Prof. K. Demuth
CG 143
TTh 2:30-3:50
This course provides a multidisciplinary introduction to the problem of language acquisition, beginning with aspects of infant speech perception, and then investigating the acquisition of phonology, morphology, syntax and lexical semantics. The course takes both a theoretical and hands-on approach to learning about acquisition issues in these different domains, exploring the importance of input and implications for learnability theory, as well as many of the different methodologies used in language acquisition research (e.g. corpus based studies, experimental studies). Weekly activities will include readings, discussion, child observation, data collection/analysis, and a final project. CG 41 (Introduction to Linguistic Theory) or the equivalent is a prerequisite.
Sept. 7-9
Sept. 14-16
Sept. 21-23
Sept. 28-30
Oct. 5-7
Oct. 12-14
Oct. 19-21
Oct. 26-28
Nov. 2-4
Nov. 9-11
Introduction: Learnability Issues
Readings: L Intro, Ch 1, 2
Readings: L Ch 3, 4,
Guest Speaker – Chloe Marshall, UCL (phonology/morphology in SLI)
Nature-Nurture Controversies
Readings: L Ch 6, 7, 8
Readings: L Ch 9.10.11
Readings: L Ch 12, 13, 14
Practice Talks: Jae Yung Song (morphophonology) & Erin Conwell (syntax)
Transcription/Analyses due 30 th ,
Reading for research proposal
Readings: L Ch 15, 16, 17
Areas of Language Knowledge
Readings: L Ch 18, 19, 20 Abstract of research projects due 7 th
Readings: L Ch 21, 22, 23
Readings: L Ch 24, 25, 26 Proposals due 14th
Readings: L Ch 26, 27, 28, 29
Readings: Phonological Development
Readings: Prosody/Morphology Interactions
Guest Speaker – Katherine White (the phonology of the developing lexicon)
Outline & Bibliography for research projects due 28 th
Readings: Morphosyntactic Development
Work on Projects, (Nov. 4-7 BU Conference)
Readings: Syntactic Productivity
Guest Speaker – Melanie Soderstrom (perception of grammatical morphemes)

Nov. 16-18
Nov. 22
Readings: Bilingualism
Readings: Language Processing
Dept. Colloquium Speaker: Joe Pater/UMass Amherst
“Constraining Phonological Exceptions: Theory and Learnability”
Nov. 23
Nov. 30-Dec2
Dec. 7-9
Project Presentations
Thanksgiving
Guest Speaker: Sandile Gxilishe, UCT (Acquisition of Xhosa clicks)
Project Presentations
Project Presentations
Project Presentations , Final Papers Due 9th
Book
Lust, B. 2004. First Language Acquisition: The Essential Readings . Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Grade: Class Presentations &Discussion
Data Transcription and Analysis
30%
10%
Final Research Project Oral Report 30%
Final Research Project Written Report 30%

Phonological Development
Demuth, K. & M. Johnson. 2003. Truncation to subminimal words in early French. Canadian Journal of
Linguistics , 48 211-241.
Pater. J. & A. Werle. 2003. Direction of assimilation in child consonant harmony. Canadian Journal of
Linguistics , 48, 385-408.
Gnanadesikan, A. 2004. Markedness and faithfulness constraints in child phonology. In R. Kager, J.
Pater, and W. Zonneveld (eds.) Constraints in Phonological Acquisition. Cambridge University
Press .
Pater, J. 2004. Bridging the gap between perception and production with minimally violable constraints.
In R. Kager, J. Pater, and W. Zonneveld (eds.) Constraints in Phonological Acquisition .
Cambridge University Press.
Prosodic/Morphology Interactions
Gerken, L. A. & Macinthosh, B. J. 1993. The interplay of function morphemes and prosody in early language. Developmental Psychology, 29, 448-457.
Demuth, K. 1994. On the 'underspecification' of functional categories in early grammars. In B. Lust , M.
Suñer, & J. Whitman (eds.), Syntactic Theory and First Language Acquisition: Cross-Linguistic
Perspectives , pp. 119-134. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Lleó, C. & K. Demuth. 1999. Prosodic constraints on the emergence of grammatical morphemes:
Crosslinguistic evidence from Germanic and Romance languages. In A. Greenhill, H. Littlefield,
& C. Tano (eds.), Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Boston University Conference on Language
Development , pp. 407-418. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Morphosyntactic Development
Allen, S.E.M. (In press) A discourse-pragmatic explanation for the subject-object asymmetry in early null arguments: The Principle of Informativeness revisited. In R. Shillcock, A. Sorace & C. Heycock
(Eds.), Proceedings of the Third GALA Conference.
Deen, Kamil Ud. 2003. The acquisition of inflectional prefixes in Nairobi Swahili. Annual Review of
Language Acquisition 3, 139-179.
Grinstead, J. 2004. Subjects and interface delay in child Spanish and Catalan. Language 80 , 40-72.
Syntactic Productivity
Demuth, K. 1989. Maturation and the acquisition of Sesotho passive. Language, 65, 56-80.
Lieven, E. V. M., Pine, J. M. & Baldwin, G. 1997. Lexically based learning and early grammatical development. Journal of Child Language 24 , 187-219.
Theakston, A L. 2004. The role of entrenchment in children's and adults' performance limitations on grammaticality judgment tasks. Cognitive Development , 19, 15-34.
Demuth, K., Machobane, M., & Moloi, F. 2003. Rules and construction effects in learning the argument structure of verbs. Journal of Child Language , 30, 1-25.
Bilingualism
Sebastián-Gallés, N. & L. Bosch. 2001. On becoming bilingual. In E. Dupoux (ed.), Language, Brain, and Cognitive Development . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. pp. 379-393
Lleó, C. 2002. The role of markedness in the acquisition of complex prosodic structures by German-
Spanish bilinguals. The International Journal of Biligualism 6 , 291-313.
Petitto, L. A., Holowka, S., Sergio, L. E., Levy, B., & Ostry, D. J. 2004. Baby hands that move to the rhythm of language: Hearing babies acquiring sign language babble silently on the hands.
Cognition, 93, 43-73.

Language Processing
Trueswell, J. C. Sekerina, I., Hillm N, M. & Logrip, M.L. 1999. the kindergarten-path effect: studying on-lin sentence processing in young children. Cognition 73 , 89-134.
Scherag, A., Demuth, L. Roseler, F. Neville, H.J. and roeder, B. 2004. The effects of late acquisition of
L2 and the consequences of immigration on L1 for semantic and morpho-syntactic language aspects. Cognition 93: B97-B108.
Perfors, A., A. Fernald, K. Magnani, & V. Marchman. 2004. Picking up speed in understanding: Speech processing efficiency and vocabulary growth across the second year. Ms., Stanford University.
Demuth English Corpora
• Acquisition of Coda Consonants
• Variable use of Schwa/Codas
• Acquisition of Consonant Clusters
• Consonant Harmony
• Truncation of 3-syllable words
• Acquisition of grammatical morphology (plural, 3 rd p. sg., past, possessive)
• Acquisition of auxiliary verbs, subject/aux inversion in questions
• Pronoun Reversal (NAI and EVA, WIL?)
• The Phonological Structure of Word Play (NAI)
Demuth Sesotho Corpus http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/data
• The development of null noun class prefixes: Class, AGR type, discourse context, definiteness
• Null objects - Thematic role, discourse context, definiteness, transitivity
• Null subjects - Overmarking of overt subjects/demonstrative pronouns, U-shaped curve
• Passives: Perfective, Adversity, Lexical Productivity (passive/active alternations, multiple frames)
• Acquisition of Tense & Agreement – null AGR in input, Object marking
• Finite vs. Infinitival Clauses – over marking of inf. with subject marking
• Acquisition of Causatives
Demuth French Corpora
• Acquisition of initial and final consonant clusters
• Acquisition of singleton word-final consonants – clusters
• Variable appearance of word-final schwa
• Truncation of 3-syllable words
• Consonant Harmony (on longer words – complexity issues)
Other Issues
• Bilingual Acquisition issues – phonology/morphology
• ASL Acquisition issues
• Acquisition issues in another language
• The phonology/morphology of stuttering