grammatical forms

grammar well developed by 4ys

English grammatical forms in order of acquisition

1. present progressive –ing
2. plural –s
3. irregular past (broke, went, brought)
4. possessive ´s
5. copula is
6. articles
7. regular past (-ed) (runned, breaked, bringed)
overextension

(Brown 1973)
More footage on
“Stages of Language Acquisition”

stages of L1 acquisition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB5XSQi6Qhg

E-lecture on First Language Acquisition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prMGbLrbudA
3. Conditions of FLA
On the nature of the input the child gets:
Positive evidence: what does occur in a lg.

Negative evidence: what is not possible in a lg.

Ch: There‘s a fiss in there.

F: You mean there‘s a fish in there.
Ch: Yes, there‘s a fiss.
F: There‘s a fiss in there?
Ch: No, there‘s a fiss in there.

Child often rejects direct evidence.

The role of structured input

simplified language adults speak to children:

“motherese”, “child-directed speech” (CDS), “caregiver-
speech”

• more slowly
• more clearly
• in a higher pitch
• exaggerated intonation
• generally grammatical sentences

BUT:
• not morpho-syntactically more simple!
Conditions of FLA at preschool age
o intensive interaction with the language every day

o social circle widens

o first metalinguistic awareness

cake the eat vs. drink the chair

o quantity of input:
6x365x12 > ca. 20,000 hours by school-entry

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4. Explaining L-acquisition

(Hoff 2008, 14)

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Three central problems in first language
acquisition and development

How do children crack the code?

Is it nature or nurture ?

Is there a critical period?

Three main theoretical positions
on language acquisition

1. Behaviorism
 psychology (Skinner)

2. Innatist perspective / Generativism

 linguistics (Chomsky)

3. Interactionist & developmental perspectives

 cognitive and developmental psychology,
psycholinguistics (Tomasello)

The central debate: NATURE OR NUTURE?

 1. Behaviorism (psychology)

influential theory of learning

(USA, 1940’s/50’s onwards,
psychologist Burrhus Fredrik Skinner)

Basic assumption: Learning language is like

learning any other skill
Learning:
Imitation  practice  reinforcement  habit formation
Environment is crucial ( NURTURE):

 source of linguistic stimuli

 encouragement to imitate: say what I say
 environment provides feedback on learner’s
performance
 positive reinforcement: praise (or successful
communication)
 formation of habits of correct language use
Q: Do children learn through correction
and reinforcement?

C: Nobody don’t likes me.

M: No, say “Nobody likes me.”
C: Nobody don’t like me.
(dialogue repeated eight times)
M: Now, listen carefully; say “Nobody likes me.”
C: Oh, nobody don’t likes me.

positive reinforcement / negative reinforcement

(correction)
 correction mostly occurs for mispronunciations or incorrect
reporting of facts
 Recasts, invitation to repeat
Q: Do children learn through imitation?

C: My teacher holded the baby rabbits and we patted them.

A: Did you say your teacher held the baby rabbits?
C: Yes.
A: What did you say she did?
C: She holded the baby rabbits and we patted them.
A: Did you say she held them tightly?
C: No, she holded them loosely.

Imitation fails to account for…

 differing meanings
 production of forms not used by adults
 ability of children unable to speak to learn a language
2. Innatist perspective / Generativism
(linguistics)
 originated with Noam Chomsky's (1968) view on FLA
 central question:
Why do children learn something as complex as language
at such an early stage?

 children are surrounded by imperfect language (false starts,

incomplete sentences, slips of the tongue, …)
 there is no systematic feedback
 but still, children acquire full language competence

Chomsky’s main assumption:

humans are equipped with an innate ability
for language ( NATURE)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTbI-G42JoY (~ 3:20 – 5:05)

innate language faculty
 ‘Language Acquisition Devise’
 later re-named Universal Grammar (UG)
= a specialized module of the brain which is
pre-programmed to process language

= “a sort of template, containing the principles that are

universal to all human languages”
(Lightbown & Spada 2013: 20)

=> The template prevents children from pursuing ‘wrong paths’

in language acquisition.

=> A child ‘simply’ discovers how her/his language works.

 3. Interactionist & developmental
perspectives (cognitive psychology)

 Cognitive and developmental psychologists argue that

• innatists place too much emphasis on the final stage,

i.e. the competence of (adult monolingual)
native speakers
• and place too little emphasis on the developmental
aspects of language acquisition

They argue that

° language acquisition is just one kind of learning
( not different from other kinds of learning)
° Focus is on INTERPLAY of INNATE learning ability AND
ENVIRONMENT
 NATURE AND NURTURE
Different theories of FLA

Nativism (strong) Interactionism

o LL is variable and gradual,
o LL is rapid, effortless,
social interaction is crucial
no instruction

o Child uses general

o Special mental mechanism cognitive & processing
for LL (Language abilitites to also learn
Acquisition Device) language

o LL “happens to the child” o the child is an active,

like growth of its body constructive agent

Language development Language acquisition

5. Bilingual FLA

o most research on FLA:

monolingual children, up to age 5

o many children grow up with 2 (or more) languages from

birth

o > simultaneous bilingualism

> bilingualism as 1st language (0-3)

o different parental first languages

o home language – lg. of the environment

o Language mixing – code switching
His nose is perdu
A house pink
That‘s to me „That‘s mine“
Ich will nicht hairwash. Ich will jumping on the bed.
= a normal part of bilingual development.

How are the two lgs represented mentally?

> 2 hypotheses
 Unitary system Separate systems
hypothesis hypothesis

One lexicon/grammar Two lexicons/grammars

lexical items of L1 & L2 Complementary items due to

complement each other context of learning
Can adjust language choice to
addressee

NOT two monolinguals in one head!

 The bilingual mind

L1
L1
L2
M L2
L3

L1
Reading for next session

o Yule 2014, chapter 14

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