Introduction to Linguistics 9
L1 & L2 Acquisition
Prof. Jo Lewkowicz
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The miracle of language
• Bt age 4 English speaking children know
10,000+ words, equivalent of 10 new words
per day
• Compare this with number of words you have
learned in English during past
week/month/year
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Chronology of L1 acquisition
• V. early stage
• Approx 6
mths
• Approx 1 year
• One-word
stage
• Crying, smiling, cooing (4 -7 mths use pitch & loudness
to play with ‘cooing sounds’)
• Babbling (e.g. dadada; bababa, mama)
• Children begin to realise the concept that words refer
to something. As nos. words increases, so babbling
decreases.
• When this starts varies from one child to another.
What may be 2 words in adult language may be 1
word for a child , e.g. ‘allgone’. Also children may
overextend words (e.g. bunny to mean many things
such as doll, bear, toy lion etc.) Children may also
underuse a word, e.g. ‘tree’ referring to leafless tree in
winter and not to one in spring, summer.
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From sound to syntax
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• Sounds/pronunciation
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• Syntax
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Children learn some sounds more quickly than
others
Often delete a sound or syllable (e.g. ‘tein’ for
‘train’; ‘dedo’ for ‘potato’), replace one sound for
another (‘wabbit’ for ‘rabbit’)
May perceive sound differences they cannot
produce
Combining words together starts at approx 2
years.
At first, speech is telegraphic, i.e. only content
words used, e.g. mummy gone; Ethan no go.
Sequence of learning predictable (especially
noticeable in terms of morphology)
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Interest in L1 acquisition
• Interest in L1 acquisition has long history
• Example is the experiment carried out by
Mogul Emperor in India in 16th century
• First comprehensive theory of language
acquisition is developed by Skinner in late
1950s
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Behaviourist views of L1 acquisition
• Believed that language learned through imitation and
habit formation
• BUT
– What we say is unique so children are unlikely to
remember exactly what they have heard
– Children are creative in their language use: say things they
will never have heard before
– Children overgeneralize rules, e.g. In English add ‘ed’
ending to past tense of irregular verbs
– Evidence that children also from an early stage
accommodate to their speakers
– Children hear vast quantities of language – too much to
remember everything
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Mentalist approach
• All humans are hard-wired to learn to speak: defining factor
for humanity.
– If this is so, how to we ‘classify’ those persons born without the
power of acquiring spoken language?
• Children cannot simply learn from what they hear as this is
often fragmentary, ungrammatical and imprecise. YET
– Parents do accommodate their speech when taking to infants:
speak more slowly, more clearly and often in complete
sentences
– Children have huge amounts of practice
– Parents do direct infants attention to aspects of language
– Infants early own can discover the limits of their communicative
competence, which may lead to further L1 acquisition
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Roger Brown’s contribution to L1
acquisition theory
• Studies 3 unrelated children for a period of time.
• Found that there was a consistent pattern in what
the children learned
• Found that they learned grammar in the same
order but at a different rate
• Found that frequency with which the children
encountered morphemes did not relate to the
order in which they learned them
• But, children will not learn constructions they
never hear.
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Halliday’s contribution to L1
acquisition
• Child starts by developing a ‘proto-language’:
one-to-one correspondence between utterance &
meaning
• At this stage there is no grammar & no words (as
we know them)
• Sounds uttered are functioning as signs – drawing
caregivers attention
• When words first appear a single word used to
mean many things, i.e. overgeneralization: dog
may mean: I like the dog, go away dog, I want a
dog, etc.
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Functionalist views of L1 acquisition
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First utterances are not imitations of adult language
Children go through number of stages in acquiring their language
Acquire words then grammar
When words first appear a single word used to mean many things, i.e.
overgeneralization: dog may mean: I like the dog, go away dog, I want a
dog, etc
Children learn to nominate a topic of conversation early on. They also
know how to take turns in the interactive process
Learn to talk about the hear and now before talking about things that are
not present
Suggest that children do not learn words and then grammar to make
meaning, but they learn to function using language to fulfil certain
functions and as they do so, they acquire grammatical accuracy.
Language acquisition stimulated by our drive to meet physical and
emotional needs, including the need to socialise and become members of
social groups.
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Things young children can do with
language
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Satisfy material needs
Get others to do things
Interact socially
Express their own uniqueness
Explore the world
Use language imaginatively
Later 7th function = informative
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What we know about L1 acquisitions
• All healthy babies are ‘predisposed’ to learning their L1 in the
spoken form, i.e. there is some mechanism or LAD (language
acquisition device) in the brain.
• Learning, however, will only take place if babies hear language
around them (they will not learn words/structures they do not
hear).
• As young children learn their L1 they practice endlessly what they
learn.
• Although the rate at which young children acquire their L1 varies,
they follow a fixed sequence of learning.
• The order in which certain features of language are learned does
not depend on the frequency with which they hear adults using the
structures, e.g. they will learn plural ‘s’ (books) or the ‘ing’ (going)
form before third person singular ‘s’ (he speaks).
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Example of acquisition order
1. Present progressive (ing)
2/3. in, on
4. Plural (-s)
5. Past irregular
6. Possessive (-’s)
7. Uncontractible copula (is, am, are)
8. Articles (a, the)
9. Past regular (-ed)
10. Third person regular (-s)
11. Third person irregular
(source: Brown, Roger (1973). A First Language. CUP)
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SLA
• Second language acquisition is the study of learning a 2nd, 3rd, 4th,
etc. language having learned/started to learn an L1.
• This learning may take place in naturalistic or classroom settings.
• Researchers look at both the language used at various stages of
learning (product) as well as the mental processes and
environmental factors that influence that learning (process)
• Understanding SLA is important for knowing how to approach the
teaching of 2nd/foreign languages
• Emerged from contrastive analysis studies (of similarities and
differences between languages)
• Built on prevailing theories of psychology as well as knowledge/
understanding of L1 acquisition
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Some facts about SLA
• Errors are important for SLA (both for learning the L2
and for studying the process of L2 acquisition)
• SLA is systematic and, to a large extent, universal
• Order in which grammatical features such as
morphemes are acquired are largely fixed regardless
in which order they are taught.
• Individual differences do determine how well SLL
acquire a language.
• Many learners stop developing while still short of
target-like competence
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Language errors
• Initially errors were seen as something bad – to be
avoided at all cost: in line with behaviourist
psychology.
• Now recognise that errors in SLL are a stage through
which learners must go through
• Errors that L2 learners make are universal:
– omission (compare with L1 acquisition)
– overgeneralization (compare with L1 acquisition)
– transfer errors (from L1)
• Negative transfer
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Studies of errors
• Studies have shown that errors are:
– Systematic (not random)
– Cannot always be predicted by CA
– Ls move through certain stages characterized by
particular types of errors, i.e. go through an
interlanguage phase
– Ls attempt to construct their own rules of
language based on existing knowledge which may
result in errors such as overgeneralization of
regular past tense form
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Early stages of L2 acquisition
• Silent period (esp. for young learners): learners may
be learning but they make no attempt to say
anything
• Early speech characterized by:
– Formulaic chunks, e.g Can I have ...; What’s your
name? I was born on 3rd June 1989
– Propositional simplification: Ls leave out words,
e.g. Me no blue = I have no blue crayon
• Ls then begin to acquire grammar and as they do so,
they appear to follow a similar route in terms of
accuracy and the errors they make
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Example of the learning process
Stage
Description
Example
1
Ls fail to mark the tense for past
time
‘eat’
2
Ls begin to produce irregular past
tense form
‘ate’
3
Ls overgeneralize regular past
tense form
‘eated’
4
Sometimes Ls produce hybrid
forms
‘ated’
5
Ls produce correct irregular past
tense forms
‘ate’
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Individual differences and SLA
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Age
Language aptitude
Motivation
Learning skills, styles and strategies
Personality type (introversion/ extroversion)
Tolerance to errors
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Fossilization
• Most learners do not reach full competence in every aspect of
the target language, i.e. they do not go through all the stages
of learning outlined in slide 11 for every aspect of the
language.
• In such cases their ‘inertalnguage’ is said to have fossilized,
i.e. their errors are consistent and systematically used
• At what point learners language development fossilizes
depends on a number of factors including:
– Ls’ language aptitude
– Ls’ motivation to acquire language proficiency
– Ls’ needs
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Critical age hypothesis
• At around puberty the two spheres of the brain begin to harden
and the left hemisphere takes on the responsibility for language.
• Prior to this, the brain has a great deal of plasticity which seems to
facilitate language learning, at least in terms of pronunciation.
• After reaching this critical age, Ls appear to have greater difficulty in
acquiring a 2nd language
• Research has suggested that there may not be a cut-off point for
language – rather a different critical period for pronunciation and
for syntax
• Few adults after reaching the critical period learn to pronounce a
2nd language without a trace of an accent.
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What is the optimal age for SLL?
• Because of the critical period hypothesis it is
often believed that young children are more
efficient language learners than adolescents
or adults.
• This is true in terms of acquiring a native-like
accent, but not so in terms of the rate at
which they learn vocabulary or structures of
the new language.
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Age differences in SLA
Younger advantage
• Brain plasticity
• Not analytical
• Fewer inhibitions (usually)
• Weaker group identity
• Simplified input more likely
Older advantage
• Learning capacity
• Analytic ability
• Pragmatic skills
• Greater knowledge of L1
• Real-world knowledge
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When does SLA takes place?
• Like babies learning their L1, SLL need to have
opportunities to hear and practice the language they
are learning.
• The following may facilitate SLL:
– modified input - foreigner talk / comprehensible input
– interaction in which negotiation of meaning takes place
– scaffolding: the process by which Ls utilise discourse to
help them construct structures that are outside their
competence
– opportunities for comprehensible output
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