Language Acquisition
Language acquisition refers to the process through which humans acquire the ability to understand and use language. This typically occurs in early childhood and involves the development of linguistic skills such as vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Researchers study language acquisition to understand how children learn language and to explore the underlying cognitive processes involved.
8 Key excerpts on "Language Acquisition"
eBook - ePub- Zuzana Toth(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter(Publisher)
...2 Key concepts of Language Acquisition research Language Acquisition is “a widespread, highly complex, uniquely human, cognitive process” (Doughty and Long 2003: 5). The importance of this process in human experience stimulated great research interest in various disciplines such as psychology, cognitive sciences, neurosciences, linguistics, to name just a few. Research on Language Acquisition covers a wide range of phenomena, such as the acquisition of first, second and third languages, sign Language Acquisition, the acquisition of heritage languages, and the connection between Language Acquisition and various linguistic and extra-linguistic factors such as identity, motivation, typological distance between languages, mode of language learning, etc. This chapter focuses on concepts of Language Acquisition research that are pertinent to the present study. On the basis of the research questions, the methodology of data collection and analysis, the study can be located in the field of second Language Acquisition research. However, some of its implications may be applicable to further research on third Language Acquisition. The next sections focus on these two research fields, with the aim of locating the present study in the current theoretical discussion on second and third Language Acquisition. 2.1 Second language and third language The term second language “can refer to any language learned after learning the L1 [first language], regardless of whether it is the second, third, fourth, or fifth language” (Gass and Selinker 2008: 7 [emphasis in original]). This definition introduces a two-level distinction between the first or native language, acquired in early infancy, and additional languages. It implies a dichotomous distinction, based on a chronological criterion, where all non-native languages are given the same status because they follow the native language chronologically...
eBook - ePubThe Cognitive Sciences
An Interdisciplinary Approach
- Carolyn P. Sobel, Paul Li(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
...8 The Role of Linguistics in Cognitive Science Language Acquisition First-Language Acquisition Stages in First-Language Acquisition The Social Aspect of First- Language Acquisition Second-Language Acquisition Bilingualism Language Deprivation Language Acquisition in Abused or Feral Children Language Acquisition in the Deaf and Hearing Impaired Language Loss (Language Attrition) Causes of Languages Loss Aphasia The Role of Computational Linguistics Computational Modeling of Language Language and Thought L inguists search for the underlying commonalities among languages. Some reconstruct rules of languages no longer spoken, and some focus on the rules of languages currently spoken. The data they describe contribute to our knowledge of the types of rules and principles underlying languages. From these data we can infer much about the functioning of the cognitive processes that produce them. As you read in Part 1, cognitive psychology attempts to understand the processes our minds engage in, the cognitive architecture that makes it all possible. Thus, language is of great interest to those of us in the field of cognitive psychology, concerned as we are with issues of learning and of the representation of knowledge in the brain. The following is a look at some of the areas in cognitive psychology in which language plays a major role and where the overlap with linguistics is plain. Language Acquisition First-Language Acquisition It is helpful to address at this point, because it is far from obvious, the way in which human infants acquire a language (or languages, for many learn more than one in the environment in which they are raised). The word infant indicates this state of affairs: Its meaning in Latin, from which we borrowed it, is “not speaking”. How do you generally judge when an infant has become no-longer-an-infant? Probably you consider key elements in this judgment to be whether the child walks and talks...
eBook - ePubThe Sounds of Language
An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology
- Elizabeth C. Zsiga(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
...For both children and adults, we examine the tools used to study the phenomena, typical data for both speech perception and speech production, and the theories that are proposed to account for the data. Finally (Section 20.5), we end with a consideration of what the study of phonological acquisition and learning can teach us about linguistic theory. 20.1 Language Acquisition and Language Learning The goal of the linguist is to propose an explicit analysis; the goal of the learner is to gain the knowledge needed to become a proficient language user. When we speak of the process of gaining language proficiency as it applies to babies and children, we refer to Language Acquisition, and we call a native language acquired in childhood the L1. To say that language is “acquired” emphasizes the seeming effortlessness of the task. All babies, unless they have severe physical or cognitive disabilities, become competent (if not perfect) users of their native language by age 4. The process is not nearly so effortless for an adult learning a non-native language. (Linguists may call any non-native language an L2, even if it is the third or fourth in the speaker’s repertoire.) Most adults find the process of learning an L2 to be difficult, even with explicit instruction, and the results vary considerably. Differences in aptitude, motivation, type of instruction, and amount of social interaction play important roles in language learning for adults. Some adults have an aptitude for learning languages and are quite successful: some L2 speakers become so proficient that their speech is indistinguishable from that of a native. For most adult learners, however, a foreign accent of varying severity persists, even when the learner has been surrounded by native language users for many years...
eBook - ePub- Eva M. Fernández, Helen Smith Cairns(Authors)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
...Another class of research has focused on differences in the input: older learners experience much less exposure to the target language than young children acquiring their first language, and the input older learners experience places greater communicative demands on them (VanPatten 1987). It is likely that combinations of these factors contribute to the overall observed differences between first and second Language Acquisition. Summing Up The process of Language Acquisition is a natural unfolding of genetically based neurological organization in response to the linguistic experience of the environment. The lexicon and grammar develop according to principles and sequences that are common to all children and highly similar for all children acquiring the same language. Despite some complications, similar principles and sequences are also observed in second language learners. As language knowledge develops, so does the ability to put that knowledge to use in the production and comprehension of sentences and in the social use of language. Finally, the child develops awareness of the linguistic system as distinct from a vehicle for social interaction and communication. This awareness enables the child to grasp and use the written form of the language. New Concepts acquisition strategies babbling bilingual (simultaneous) Language Acquisition constrained statistical learning framework discriminate environmental input extendability principle (taxonomic assumption) fast mapping infant-directed speech (motherese) Language Acquisition Device (LAD) lexical learning principles mean length of utterance (MLU) mutual exclusivity assumption nativist model of Language Acquisition negative evidence null subject parameter one-word (holophrastic) stage overextension overgeneralize positive evidence predisposition to acquire language second (sequential) Language Acquisition underextension vocabulary spurt whole object assumption Study Questions 1...
eBook - ePubLanguage and Literacy for the Early Years
9780857257413
- Sally Neaum(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Learning Matters(Publisher)
...1 An introduction to Language Acquisition This chapter enables you to understand: why the acquisition and development of language is important; ways in which we understand children’s Language Acquisition, as both a positivist development theory and a socio-cultural process. The importance of Language Acquisition Language Acquisition and development refers to learning spoken language. Within the first few years of life human beings move from being only able to cry and make involuntary sounds to being able to communicate with others using a complex language system. This ability to acquire and use language is vital to our participation in society. Language can be spoken, heard, read, written or signed. Language enables us to communicate with others and it enables us to think and learn. Spoken language enables us to form and maintain relationships with other people and to participate in the social world. It is what we use to engage with others in all spheres of life. Spoken language is the precursor to literacy skills. In our highly literate society children need to become literate; that is to read and write. Literacy enables full participation in society. It enables us to communicate with others in a variety of different ways across time and space. Language is also the pre-eminent tool for thinking. It is a sophisticated and flexible way to take in information and to process and store all that we know...
eBook - ePubExperimental Psycholinguistics (PLE: Psycholinguistics)
An Introduction
- Sam Glucksberg, Joseph H. Danks(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
...What goes on during this relatively long period of time, especially during the early years? How do we learn our native language? How is Language Acquired? Now that we have some notion of the kinds of things that are involved in language development and the time course for that process, we are faced with the question of how children go about learning their native language. Given the complexity and variety of abilities and knowledge involved in Language Acquisition, it is likely that every form of learning contributes in one way or another. As in every other developmental process, physiological-maturational processes must also play a central role. Biological Factors Whatever the specific biological and social factors may be, human beings seem to be particularly well designed for language learning. All human languages share common features, and only humans seem to master the complex communication system we call language, despite the impressive performances of chimpanzees like Washoe. Furthermore, all children seem to acquire language equally well and at about the same rate, assuming normal health. Even children classified as retardates and confined to institutions display adequate linguistic competence, although gross differences in vocabularly size and language styles do exist. The biological components of Language Acquisition are reflected in the importance of maturation. Children do not talk at birth and cannot make certain kinds of speech sounds because their neurological and anatomical equipment is not yet ready. Neither the brain, nor the shape of the mouth and throat, nor the position of the larynx is ready for speech production. The particular level of neural development is particularly critical for Language Acquisition. Normally, language processing involves neural activity in the dominant hemisphere of the brain (for right-handed people, this would be the left hemisphere)...
eBook - ePubLanguage, Culture, and Society
An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology
- James Stanlaw, Nobuko Adachi, Zdenek Salzmann(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...One widely accepted theory concerning Language Acquisition holds that infants are born with an abstract language model already programmed into their brains. Endowed with such a Language Acquisition device, they apply it as they learn the particular mother tongue they hear spoken around them. Acquisition of language should not be studied without considering the sociocultural context in which it takes place. Knowing how to use their native language effectively helps individuals cope with their culture, and learning to use it appropriately is an important part of enculturation (the process of learning one’s culture). Among the many activities the human brain controls are speech, writing, and reading. Even though much is still to be learned about the workings of the brain, it has long been known that different parts of the brain contribute to different aspects of language processing. Injuries to these areas result in corresponding language and speech impairments. Competency in one language only, typical of most Americans with English as their mother tongue, is uncommon in the rest of the world, where hundreds of millions of people are able to speak several languages or language varieties—that is, they are multilingual or diglossic. Even though many people speak only one language, they are actively, or at least passively, acquainted with several dialects and speech styles of that language. Their own speech patterns differ from those of others, even if only slightly. All speakers have their individual idiolects. RESOURCE MANUAL AND STUDY GUIDE Questions for Discussion 1. By the age of five or six, all normal children everywhere have a good command of their mother tongue (even though, of course, their vocabularies are still limited). However, college students, and adults in general, find learning a foreign language quite difficult, and most learn to speak a second language only haltingly at best...
eBook - ePubIntroducing Second Language Acquisition
Perspectives and Practices
- Kirsten M. Hummel(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
...2 First Language Acquisition Anyone concerned with the study of human nature and human capacities must somehow come to grips with the fact that all normal humans acquire language, whereas acquisition of even its barest rudiments is quite beyond the capacities of an otherwise intelligent ape. Source: Chomsky, N., Language and Mind. © 1968, Harcourt. Chapter outline 2.1 Chapter overview 2.2 From sound to word 2.3 From word to sentence 2.4 Theoretical views 2.4.1 Behaviorist view 2.4.2 Universal Grammar 2.4.3 L1 interactionist approach 2.4.4 Emergentism: Connectionist viewpoint 2.5 First language vs second Language Acquisition 2.5.1 L1 acquisition vs L2 acquisition contrasts 2.5.2 L1 and L2 acquisition parallels 2.6 Summing up Key concepts Self‐assessment questions Discussion questions Exercises / Project ideas References Further reading and viewing Learning objectives Gain a basic understanding of: The L1 acquisition process and underlying theoretical views Contrasts and similarities between L1 and L2 acquisition 2.1 chapter overview The term “second Language Acquisition” suggests that a first language (L1) has already been acquired. Having a basic knowledge about L1 acquisition, an ability that is an essentially universal aspect of the general human condition, can be considered as fundamentally important in order to better understand second language (L2) acquisition. This chapter will begin by providing a basic description of L1 development and by presenting theoretical views proposed to explain the processes underlying that development. The second part of this chapter will present some of the dimensions along which L2 acquisition differs from or parallels the L1 acquisition process. 2.2 from sound to word Babies are born into the world unable to linguistically articulate specific desires, needs, feelings, or intentions...
