PSY 369: Psycholinguistics Language Acquisition Acquiring language Dr. Cutting, language sure is complicated. How do you expect us to learn all this stuff? Student in my psycholinguistics course Acquiring language Whadda’ ya mean, mommy. I can talk. I can understand what you say. What’s so hard? Student in my psycholinguistics course 2 year old Acquiring language How do we (humans) do it? How do we learn to use this complex behavior? Student in my psycholinguistics course 2 year old Overview Some of the major issues Imitation vs Innateness Born to walk Born to talk? How much explicit teaching do we get? Very little on syntax & phonology, some on meaning Commonalities across individuals, languages and cultures Language is complex everywhere Sounds, words, syntax, and more No primitive (simple) languages Language development is similar everywhere Similar stages Typical language development 36 Months 24 Months 18 Months 12 Months 6 Months Similar stages Typical language development 6 Months Responds to his name Responds to human voices without visual cues by turning his head and eyes Responds appropriately to friendly and angry tones Typical language development 12 Months Uses one or more words with meaning (this may be a fragment of a word) Understands simple instructions, especially if vocal or physical cues are given Practices inflection Is aware of the social value of speech Typical language development 18 Months Has vocabulary of approximately 5-20 words Vocabulary made up chiefly of nouns Some echolalia (repeating a word or phrase over and over) Is able to follow simple commands Typical language development 24 Months Can name a number of objects common to his surroundings Is able to use at least two prepositions Combines words into a short sentence (telegraphic) Vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words Volume and pitch of voice not yet well-controlled Typical language development 36 Months Use pronouns I, you, me correctly Is using some plurals and past tenses Knows at least three prepositions Handles three word sentences easily Has in the neighborhood of 900-1000 words About 90% of what child says should be intelligible Verbs begin to predominate In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication What was that? You’re mumbling. We experience language before we’re even born Normal human language uses sounds between 100 and 4000 Hz Sound travels through skin and fluids too In the womb, sounds up to 1000 Hz Can’t hear individual words But can hear: Intonation, durations, rhythm, stress In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication We experience language before we’re even born Non-Nutritive Sucking method DeCasper & Spence (1986) Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during final 6 weeks of pregnancy After babies were born tested to see if babies preferred familiar story over novel one Results: babies preferred the familiar stories In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication We experience language before we’re even born Mahler et al. (1988, in France) 4 day old babies Non-Nutritive Sucking method Played French or Russian Sucking pattern changed if language was switched Sucking pattern didn’t change if language wasn’t switched Babies knew (something about) the languages (most likely prosody) In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication We experience language before we’re even born Fetal heart monitor DeCasper, et al (1994) In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication We experience language before we’re even born Fetal heart monitor DeCasper, et al (1994) Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during 34-38 weeks of pregnancy After 38th week, two stories were played to the fetuses (but mom couldn’t hear it) Same story Different story In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication We experience language before we’re even born Fetal heart monitor DeCasper, et al (1994) Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during 34-38 weeks of pregnancy After 38th week, two stories were played to the fetuses (but mom couldn’t hear it) Same story Different story In the beginning… and the womb Prelinguistic communication We experience language before we’re even born Fetal heart monitor DeCasper, et al (1994) Had mothers read stories everyday to fetuses during 34-38 weeks of pregnancy After 38th week, two stories were played to the fetuses (but mom couldn’t hear it) Decreased fetal heart-rate Same story Different story Baby learned something about the story before it was born! The early days Prelinguistic communication After birth Child-directed speech (motherese) Phonological differences are key Slower Higher in pitch More variable in pitch More exaggerated intonation All may help to orient and maintain attention of infant Typically deal with the “here & now” May help “bootstrap” later learning The early days Prelinguistic communication After birth Early “conversations” Turn taking behaviors From the movie - breast feeding “conversations” Parents interpret infant’s vocalizations as having meaning (also from the movie, Snow’s work) The early days: gestures Prelinguistic gestures (around 8 months) Demonstration that the infant is trying to communicate in some way e.g., pointing behaviors Criteria Waiting Persistence Development of alternative plans The early days: phonology Eimas et al, (1971) Categorical perception in infants (1 month olds) 100 Sharp phoneme boundary Young infants can distinguish different phonemes % /ba/ 0 1 ... 3 … 5 … 7 The early days: phonology Categorical perception in infants A number of studies suggest that very young infants can perceive between a number of phonemic distinctions (e.g., Kuhl & Meltzhoff, 1997) Not limited to their language context However, as they age/experience their context language the ability to perceive some of these distinctions are lost (~10 to 12 months) Nature/nurture debate: Are humans “pre-programmed” to distinguish speech sounds? We’re listening The early days: phonology Eimas et al, (1971) Categorical perception in infants (1 month olds) 100 Sharp phoneme boundary Chinchillas do it too! % /ba/ Kuhl and Miller (1975) 0 1 ... 3 … 5 … 7 Are they “preprogrammed to perceive human speech? The early days: speech production Vocal track differences Infant Adult Infants vocal tracts are smaller, and initially shaped differently The infant’s tongue fills the entire mouth, reducing the range of movement As the facial skeleton grows, the range for movement increases (which probably contributes to the increased variety of sounds infants start to produce) May be (in part) why production lags behind comprehension Speech production The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern. Role of both nature and nurture Pre 6 weeks – “vegetative” sounds Nature/Biology plays an important role in the emergence of cooing & babbling. The form of the child’s vocalization is also affected by the linguistic environment. Cry, burp, sucking noises Post 6 week – “cooing” and later “babbling” Babbling & other videos Speech production The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern. Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish 6 - 8 weeks: cooing 4 - 6 months: babbling Clear consonants and vowels are produced “da”, “gi” Speech production The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern. Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish 6 - 8 weeks: cooing 4 - 6 months: babbling 6 - 7 months: Reduplicated babbling “dada”, “gigi” Speech production The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern. Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish 6 - 8 weeks: cooing 4 - 6 months: babbling 6 - 7 months: Reduplicated babbling 8 - 9 months: CVC clusters may appear “bod”, “tat” Speech production The progression of cooing and babbling follows a universal pattern. Babies, until around 6 months old, can produce sounds/phonemes that their parents cannot produce or distinguish 10 or 11 months: Variegated babbling Combining “incomprehensible words” Intonation patterns “dab gogotah” May reflect phonological rules of spoken language context By 12 to 14 months some evidence of language specific phonological rules The first words Of course he said “arf.” What else did you expect his first word to be? Language Sponges Learning words 12 ms 2 yrs 3 yrs 6 yrs first words 200 words 1,000 words 15,000 words About 3,000 new words per year, especially in the primary grades As many as 8 new words per day Production typically lags behind comprehension Language Sponges Lots of individual differences But there is also a consistent pattern Vocabulary growth Methods used to study this Observational data (60s to present) Diary studies Taped language samples (Roger Brown) Parents record their kids language development Small numbers of children (Eve, Adam, Sarah) Went to home every month made tape recordings Extensive study needed Hard to kids to “say all the words you know” or “say a question” Early phonological production isn’t like adult production, often need to take great care deciding what the child meant Large database CHILDES Many kids, many languages, including children with language difficulties Early speech production Transition to speech This Your is your fis? fis? Oh, your fish. No.No. …My my fis! fis. Yes, my fis. Early speech production Transition to speech Can’t hear the difference? Your fis. Oh, your fish. Can’t produce the correct sounds? Rejects adult saying fis This is your fis? No, … my fis. Sometimes, but evidence suggests not always the case More general process of simplification “frees up” resources for concentrating on other aspects of language learning No, my fis. Yes, my fis. Early speech production Transition to speech Early words Common Phonological processes Reduction Delete sounds from words Coalescence Combine different syllables into one syllable Assimilation Change one sound into a similar sound within the word Reduplication One syllable from a multi-syllabic word is repeated Early speech production First words Around 10-15 months (lots of individual differences) Emergence of systematic, repeated productions of phonologically consistent forms Idiomorphs - personalized words Developed in systematic ways Sometimes simplifications of adult speech Or relate to sounds of the objects Demonstrate Creative, not simply imitation Learned importance of consistency of names