Q1: How is a language acquired?
Q2: How can any language be acquired
by children in a very short time?
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
Children & Language Acquisition
Children can acquire a language in a very short time because
there is something ( the LAD) endowed in the brain.
LAD
The LAD will generate the grammar of a language so that
language is acquired naturally just like a child acquiring the
ability to walk.
Acquired vs. Learned
Children do not need to learn, when times come or when
their cognition development reaches to such an extent, they
can speak.
1. Research Methodology
2. Theories of Language Acquisition
3. Stages of Language Acquisition
4. Basis of Language Acquisition
5. Summary
The target of first language acquisition is focused
on phonology, syntax, morphology & pragmatics.
How to collect data is one of the most important
steps. Two important methods for LA are:
(1) Observations
(2) Experiments
1.1 Observations
when & how
First language acquisition began with observation.
When and how are first sounds produced?
example-Yuanren Chao & his granddaughter
Yuanren Chao reported what he observed
(weekly, 3 hours a week) about the language
acquisition of his granddaughter, resulting in
important documents.
(3) example-Timithy Shopen & his son
recorded his son’s history of language acquisition
Timithy Shopen (a linguistic scholar) observed and
recorded his son Paul’s history of language acquisition.
phonological, morphological & syntactical developments
A detailed record on phonological , morphological, and
syntactical developments was the basis of his diary,
which has become one of the most important documents
in the field of first language acquisition.
1.2 Experiments
a topic & knowledge
The researcher of an experiment has to prepare
himself with a specific topic and some basic
knowledge about child’s language acquisition.
general procedures
1. select a topic
2. review related literature
3. preparation (ex. prepare pictures for words)
4. recruit potential subjects
5. have a pilot study
6. find more subjects to conduct a research
example
1. Select a Topic
the acquiring of /s/ preceding /p, t, k/ of children
under 3
2. Review Related Literature
---the /s/ preceding /p, t, k/ is quite different from the
/s/ in other contexts
---the sound /s/ as in seat, sun, sock is acquired quite
early for American children, about at 2-3 years old
---the /s/ before /p, t, k/, e.g. spoon, sky, stick, is not
stable for most American children before 5
3. Preparation:
prepare some pictures for words like following
a.
soap
[sop]
b.
bus
[b s]
c.
spoon
[pun]
4. Recruiting:
recruit potential subjects under 3 from
neighbors or kindergartens
5. A Pilot:
have a pilot study
6. A Research:
conduct a research with more subjects
Some theories have been proposed with
a view to characterizing the nature of
language acquisition.
2.1 Theory of Imitation
2.2 Theory of Reinforcement
2.3 Theory of Grammar Construction
2.1 Theory of Imitation
Tenet
The tenet of imitation theory lies in the observation
that language acquisition begins with imitation.
Imitate
When children are exposed in a language environment,
they imitate what is heard.
Imitate
---copy their parents
Most 4-5 years old children talk almost the same way
of their parents. Tones, gestures, intonation, and manners
are, to the effect, an exact copy of what their parents
usually do.
---no models
If parents are not able to speak, e.g. deaf or suffered from
other diseases, children usually fail to acquire a language
due to the fact that they have no models to imitate.
The Weakness
Not all language behaviors result from imitation
(simplification, making errors & creation)
---simplification
Simplification is an essential step for children’s
language acquisition.
e.g. banana [b n
n ]  [n n ]
spoon [spun]  [pun]
---errors
Children can never avoid errors in their early acquisition.
Most American children commit errors in tense.
e.g. I wented to the park yesterday.
I don’t want nothing.
---creation
Most of children language is, amazing enough, full of
creation. Some innovation can be found in their
sentences or vocabulary.
e.g. Children like to pretend to take their toys far away
to the sky or to where they think is interesting.
2.2 Theory of Reinforcement
Behaviorism
This theory is in spirit based on behaviorism.
Reinforcement (+ / –)
---positive: A positive reinforcement refers to speech
like praising, encouraging, or saying something
good to children when they achieve well.
---negative: Negative reinforcement refers to punishments
or scolding or finding faults, by which children
would realize that learning is important.
Two Disadvantages-1: having no idea of reinforcement
Parents are concerned with is speech act or behaviors
(polite in expressions, gentle in tones…).
e.g. Child: I wented to the park yesterday.
Parent: No, that’s not true. You went to Grandma’s.
care less: the wrong use of ‘wented’
care more: the true information---It is Grandma’s
that the child went to, but not to the park. )
content > word / language
Parents pay more attention to contents than what word
or language is used.
Two Disadvantages-2: ignorance
ignorance
Before a certain age even if a child is taught how to
speak the child may ignore what is taught.
example-other spoon vs. other one spoon
Although the child has been reinforced (trained) in
the use of ‘other spoon’, he still returns his own use
of ‘other one spoon.’
CHILD: Want other one spoon, Daddy.
FATHER: You mean, yow want “the other spoon?
CHILD: Yes, I want other one spoon, please, Daddy.
FATEHR: Can you say “the other spoon?”
CHILD: Other…one…spoon.
FATHER: Say…“other.”
CHILD: Other.
FATHER: Spoon.
CHILD: Spoon.
FATHER: Other…spoon.
CHILD: Other…spoon. Now give me other one spoon.
No Need for Reinforcement
After a certain age, depending on individual difference,
a child would get rid of such errors, There is no need to
have reinforcement.
Cognition
The theory of reinforcement fails to account for the
mystery of language acquisition. Cognition might play a
role in this respect.
2.3 Theory of Grammar Construction
The LAD ( Language Acquisition Device)
innate / part of the Universal Grammar (UG)
biological / it grows (immature  mature)
The Application of the UG
A language is acquired in lieu of the application of
the UG.
The Application of the UG
(exposure) exposed to a language environment 
(LAD) the language initiates the LAD 
(generating) a fixed x-bar structure will be generated 
(lexicon + subcategorization)
acquired more & more lexicon + related subcategorization 
(sentence structure)
a proper lexicon is inserted to the terminal node of a
sentence structure according to the x-bar of that language
e.g. rule internalization
Children: I “wented” to the park yesterday.
Children: I “goed” to the park.
Children construct the rule (in a past tense):
all the vowels are suffixed with -ed 
words like went, go, like…work the same 
adding -ed
more exposure  more adjustment
The more exposure to the language, the more children
will adjust their rules.
Berko’s experiments:
the use of -s for English plural nouns
[s] : the suffix -s is added to words ending with a
voiceless consonants (e.g. tapes, works, seats).
[z]: the -s is suffixed to words ending with a voiced
consonant, it is read voiced (e.g. combs, bags, beds).
participants
students of 1st,2nd, 3rd grades
(1) Berko drew a weird animal.
Berko: This is a wug.
There are two of them now.
There are two ___ ?
Students: There are two wugs [w gz].
(2) He drew another weird picture for an animal called bik.
Berko: There are two of them.
Now there are two ___ ?
Students: There are two biks[b ks].
Implications
word-for-word vs. rule-for-rule
Berko’s experiments strongly argue for the theory of
grammar construction that children do not acquire word
for word, they acquire rule for rule.
grammar construction (+)
It is grammar construction that helps account for why
children can acquire a complicated language system in
so short a time with so limited exposures.
Language acquisition is examined or observed
according to different stages of children’s cognition.
3.1 Babbling
3.2 One Word Stage
3.3 Stage of Two Words
3.4 Phonological Acquisition
3.5 Syntactic Acquisition
3.6 Semantic Acquisition
3.1 Babbling
3-4 months
---begin to show babbling
---only mothers can guess what is meant
---bilabials  alveolar consonants
6 months
---begin to use their mother tongue
---suprasegments (tones, stress, & intonation)
are acquired in the beginning
suprasegments  segment
Experiments indicate that suprasegments are acquired
before segments.
(1) in English (rising & falling intonation)
Children of the English language are able to
distinguish rising intonation from falling intonation.
(2) in Mandarin (rising & falling tone)
In Taiwan, it has been noted that children of six
months are able to distinguish the rising tone (the
second tone) from the falling tones (the fourth tones)
of Mandarin Chinese.
3.2 One Word Stage (12 months old)
holophrastic sentences
Children use one word for a sentence or a semantic
unit, which is also called holophrastic sentences.
e.g. milk  I want milk. / That is milk.
substituted sounds
Children begin to have clearer sounds, though sounds
are substituted.
e. g. Amhhl’s data
a
b
c
word
bus
leg
lie
adult
[b s]
[l g]
[la ]
Amhhl’s reading
[b t]
[g k]
[da ]
In (a), the [s] is substituted with [t], and
in (b) & (c), [g] with [k], [l] with [g], respectively.
insertion or simplification
Sometimes, insertion or simplification takes place
at this stage.
e.g. a Chinese data
words
fish
to see
pain
adult
[u_]
[kan]
[tung]
Chia-chia’s reading
[yu]
[ka:]
[du:]
patterns of simplification
There are patterns for children’s simplification in
phonetics.
(a) syllable simplification:
stop  [tap], desk  [d k],[kan]  [ka:]
(b) substitution:
bus  [b t], sea  [tiy], tung  [du:]
(c) assimilation:
tell  [d l], big  [p k]
perception  production
perception + production
Language acquisition is composed of perception and
production.
perception > production
Children are much better in perception.
perception  production
Most children are able to understand what is heard at
this stage.
e.g. a dialogue
GUEST: (pointing to fish in the aquarium) What is it?
CHILD: It’s [f s] (fish ).
GUEST: Oh, so it is [f s]. How beautiful [f s].
CHILD: No. It is [f s], not [f s].
GUEST: Is it not [f s]?
CHILD: No.
GUEST: No? It’s not [f s]. It is [f
].
Child: (Happily) Yes. It is [f s].
perception (V) & production (X)
The child, though failing to pronounce the [ ] sound,
can fully understand fish should be pronounced [f
].
3.3 Stage of Two Words (24 months)
after 24 months
Children step to the stage of two words, using two words
instead one for expression.
e.g. Baby chair, Daddy car, Here doggie…
referring to different meanings
A phrase of two words can be referred to different meanings.
e.g. Baby chair 
This is the baby’s chair.
Baby (I) want to sit on the chair.
Baby (I) am now on the chair.
telegraphic stage
The phrases are telegraphic without involving with
morphological suffixes (e.g. -s, -ed, etc.) or syntactic
derivations (e.g. nominative, objective, possessive
inflections ).
a telegraph (short & brief)
be verbs (X)
inflectional suffixes (X)
morphological suffixes (X)
e.g. Get there by 10. Wait reply. 
I will get there by 10,
and now I am waiting for your reply.
e.g. The two-word phrases are straightforward,
without having any suffixes.
a.
Daddy
come
(S+V)
b.
Mommy
cry
(S+V)
c.
Eat
apple
(V+O)
d.
Sit
car
(V+O)
Stage of Three-Word (X)
Three words (X)
There is no stage of three-word in the literature of LA.
speak like adults do
Soon after the stage of two words, children get to the world
of infinity for they are able to speak like what adults do.
more words (V)
phonological changes (V)
transformation in sentences (V)
3.4 Phonological Acquisition
after 50 tokens
Children begin to build their own phonological
knowledge after they are able to speak 50 tokens.
phonological knowledge
phonetic inventories
phonemes
syllable structure
stress
tonal rules
bee [bi] & pea [pi]
Children can distinguish voicing, e.g. bee [bi] from
pea [pi], at an early stage.
perception (V) production (X)---[s] or [ ]
Even if they fail to pronounce [s] or [ ], children try
to show that they are different in their mind.
mouth [maut] & mouths [maudit] vs.
mouse [maut] & mice [maut]
An experiment shows that children who pronounce
mouth and mouse identically [maut] distinguish them
in the use of plural forms, mouths being [maudit], but
mice being [maut].
communication > errors
Some sounds are not correctly spoken.
All the errors, if they should be termed ‘errors,’
are of patterns and they never stop children from
communication.
simplification strategies
Children have got phonological knowledge at an
early age though using simplification strategies.
Children have got the ideas of a syllable, an onset &
a vowel (the nucleus-cannot be eliminated)
CV / CVC (C: consonant , V: vowel)
Simple structure is preferred.
aunt [/at]
To get a CVC syllable structure, a glottal stop is usually
inserted to the onset position of a syllable without onset.
spoon [pun], sprite [ra t]
When they encounter with a complicated onset (CCV),
one of the consonants in the onset position will be deleted.
It occurs to children that stress plays an important role.
banana & brownie
In the simplification of syllables with a stress,
The stressed syllable remains intact.
e.g. banana [b n @n ]  nana [n @n ]
brownie [br awni]  [bawn] / [b awni]
3.5 Syntactic Acquisition
the stage of one word
The difference between statements and interrogative
sentences is indicated by falling and rising intonation.
the stage of two words
The syntactic structure is full of diversities.
a
b
c
d
e
Syntactic Structure
agent + V
V + patient
V + locative
possessor + possessed
determiner + noun
Samples
John go.
Eat apple.
Sleep bed.
John bed.
This chair.
all the samples (only two words)
in syntactic structure & theta-role (quite different)
inflectional or derivational suffixes (X)
different meanings vs. mothers  communication
The different semantic meaning is revealed by intonation
or contexts.
this chair
a. (I want to sleep on) This chair.
b. This chair (hurts me).
c. (I like ) This chair, (not that one.)
From the same ‘this chair,’ mothers can judge what it
means simply by contexts or by intuition, which helps
communication to be successful between parents and
children.
the later stage (after 3 years old)
grammatical functions instead of the forms
---begin to use inflectional & derivational suffixes
e.g. -ing, -s/es
---can distinguish the -s
e.g. possessive (John’s brother, Micky’s Dad)
plural nouns (books, toys, seats)
verb of the 3rd singular nominative
(He walks away. John comes here.)
the acquisition of sentential difference  LA matured
negation sentences, interrogative sentences, sentences
involved with transformation and / or movements
3.6 Semantic Acquisition
lexicon, social & cultural background, and cognition
developments (close related)
arbitrary
Children acquire lexical semantics by viewing a concrete
object or a picture.
e.g. cats, birds & mouse
cats, birds, and mouse are arbitrarily endowed with
the reference to specific objects
connotation
social / cultural background  meanings differ
e.g. mice  cute & lovely (Disney publications / films)
mice  dirty & devil (live in a far remote country)
abstract
Semantics is quite abstract for children. It takes time for
children to adjust the abstract referential point in the
beginning.
e.g. space: this & that
(the speaker’s ‘that’ vs. the listener’s ‘this’)
categories, semantic difference & special expressions
a basis (50 words-17 / 18 months)  basic semantics
semantic deviation
The actual meaning of a lexicon is somewhat different
from what occurs to children.
two types
(1) overextension
Overextension refers to cases in which the semantic
meaning is overextended to a bigger domain.
(2) underextension
Underextension means that children have cut part of
the semantic meanings out of the original lexical
meaning.
(1) overextension
dogs: all the animals walking with four feet
oxen, pigs…dogs
ducks: the quacking sounds
quacking sounds  ducks
(2) underextension
the dog walking in the street vs. the picture of a dog
acquiring semantics
more exposure
more and more social and cultural exposure leads
children to catch what is meant for some specific
words
adjusted & readjusted
the acquisition of special expressions has to be
adjusted and readjusted before it is successfully
acquired
Q1:Why can children learn so complicated
a language in so short a time?
Q2: What is the age for puberty?
Q3: What is Universal Grammar?
4.1 Innateness Hypothesis
4.2 Critical Period Hypothesis
4.3 Universal Grammar
4.1 Innateness Hypothesis (Nativism)
Q1: Why can children learn so complicated
a language in so short a time?
(due to universal grammar)
Chomsky’s theory
There is a universal grammar present somewhere in
our brain. It is biological in nature, thus it can grow,
get mature, and fade away when we are old.
Universal Grammar
Due to universal grammar, children are able to acquire
a language in a very short time and to produce certain
sounds when they are old enough.
language acquisition & organ / cognitive maturity
two cases indicate the close relationship between
language acquisition and organ (or cognitive) maturity
(1) American children: [ ]
fail to produce the alveolar palatal fricative [ ]
before they are 2.5 years old
(2) children in Taiwan: nasalized vowels
found in difficulties in producing nasalized vowels,
e.g. [i ] ‘yard’, [a ] ‘to bend’
4.2 Critical Period Hypothesis
Q2: What is the age for puberty?
(between 8 to 12 years old)
before puberty (acquire a language)
If Innateness Hypothesis is on the right track, it implies
that children may acquire a language before puberty.
after puberty (have difficulties)
After 12 years old, children who want to learn or
acquire a new language would have difficulties.
two cases in support of the Critical Period Hypothesis
(1) Genie’s case (14 years old, over the puberty )
---a no language provided environment before 14
---trained by specialists in many fields in vin
(psychology, special education, and linguistics)
acquired (V): simple words & sentences
acquired (X): auxiliary (can, is, may, etc.)
derivational or inflectional suffixes
(-s, -er, -est, -ing, etc.)
(2) Isabelle’s case (6 years old, before the puberty)
---a deaf and mute mother
---unable to speak until 6 years old
---trained in a few years
---speak fluently
the contrast between Isabelle and Genie 
language can be acquired before puberty
Isabelle’s case & SLA
Critical Period Hypothesis (V)
Isabelle’s case in support of the Critical Period
Hypothesis comes from second language acquisition.
over the puberty & native-like (X)
Most students or learners of a second or foreign
language are over the puberty. Few of them could
produce a second language in a native-like manner.
age & LA
This further implies that age plays a central role in
language acquisition.
4.3 Universal Grammar
UG: phonetics, phonology, morphology & syntax
Universal Grammar comprises of knowledge of
phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax.
phonology: distinctive features & syllable structure
In terms of phonology, distinctive features and syllable
structure are part of the universal grammar, because all
the languages in the world are built up on features as
well as on syllables.
words: prefixes, suffixes or reduplication
Words in most languages can be decomposed into
prefixes, suffixes, or reduplication, etc.
5.1 Two Research Methods
5.2 Three Theories for LA
5.3 Stages of LA
5.4 Basic of LA
5.1 Two Research Methods
Observations and experiments play a key role.
(1) Observations
Observation is very essential in the study of
language acquisition. Most of the early studies are
based on cases recorded and reported by parents.
(2) Experiments
Observation is time-consuming, and usually there
is no specific focus. To compensate, experiment
methods are developed.
5.2 Three Theories for Language Acquisition
There are three theories proposed for the study of LA.
(1) Imitation Theory
It accounts for part of language acquisition, but it
misses more on the creativity of child language.
(2) Reinforcement Theory
It emphasizes the relation between stimulus and
response and the reinforcement, which can hardly be
found in empirical studies (parents do not use it).
(3) Grammar Construction Theory
There is an innate LAD, which is part of the UG.
The LAD is biological (immature  mature).
5.3 Stages of Language Acquisition-1
(longitudinal viewpoint)
(1) Babbling
Before 10 months, children are babbling.
(2) One-word Stage
They begin to be at the one word stage when they use
one word for a semantic unit.
(3) Two-word Stage
After two-word stage, children are fast in their
language production. In a very short time, children
can speak like adults.
5.3 Stages of Language Acquisition-2
(grammatical components)
(1) Phonology
Children have acquired what a phoneme is.
(2) Syllable Structure
They are also sensitive to syllable structure.
(3) Syntax
They use intonation for the distinction between
statements & interrogative sentences.
(4) Semantics
Children may run into difficulties in overextension or
underextension (the real target or object  puzzled).
5.4 Two Hypotheses (LA & UG  Two Hypothesis)
LA is more or less based on the theory of UG, which
claims that all the language share a certain aspects in
grammar structure.
(1) Innateness Hypothesis
The language acquisition device is biologically given.
It is no different from other organs in that it grows up,
it matures, and it fades away.
(2) Critical Period Hypothesis
Language can be acquired without difficulties before
puberty. After puberty, language will be acquired
with difficulties.