chapter11.language acquisition

Pre-language stages
Cooing:3months old the first recognizalble sounds with velar consonants such as [k] [g] as well as high vowels such as [i] [u] Babbling:6months old fricatives, nasals, syllable type sounds 9months old recognizable intonation patterns,combination 10-11months old use vocalizations to express emotions and emphasis
Their practice of language forms is also
selective and reflects what they would like to learn. They are often in charge of the conversation with adults.
First Language Acquisition
Why do we call it language acquisition? Learning Intentional process Presupposes teaching Teacher controls pace Acquisition Unconscious process Does not presuppose teaching Child controls pace
The one-word or holophrastic stage
Characterized by speech in which single terms are uttered for everyday objects. Already extending their use Most verbs and nouns, infrequent function words
However, children do use language creatively, not just repeat what they have heard.
Patterns in language
Mother: Maybe we need to take you to the
doctor. Randall (36 months): Why? So he can doc my little bump?”
Son: I putted the plates on the table! Mother: You mean, I put the plates on the table. Son: No, I putted them on all by myself.
One-word Stage (holophrastic) (单词句的)
1 yr. emergence of first word
1 yr., 6 mos. Holophrastic stage
intonation layers on meaning „fis‟ phenomenon
The best evidence for the CPH is that virtually every child learns language on a similar schedule in spite of different environments.
1.2 Stages of First Language Acquisition
4. Instruction and L2 acquisition
Language Acquisition
First language acquisition
Second language acquisition
1. First language acquisition
Language was a creative act of the individual and that humans had an innate capacity for language, which by no means endowed by culture. -----Von humbolt The individual‟s potential for language is universal. ------Chomsky
Chapter 11 Language Acquisition
语言习得
Main contents
1. First language acquisition
2. Second language acquisition
3. Individual differences in L2 acquisition
Prelinguistic Sounds 前语言声音
0-1 mo. Sleep, eat, cry 1 mo. Intonational (语调) patterns
2-5 mos. Cooing (咕咕) stage
5-12 mos. Babbling (婴儿发出的咿呀之声)
stage
1.1 Two approaches to Language Acquisition
A. Behaviorist approach 行为主义方法 B. Innateness approach 天赋取向法
First Language Acquisition
A. Behaviorism (行为主义) We learn language through a process of stimulus (hearing, input) and response. Correct responses are rewarded, as is our correct language use, which increases over time. Key phrase: Habit Formation Pavlov (巴甫洛夫) Conditioned reflex (条件反射)

First Language Acquisition
B. The innateness (天赋) approach We are born with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) and access to Universal Grammar (UG).
First Language Acquisition
Behaviorism (行为主义) B.F .Skinner (B.F.斯金纳) “stimulus-response-imitation-reinforcement” approach Say What I Say
Children‟s imitations are not random: Their imitation is selective and based on what they are currently learning. They choose to imitate something they have already begun to understand, rather than simply imitating what is available in the environment.
Learning学习: applied to a conscious process of accumulating knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of a language, particularly through formal instruction.
Terms
L1 acquisitiห้องสมุดไป่ตู้n (first language acquisition)
to describe the process whereby children become speakers of their native language or languages, although some linguists prefer to use the term language learning.
Imitation and practice alone cannot explain some of the forms created by children.

Children appear to pick out patterns and then generalize or overgeneralize them to new contexts. They create new forms or new uses of words.
Acquisition vs. Learning
Acquisition习得: refers to the gradual development of ability in a language by using it naturally in communicative situations.

First Language Acquisition
“UG consists of a set of innate (天生的), abstract, linguistic principles which govern what is possible in human language” (LarsenFreeman & Long, p. 230). Children are born with a specific innate ability to discover for themselves the underlying rules of a language system on the basis of the samples of a natural language they are exposed to. Key Phrase: Rule Formation

Universal Grammar (普遍语法 ) Linguist Noam Chomsky We are not born knowing Chinese, or English, or Thai. Rather, we are born with innate knowledge of certain universal structures.
Innatism(天赋论): It’s all in your mind
The biological basis for the innatist position:
The Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH)（关键
期假说） –Lenneberg: There is a specific and limited time period (i.e., “critical period”) for the LAD to work successfully.
Pre-language stages 前语言阶段（3－10
months）
The one-word or holophrastic stage
独词或整体语阶段(12－18months)
The two-word stage 双语阶段（18－20months） Multiple-word stage 多词句阶段 ( 2－3yrs)
Children‟s practice of new language forms
The way they practice new forms is very similar
to the way foreign language students do substitution drills(替换练习).