Linguística Aplicada:

Aula 2
 Goals

• To review the stages of children language acquisition;

• To analize the different theoretical perspectives on

language acquisition;

• To reflect upon the role of the ‘first language(s)’.

 First Language Acquisition

- Language acquisition is the process by

which human acquire the capacity to
perceive and comprehend language, as
well as to produce and use words and
sentences to communicate.
What’s the difference between language
acquisition and language learning?
 Guiding Questions
TEXT:

- How do children learn language(s)?

- Does child language develop similarly around the world?

- What enables child, not only to learn words, but also put them together in
meaningful sentences?

- What pushes children to go on learning complex gramatical language even

though their early simple communication is successful for most purposes?

EXTRA:
- What are the developmental sequences (aka: order of acquisition) that
theorists have put together over the years? 

- What is the Wub test? What is the main purpose of it? 

- How does Chomsky challenge the Behaviourist theory of language
acquisition? 

- What is the Critical Period for Language Acquisition?

- What seems to be the role of humans in the language acquisition process? 

- How do the interactionists criticise Chomsky’s approach to language
acquisition?
Could you draw a timeline for
language acquisition?
Could you draw a timeline for
language acquisition?
 The first three years: Milestones
and developmental sequences
1. The earliest vocalizations are simply the involuntary
crying that babies do when they are hungry or
comfortable.
2. They distinguish the voice of their mothers and
other speakers, and seem to recognize the
language that was spoken aorund their mother
before they were born.
3. Babies are capable to hear the difference between
sounds as similar as ‘pa’ and ‘ba’. They will continue
to respond to these differences for a longer period
when they hear more than one languages.
 The first three years: Milestones
and developmental sequences
Stages in Grammar Morphemes

Stages Features of LA (Negation) Examples

1 Negation is usually expressed by the word No. No cookie. No
‘no’, either all alone or as the first word comb hair.
in the utterance.
2 Utterances grow longer and the sentence Daddy no comb hair.
subject may be included. The –ve word Don’t touch that!
appears just before the verb.
3 The negative element is inserted into a I can’t do it. He don’t
more complex sentences. (Adding want it.
forms of the –ve other than ‘no’.
4 Children begin to attach the –ve You didn’t have supper.
elements to the correct form of She doesn’t want it.
auxiliary verbs such as ‘do’ and ‘be’.
The first three years: Milestones and developmental sequences
Stages in Questions

Stages Features of LA (Questions) Examples

1 Children’s earliest questions are single Cookie? Mommy book?

words or simple two or three word
sentences with rising intonation.
2 Children use the word order of the You like this? I have some?
declaratve sentence, with rising
intonation.
3 Children notice that the structure of Can I go?
questions is different and begin to Are you happy?
produce questions;
4 Some questions are formed by subject-auxiliary Are you going to play with
inversion. They also add ‘do’ in questions in me? Do dogs like ice
which there would be no auxiliary in the cream?
declarative version of the sentence.
5 Both wh- and yes/no questions are formed Are these your
correctly. boots? Why did
you do that?
6. Children are able to correctly form all question
types, including –ve and complex embedded
questions.
 The-pre school years

1. At the age of four, most children have aquired the

basic strucures of the language. (ask questions, give
commands, give reports)
2. Children (3-4 year olds) begin to learn vocabulary at
the rate of several words a day.
3. They develop their ability in using the language in a
widening social environment and variety of situations.
4. Children also begin to develop metalinguistic
awareness. E.g, the ability to treat language as an
object separate from the meaning it conveys.
 The school years
1. Children develop their language as they grow up.
2. Reading gives a major boost to metalinguistic
awareness (language are form as well as
meaning).
3. Metalinguistic awareness also includes the discovery
of such things as ambiguity. It leads them to access to
word jokes, trick questions, riddles, etc.
4. In the school years, children also develop
vocabularies. (Reading assignments, for pleasure
whether narrrative or non-fiction). However, the
amount depends on how widely they read (Nagy,
Herman and Anderson 1985).
 The school years
Language registers.
1.Children learn how written language differs from
spoken language, how the language used to speak to
the principal is different from the language of a
narative.
Explaining First Language Acquisition
The Behaviorist Perspective
Analyzing Children’s Speech
•Imitation and practice alone cannot explain some of the forms created by children.
•Children appear to pick out patterns and generalize them to new contexts.
•Their new sentences are usually comprehensible and often correct.
•Behaviorism – offer a reasonable way of understanding how children learn some of the
regular and routine aspects of language, especially at the earliest stages.
The innatist perspective
 The innatist perspective
• Often linked to the Critical Period Hypothesis
• (CPH) CPH
– suggests that children who are not given access to
language in infancy and early childhood will never
acquire language if these deprivations go on for too long
– Language acquisition begins at birth and possibly even
before, as the child’s brain is shaped by exposure to
the language(s) in the environment.
 The innatist perspective

• Based on evidence that there is a

critical period for language
acquisition.

• Also seen as an explanation for the

logical problem of language acquisition
that is the question of how adult
speakers come to know the complex
structure of their first language on the
basis of the limited sample of language
to which they are exposed.
 Interactionalist / developmental
perspectives
• language acquisition is as similar to and
influenced by the acquisition of other
kinds of skill and knowledge, rather than
as something that is different from and
largely independent of the child’s
experience and cognitive development.
• Dan Slobin (1973)
– Have a long emphasized the close
relationship between children’s cognitive
development and their acquisition of
language
Intteractionist/developmental
perspective
Das Vicissitudes da fala da criança
(De Lemos)

Língua

Outro Eu
 Das posições

Primeira posição: faz referência ao processo de dominação do outro na fala

da criança; isso é, marca uma alienação (segundo a psicanálise) do sujeito em
relação à fala do outro.

O excerto a seguir, extraído de uma das gravações apresentadas pela autora,
ilustra um exemplo desta posição na fala de uma criança:



Episódio 3 ( Criança entrega para mãe uma revista tipo Veja) 

C.: ó nenê/o auau

M.: Auau? Vamo achá o auau? Ó, a moça tá tomando banho. 

C.: ava? eva?
M: É. Tá lavando o cabelo. Acho que essa revista não tem auau nenhum. C.:
auau

Só tem moça, carro, telefone.

C.: Alô? 

M.: Alô, quem fala? É a Mariana? 

(Mariana 1; 2. 15) C- criança; M - Mãe;
 Das posições

Segunda posição: é caracterizada pela dominância da língua e

sua estrutura na fala do sujeito. A influência da língua pode, por
vezes, ser detecta na forma do ‘erro’ na fala da criança, como
demonstra o excerto a seguir:

Episódio 8:(Contando a estória do Pinóquio)

[…]

foi estevendo, escrevendo estevendo, estevendo estevendo,
escrevendo
O ‘estevendo’ na fala da criança, embora possa fazer referência
ao verbo escrever, indica que a criança sobre uma influência
direta da linguagem ao flexionar esse verbo no gerúndio.
 Das posições
Terceira posição: Retrata o momento em que o sujeito passa a ter consciência
sobre a sua própria fala. Trata-se da relação de ‘escuta’ de si mesmo. Veja o
excerto a seguir, apresentado por de Lemos: 



Episódio 10: (Uma amiga(T.) da mãe da criança(V.) traçou no chão os quadros
para ela e a V. brincarem de amarelinha, menos um)


V.: Quase que você não fez a amarelinha.

T.: O que, Verrô?

V.: Faz tempo que você não fez a amarelinha sua. 

T.: O que, Verrô? Eu não entendi.

V.: Está faltando quadro na amarelinha sua.

(Verônica 4; 0. 8)

Neste episódio, a criança (V) reformula a sua sentença de modo a se fazer

compreender pelo seu interlocutor. Atitude demonstra que a criança tem
consciência dos efeitos de sua própria fala.
Compare the different language acquisition
perspectives based on the table below:

Behaviourism Innatism Interactionism

Language Focus

Process of
acquisition

Child’s role

Environment’s
role
 Guiding Questions
TEXT:

- How do children learn language(s)?

- Does child language develop similarly around the world?

- What enables child, not only to learn words, but also put them together in
meaningful sentences?

- What pushes children to go on learning complex gramatical language even

though their early simple communication is successful for most purposes?

EXTRA:
- What are the developmental sequences (aka: order of acquisition) that
theorists have put together over the years? 

- What is the Wub test? What is the main purpose of it? 

- How does Chomsky challenge the Behaviourist theory of language
acquisition? 

- What is the Critical Period for Language Acquisition?

- What seems to be the role of humans in the language acquisition process? 

- How do the interactionists criticise Chomsky’s approach to language
acquisition?
 REFERENCES

LIGHTBOWN, P.M. & SPADA, N. Language learning in early childhood. In: LIGHTBOWN, P.M. & SPADA, N.
How languages are learned. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013.

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT - UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA SABAH. Theoretical

Bases of Language Learning. Available at <https://pt.slideshare.net/brunettevin/chapter-1-language-
learning-in-early-childhood>