L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Think of a good L2 speaker you know
– What part of their speech is native and
what is non native?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Think of a good L2 speaker you know
– What part of their speech is native and
what is non native?
– Vocabulary, grammar are good
– Phonology is bad
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Think of a good L2 speaker you know
– What part of their speech is native and
what is non native?
– Vocabulary, grammar are good
– Phonology is bad
– So is critical period mainly phonology?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Why is there a critical period?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Why is there a critical period?
– The brain changes
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Why is there a critical period?
– The brain changes
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Why is there a critical period?
– The brain changes
– Your L1 impedes your learning
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Why is there a critical period?
– The brain changes
– Your L1 impedes your learning
– The innate language devise is only on for a
few years
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Why is there a critical period?
– The brain changes
– Your L1 impedes your learning
– The innate language devise is only on for a
few years
– Children and adults learn differently
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Why is there a critical period?
– The brain changes
– Your L1 impedes your learning
– The innate language devise is only on for a
few years
– Children and adults learn differently
– What if adults has to spend as much time
as kids figuring out the language? Time
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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How does L1 impede learning?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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How does L1 impede learning?
– Highly ingrained habits
– Attending to L1 cues, distinctions
– Brain has strong L1 connections
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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What if you were forced to use a dvorak
keyboard instead of a QWERTY?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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What if you were forced to use a dvorak
keyboard instead of a QWERTY?
What if you were forced to drive on
opposite side of road?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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What if you were forced to use a dvorak
keyboard instead of a QWERTY?
What if you were forced to drive on
opposite side of road?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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What if you were forced to use a dvorak
keyboard instead of a QWERTY?
What if you were forced to drive on
opposite side of road?
What if you had to classify all nouns into 7
categories?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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What if you were forced to use a dvorak
keyboard instead of a QWERTY?
What if you were forced to drive on
opposite side of road?
What if you had to classify all nouns into 7
categories?
What if you had to start sentences with
verbs?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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What if there were 5 ways to produce
plurals.
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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What if there were 5 ways to produce
plurals.
What if your language was written without
vowels?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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What if there were 5 ways to produce
plurals.
What if your language was written without
vowels?
What if you had to change the way you
speak depending on the person's gender,
age, social status, familiarity?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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How fluent will you get by interacting with
people in the language 16 hours a day 7
days a week?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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How fluent will you get by interacting with
people in the language 16 hours a day 7
days a week?
How fluent will you get by using the
language 5 hours a week?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Activation model
– Adult brains are going to activate all kinds
of L1 stuff when hearing L2.
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Activation model
– Adult brains are going to activate all kinds
of L1 stuff when hearing L2.
– Adults are going to use entrenched patterns
that are not relevant to L2
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word order
phonotactics
articulatory habits
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Transfer: applying L1 habits to L2
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Transfer: applying L1 habits to L2
– Is it good or bad?
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Transfer: applying L1 habits to L2
– Is it good or bad?
– It is good if language structures are the
same
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-s plural in English and Spanish
Latin vocabulary in English and Romance
languages
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Transfer: applying L1 habits to L2
– Is it good or bad?
– It is good if language structures are the
same
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-s plural in English and Spanish
Latin vocabulary in English and Romance
languages
– It is bad when structures are different
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Can early exposure help later acquisition
– Overhearers: heard language in childhood
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Can early exposure help later acquisition
– Overhearers: heard language in childhood
– Learned childhood language as adults
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Can early exposure help later acquisition
– Overhearers: heard language in childhood
– Learned childhood language as adults
– Had better pronunciation than nonoverhearers
– No difference with non-overhearers on
morphology
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Can early exposure help later acquisition
– Overhearers
– Childhood speakers
– No early exposure
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Can early exposure help later acquisition
– Overhearers
– Childhood speakers
– No early exposure
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Childhood speakers could distinguish hard
Korean sounds better than overhearers and
people with no early exposure
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Problems for adult learners
– Feeling like a baby
– Unable to express self-identity
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Problems for adult learners
– Feeling like a baby
– Unable to express self-identity
– Not fitting in socially
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Problems for adult learners
– Feeling like a baby
– Unable to express self-identity
– Not fitting in socially
– Being illiterate again
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Problems for adult learners
– Feeling like a baby
– Unable to express self-identity
– Not fitting in socially
– Being illiterate again
– Being too self-conscious to talk, get
feedback, get involved in L2 culture
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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People may retain accent to retain cultural
identity
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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People may retain accent to retain cultural
identity
Immigrants in Germany with good accents
– watched more TV in German
– had more German friends
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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People may retain accent to retain cultural
identity
Immigrants in Germany with good accents
– watched more TV in German
– had more German friends
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Immigrants with bad accents adopted less
German culture
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Bad accent may be due to
– less practice with Germans, not less
acculturation
L1 and L2 Acquisition
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Accent changing
– When moving to different state
– What does family think of it?
– Video
Bilingualism
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How are two languages processed in the
brain?
Bilingualism
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How are two languages processed in the
brain?
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Is it good to raise children bilingual?
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Are there benefits to being bilingual?
Bilingualism
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Experiment: Spanish / Catalan bilinguals
– Shown two pictures, one in red and the
other in green.
– Asked to name picture in green and ignore
red one
Bilingualism
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Distractor with cognate name (cup: tasa, tassa)
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Distractor with non-cognate name (net: red, xarxa)
Bilingualism
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Distractor with cognate name (cup: tasa, tassa)
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Distractor with non-cognate name (net: red, xarxa)
Bilingualism
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Distractors with cross language related names (armilla, ardilla)
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Distractors with unrelated names (pico, bec)
Bilingualism
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Distractors with cross language related names (armilla, ardilla)
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Distractors with unrelated names (pico, bec)
Bilingualism
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Moral of the story
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We can't help but “see” language
Bilingualism
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Moral of the story
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We can't help but “see” language
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Both languages are activated when one is being used.
Bilingualism
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Moral of the story
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We can't help but “see” language
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Both languages are activated when one is being used.
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But wait, what about verbal versus signed languages?
Bilingualism
Near-Infrared Spectroscopy-measures blood flow
Bilingualism
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Three groups
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ASL / English bilinguals
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ASL monolinguals
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English monolinguals
Bilingualism
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Experiment:
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Monolingual mode: name picture in one language
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Bilingual mode: name pictures alternating languages
Bilingualism
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Starred bars are significantly different
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Posterior temporal area is Wernike's area
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Why would sensory motor be more activated in bilingual
mode?
Bilingualism
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So, words in both languages are activated,
how about sentences?
Bilingualism
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So, words in both languages are activated,
how about sentences?
– Lexical Decision task with sentences
– German / English bilinguals
Bilingualism
The tree was painted by the artist.
Primes
The tree was painted by the artist.
Bilingualism
Der Baum wurde von dem Künstler gemalt.
(The tree was painted by the artist.)
Primes
The tree was painted by the girls.
Bilingualism
Der Baum wurde von dem Künstler gemalt.
(The tree was painted by the artist.)
Primes
The moon was painted by the girls.
Bilingualism
The artist painted the tree.
Primes
Der Künstler malte den Baum.
(The artist paints the tree)
Bilingualism
Are languages processed in different parts
of the brain?
Brain exposed patients shown pictures, and asked to say “this is a ___”
Spot on brain is electrically stimulated.
If stimulation impedes production it’s a language area
Are certain areas particular to one language?
Yes, but more are common to both languages.