Theories of Child
Language Acquisition
*Imitation
*Reinforcement
*Innateness
*Active construction of a grammar
IMITATION
• Children learn language by imitating
words/sentences spoken around them.
• True, but only in part.
• Cannot explain systematic errors children makedepartures from adult forms.
• Cannot account for production (and perception)
of novel utterances
• Cannot explain situation involving disability
affecting ability to speak, which, once overcome,
results in realization of what has been learned.
Reinforcement
• Parents’ correction of errorsnot as common as we think; usually
don’t help.
Innateness Hypothesis
• Children are born with, at minimum, the ability
to acquire any language and, possibly, the
actual knowledge of linguistic universals.
• Critical age hypothesis: after an particular age is
reached, acquisition of a language becomes
much more difficult (if not impossible).
• Be familiar with support for / arguments against
the Critical Age Hypothesis in its strongest form.
Active construction of a grammar
• Ability to develop rules is innate
• Children construct the rules based on
exposure to input from the adult language.
• These rules are built on and modified as a
result of new input.
PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL
ACQUISTION
(1) infant speech perception. Evidence from studies.
(2) early vocalizations: crying, cooing, etc.
(3) BABBLING begins at 4 -6 months. Both vowels
and consonants are produced, often in short
sequences. Canonical babbling (7-10 months) occurs
when syllables are repeated in sequence. Variegated
babbling (10-12 months) occurs when different
syllables occur in sequence.
* functions
* cross-linguistic tendencies
(4) 10-12 months: child is acquiring a variety of
speech sounds, including but not limited to those
occurring in the sound inventory of native
language.
evidence that as first words begin to appear,
knowledge of phonemic system is not yet intact.
(5) 1.5 - 2 years: becomes more necessary for
phonemes to be acquired in order to be able to
attribute meaning to random clustering of
sounds.
Acquisition of phonology:
common views / points of debate
• Perception and production
• Usefulness of relational vs. independent
system accounts.
• Phonological universals and emergence of
phonology.
Order in which speech sounds are
mastered: general trends...
1 - vowels acquired before consonants
2- stops acquired first among consonants
3- labials often acquired first and interdentals last.
4- new phonemic contrasts manifest themselves
first in word-initial position first.
COMMON PHONETICS PROCESSES IN
CHILDREN’S SPEECH...
1 - deletion
2- substitution
3- assimilation
1. Deletion
1. stov  tov; sm l  m l; d sk  d k
• [s] + consonant sequences - delete [s]
2. tray  tay; brum  bum; sl m s m
• stop + liquid - delete liquid
3. fr m  f m; slip  sip
• fricative + liquid: delete liquid
4. b mp  b p; d nt  d t
• nasal + voiceless stop - delete nasal
2. Substitution
1. lajn  yajn; rejk  wejk; l f  y f
• gliding
2. si  ti; zibr
 dibr
• continuant becomes stop
3. bim  bib; pajn  pajd
• denasalization
3. Assimilation
1. t l  d l; p g  b g; sup  zup
• voicing assimilation of initial consonants
2. dagi  gagi; s lf  f lf ; bebi  bibi
• total assimilation (vowel/consonant)
Syllables
• In earliest stages maximally simple syllables
tend to be produced (without codas, without
clusters).
• Asymmetries between syllable-initial and
syllable final position
• Unstressed syllable truncation is a common
process.
PERCEPTION v. PRODUCTION:
child's ability to perceive phonemic
contrast precedes their ability to produce
them.
Relationship between stages of
acquisition in children and
crosslinguistic grammars.
• Rules which present themselves in stages of child
phonological development often resemble very
closely those attested crosslinguistically in adult
languages, even when absent from the adult
language being learned.
• Do you find that this supports a particular theory
of language acquisition?
ONE EXAMPLE
• UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR = SET OF UNIVERSAL
CONSTRAINTS
• LANGUAGES DIFFER IN CONSTRAINT
RANKINGS, RATHER THAN CONSTRAINTS
THEMSELVES.
• LEARNING A PHONOLOGICAL GRAMMAR IS
ALL ABOUT LEARNING THE RIGHT RANKING
OF CONSTRAINTS.
MORPHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
Developmental sequence of
nonlexical morphemes
1. -ing
2. plural -s
3. possessive -s
4. the, a
5. past tense -ed
6. 3rd person sg. -s
7. auxiliary be
What determines this sequence?
• FREQUENCY?
• Relative frequency of morphemes in child-directed
speech
• 1. the/a
4. be auxiliary
7. –ed (past)
• 2. –ing
5. –s (possessive)
• 3. –s (plural) 6. –s (3rd p. sg)
Other possibilities
1. Word-position
2. Relationship b/t form and meaning
3. Syllabicity
4. Exceptions
5. Allophonic invariance
6. Identifiable functions/meanings
SYNTACTIC DEVELOPMENT
1. One word stage (=holophrases)
(1-1.5)
2. Two word stage
(1.5-2)
word order learned or not at this stage
(see evidence in text)
3. Telegraphic speech (2-2.5)
Syntactic development: specific
examples of gradual acquisition of
adult constructions.
QUESTIONS: stages
inversion in yes/no questions vs. whquestions.
SEE FURTHER DISCUSSION IN
BOOK
Semantic development
Rapid vocabulary expansion
Largest category of words in child’s early
vocabulary?
How do children “guess” meanings of
unknown words?
Common semantic errors
ACQUISTION OF MEANING
common errors include
undergeneralization, overgeneralization
and complexive concepts.
After child acquires close to 100 words, the
overgeneralized meanings narrow and the
undergeneralized meanings extend.
Later acquired concepts
• Relational terms
• Deictic expressions
Types of Methods used in
Language Acquisition Research
• Naturalistic Approach
– Diary studies
• Experimental Studies
– Cross sectional vs. longitudinal studies
– Types of procedures used.
– KNOW THE ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES OF
BOTH GENERAL APPROACHES