Chapter 2 :

Fi rst Language
Acqui si ti on
Theori es of Fi rst
Language Acqui si ti on
Behavioristic
Approaches
B.F.Skinner
Operant Conditioning
response without stimuli
reinforcement conditioning
whenconsequences are rewarding, behavior
is maintainedandis increasedinstrengthand
frequency
couldnotprove
howpeople
make sentences
or utterances
novel
attractedNoamChoamsky's critics
"tabula rasa" :
a cleanslate
bearingno
preconceived
notions about
the worldor
about
language
MediationTheory
Charles Osgood
"representational mediationprocess,"
a process actingwithinthe learner,
invisibly
Unsolved Critics
the abstract nature of language
the relationship between meaning and utterance
rational/cognitive
theory
masqueradingas
behavioristic
The Nativist
Approach
Emergence of this approach
Child's language, at any givenpoint,
is a legitimate systeminits ownright
Innateness Hypothesis
Eric Lenneberg
"biologically determined"
NoamChomsky
Language AcquisitionDevice (LAD)
McNeil :
Aspects of meaning, abstractness, andcreativity
Universal Grammar
expandedthe LAD notioninto a systemof universal linguistic rules
Parallel DistributedProcessing(PDP)
connectionism
Functional
Approaches
Emergence of this approach
The Nativist approachdealt
specifically withthe forms of
language andnot withthe deeper
functional levels of meaning
constructedfromsocial interaction
Cognitionand
Language
Development
Lois Bloom
Criticismof pivot grammar
J eanPiaget
children's interactionwiththeir
environment
developingperceptual
cognitive capacities
linguistic experience
GleitmanandWanner
"Learners are biasedto mapeach
semantic idea onthe linguistic unit
world"
DanSlobin
semantic learningdepends on
cognitive development
sequences of development
are determinedmore by
semantic complexity than
by structural complexity
Social interactionand
language development
Holzman
"a reciprocal behavioral system
operates betweenthe infant-childand
the competent[adult] language user in
a socializing-teaching-nurturingrole"
The functionof language indiscourse
returningto the language
performance system, which have
beenset aside by the cognitivists in
order to emphasize the language
competence
" telegraphic" utterances -
combination of two or three
words
Issues i n First Language
Acqui si ti on
Competence and
Performance
NoamChomsky
emphasizingthe competence, because
performance variables are infinite andnot
reflective of the underlyingcompetence
BrownandBellugi
"Popgo weasel"
judgingcompetence is
also difficult proved
that performance is as
important as competence
FirthandHalliday
performance andcompetence
dualisms are unnecessary, we
shouldstudy language inuse then.
Tarone "heterogeneous competence"
abilities that are inthe
process of beingformed
Comprehension
andProduction
Comprehensionhas the general
superiority over production
"knowingmore thanproducing"
Gathercole
some researchsupportedthat
superiority of productionover
comprehension
4 dimensions
comprehensioncompetence,
productioncompetence,
comprehensionperformance,
productioncompetence
Nature or Nurture
Nature : innateness(language genes)
Nurture : environment(by teaching,
learnedandinternalized)
Derek Bickerton
people are innately programmedto
"release" certainproperties at certain
development ages. "bio-programmed"
Universals
principles andparameters
structure dependency
ex) phrases(nownphrase, verbphrase)
Systematicity andVariability
Language andThought
Piaget
cognitive development occurs when
childrenare at certainage
Vygotsky
social interactionis a prerequisite to
cognitive development
Zone of Proximal Development(ZPD)
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Imitation
surface imitation
phonological imitationwithout
semantic meaning
deep-structure imitation
meaningful semantic level imitation
blockingchildrens surface(or
structural) imitation
after the surface imitationdiminished,
childrenbeganto attendto the "truth
value" of the utterance
Practice
frequency of meaningful occurence
may well be a more precise
refinement of the notionof frequency
Input
adult andpeer input to the childis far
more important thannativist earlier
believed
Discourse
Berko-Gleason
"it is nowclear that, inorder for
successful first language acquisitionto
take place, "interaction," rather than
"exposure," is required"
Sinclair andCouthard
"conversations are examinedinterms
of "initiations" and"responses""
childrenlearnthat utterances have
botha literal andanintendedor
functional meaning
Chapter 2 . First Language Acquisition.mmap - 2009-09-01 - Mindjet