Essentials of L1 Acquisition SS 2007

When does language acquisition begin?

Early speech production 1. crying, coughing, noises 2. babbling: babababa

Segmentation of the speech stream Phonological cues (e.g. pauses, intonation, stress) Distributional cues bidtopt … ftulis … kji li optert …

Segmentation of the speech stream ADULT:What’s that? CHILD:That’s a nana.

How do children acquire their native language? My research focuses on the kinds of learning abilities required to master the complexities of language. Three broad issues characterize my work. One line of research asks what kinds of learning emerge in infancy. A second line of research probes the biases that shape human learning abilities, and the relationship between these biases and the structure of human languages. A third issue concerns the extent to which the learning abilities underlying this process are specifically tailored for language acquisition. Related research concerns infant music perception, and the relationship between music and language learning.

Early speech perception English[ba] – [da] Hindi[Ôa] – [ta] Nthlakapmx[k’i] – [q’i] Werker ánd Tees (1984)

German[Y] – [u] Tür - Tour Polka and Werker (1994) Eraly speech perception

Japanese[l] – [r] Tsushima et al. (1994) Early speech perception

Phonemes are categories. Categories are mental constructs that underlie our perception of the world. There are everyday categories such as car and tree, and there are linguistic categories such as phonemes and noun phrases. Early speech perception What are categories good for?

Categories are shaped by experience: Every time a person encounters a particular entity it leaves a trace in memory. Early speech perception

Emergence of phonemic categories

token cluster

attractor Emergence of phonemic categories /d/ /t/

attractor Emergence of phonemic categories /d/ /t/

Emergence of phonemic categories attractor /d/ /t/

Continuous perception Categorical perception

[p] Categorical perception Liberman 1957 [b]

VOT voice obset time

Categorical perception

Categorization is predetermined by constraints that coerce us to perceive continuous entities as discrete categories. Categorical perception Eimas et al. 1971

Language is an instrument used to … express anger ask a question promise someone to do something warn somebody Pragmatic development

Language is learned in social interactions involving three important components: speaker hearer things and events talked about Pragmatic development

Bühler 1934 Organon Model Pragmatic development

dyadic interactions Pragmatic development

Triadic interactions 9-months revolution Tomasello 1999 Pragmatic development

Lexical development Peopledaddy, mommy, baby Animalsdog, kitty, bird, duck Body partseye, nose, ear Foodbanana, juice, apple Toysball, balloon, book Clothsshoe, sock, hat Household objectsbottle, keys, bath, spoon Routinesbye, hi, uh oh, night-night, no Activitiesup, down, back Sound imitating wordswoof, moo, ouch, baa baa, yum Deicticsthat

Lexical development 1;2 – 1;3First words 2; words 9-10 words a day 6;014,000 words 18;050,000 words

Vocabulary spurt

Symbolic nature of language

Onomatopoeica buzz, murmur, hiss cock-a-doodle-doo

Grammatical development More car.1;11 More that.2;0 More cookie.2;0 More fish.2;1 More jump.2;1 More Peter water.2;4

Grammatical development More car.1;11 More that.2;0 More cookie.2;0 More fish.2;1 More jump.2;1 More Peter water.2;4

Grammatical development Block get-it.2;3 Bottle get-it.2;3 Mama get-it.2;4 Towel get-it.2;4 Dog get-it.2;4 Books get-it.2;5

Grammatical development Spoon back.2;2 Tiger back.2;3 Give back.2;3 Ball back.2;3 Want ball back.2;4

Lexically-specific constructions More __. __ get-it. __ back.

Lexically-specific constructions No bed.1;11 No bread.2;0 No eat.2;2 No milk.2;2 No apple juice.2;5

Lexically-specific constructions Clock on there.2;2 Up on there.2;2 Hot in there.2;2 Milk in there.2;4 Water in there2;5

Lexically-specific constructions All broke.2;0 All buttened.2;3 All clean.2;4 All done.2;4 All gone milk.2;2 All gone shoe.2;2 All gone juice.2;2 All gone bear.2;3

Lexically-specific constructions Dat Daddy.2;0 Dat’s Weezer.2;0 Dat my chair.2;1 Dat’s him.2;1 Dat’s a paper too.2;4 That’s too little for me.2;9

Lexically-specific constructions Rote learning System building Item-specific constructions

Errors Errors of omission Errors of commission

Errors of omission Run away.1;11 Drink milk.1;11 Touch duck.2;0 Wanna apple2;0

Errors of omission Put __ in there.1;11 Take __ away.1;11 Push __ in there.2;0 Kimmy do __.2;1 Put __ on.2;1

Errors of comission buy  buyed hit  hitted bring  bringed go  goed (wented) foot  foots (feets) child(ren)  childrens

Errors of comission Ritter  Ritters Zettel  Zettels Schlüssel  Schlüsseln Elefant  Elefänten Arzt  Ärzten Bruder  Brudern Esel  Esels Ball  Bäller Bild  Bildern

Overgeneralizations (2%) correct (2,6)correct (3;5) U-shaped development