1. L1 Acquisition—12 -36 months

2. Stages of First Language Acquisition—12 months on
Holophrastic stage — months
idiomorphs
mutual exclusivity and whole object bias
overgeneralizations, undergeneralizations
referential vs. expressive children
Two-word Stage — months
Subject-verb ‘Mary go.’
Verb-modifier ‘Push truck.’
Possessor-possesed ‘Mommy sock’
Content words, no function words
Telegraphic Stage — months
2-5 words with little extra morphology
Morphological overgeneralization
Easier, more productive morphemes first

3. Basic methods for studying children post linguistically
Observations
Wug tests
ERPs (Event related potentials)
Experimental trickery

4. 1. Observations Many of these studies done in 1950’s – 70’s
Usually linguists or psychologists would follow own children around with tape recorder and analyze their language development

5. 1. Observations At 1 year; 1 month (babbling) (in IPA):
Production Production
/ava/ /baewa/
/aelu/ /daevu/
/aw/ /gigi/
/n/ /paba/
At 1 year, 6 months:
Gloss Production Gloss Production
baby /bebi/ go /go/
bear /baeu/ big /gIg/
bib /bIb/ Brenda /pEnt/
blue /pu/ walk /wak/

6. M: Did you tell Daddy what you had for tea?
N: aga (eggs) and gagadoodoodoo (cockadoodledoo = cornflakes [because of the picture on the box] cockadoodledoo also means a weathervane on a church spire and so he remembers his walk as well) tika (sticks) too.
M: You didn’t have cornflakes for tea! And you didn’t have sticks either!
N: ho (holes) too. (laughing—thinking this is a joke)
M: You didn’t have sticks and holes for tea!
N: doba (toast) Go wakin’, dada. (“I went walking, daddy”)
F: What did you see on your walk?
N: see ka (“I saw a car”)
F: Yes, you went for a ride in a car, didn’t you? What else did you see?
N: piti dedi mamma on gara (“a pretty flower (daisy) for momma in the garden”). [The flower wasn’t a daisy, but he calls all flowers daisies]
(Parents get N. ready for bed)
N: Help? Need help? (meaning “I need help).
M: What is it you can’t find? Is it something under there?
N, looking under couch: ba (“a ball”)
(Later, looking at a book with his mother)
N: ‘ats dat? (“What’s that?)
M: That’s butter.
N: (repeating) taba (butter) ‘ats dat? (“What’s that?”)
M: Some ducks and a doggie.
N: Sa kuks (“some ducks”) No goggie (but there isn’t a doggie)

7. 1. Observations Basic findings:
Growth of Mean Length of Utterance (MLU): number of morphemes used in a single utterance
Baby socks
Talked today
Walks dogs

8. 1. Observations
Brown’s (1973) Stages Mean Length of Utterance is a good index of child’s language maturity. Stages indicate growth of language complexity.
Stage to 26 months of age = MLU 1.00 to 2.00
Stage to 30 months of age = MLU 2.00 to 2.50
Stage to 34 months of age = MLU 2.50 to 3.00
Stage to 40 months of age = MLU 3.00 to 3.75
Stage to 46 months of age = MLU 3.75 to 4.50

9. 1. Observations Corpora for children’s language acquisition
Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES)

10. 1. Observations
Pros?
Cons?

11. 2. Wug Studies

12. 2. Wug Studies

13. 2. Wug Studies

14. 2. Wug Studies

15. 2. Wug Studies
Rules governing the use of irregulars follow a developmental U-shaped curve
went men worst
goed mans baddest
wented mens worstest

16. 2. Wug Studies Developmental U-shaped curve
Proportion correct
Time

17. 2. Wug Studies 14 months: What that? Who that?
15 months: all-gone milk? no-no dada, woof-woof doggy, go store, daddy go?
21 months: Be quiet Shag. Baby cry. Baby crying.
24 months: Why not here?
Don’t no play outside.
25 months: Where daddy go?
I no go outside.
I don’t can go outside.
4 years: God won’t let you die, Mom, until your child knows how to cook,
will he?
5 years: Child: Was Daddy a Navy man?
Mother: Yes.
Child: Are they smart?
Mother: Yes
Child: Was Daddy smart?
Child: Why isn’t he anymore?

18. 2. Wug Studies
Pros?
Cons?

19. 3. ERPs Attach hat to babies head Hat has electrodes that measure
Electrical movement across the
skull
Electrical movement tells us
What part of the brain is activated
When the brain reacts to the stimulus and how much it reacts

20. 3. ERPs
Basic findings . . .

21. 3. ERPs
Pros?
Cons?

22. Stages of First Language Acquisition
Telegraphic Stage — 2-5 years
learning words per day
more complex syntax
Fine-tuning — 5-10 yrs.
refining grammar
building vocabulary

23. 4. Experimental Trickery

24. 4. Experimental Trickery
How would you test
3-5 year olds’ comprehension of the passive
24 month olds’ basic word learning (teaching words they’ve never encountered before)
The influence of motherese on learning questions
3 year olds’ production of embedded clauses (before you touch your nose touch your head)
3 years olds’ understanding of pronoun use in stories
Children’s progressive comprehension (over time) of the phrase “she’s easy to see”
4 year old children’s ability to understand jokes or sarcasm
3 year olds’ comprehension of embedded clauses (before you touch your nose touch your head)

25. 4. Experimental Trickery
Pros?
Cons?