scholarly journals Prototype constructions in early language acquisition

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Ibbotson ◽  
Michael Tomasello
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Functional Significance ◽  
Early Language ◽  
General Applicability ◽  
Multiple Cues ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Linguistic Cues ◽  
Reliability And Availability

AbstractIn this paper we bring together several lines of cross-linguistic research to demonstrate the role of prototypicality in young children's acquisition of the transitive construction. Much research has shown that young children are slow to form abstract constructions because they fail to see the more general applicability of syntactic markers such as word order and case marking. Here we attempt to explain this fact by investigating the nature of the language children do and do not hear, specifically, the reliability and availability of the linguistic cues they are exposed to. We suggest that constructions redundantly marked with multiple cues could have a special status as a nucleus around which the prototype forms—which makes it difficult for them to isolate the functional significance of each cue. The implications of this view for language acquisition are discussed within a usage-based framework.

The influence of discourse context on children's provision of auxiliary BE

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA L. THEAKSTON ◽  
ELENA V. M. LIEVEN
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Discourse Context ◽  
Linguistic Representations ◽  
Prior Use ◽  
Single Child ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Children's Speech

ABSTRACTChildren pass through a stage in development when they produce utterances that contain auxiliary BE (he's playing) and utterances where auxiliary BE is omitted (he playing). One explanation that has been put forward to explain this phenomenon is the presence of questions in the input that model S-V word order (Theakston, Lieven & Tomasello, 2003). The current paper reports two studies that investigate the role of the input in children's use and non-use of auxiliary BE in declaratives. In Study 1, 96 children aged from 2 ; 5 to 2 ; 10 were exposed to known and novel verbs modelled in questions only or declaratives only. In Study 2, naturalistic data from a dense database from a single child between the ages of 2 ; 8 to 3 ; 2 were examined to investigate the influence of (1) declaratives and questions in the input in prior discourse, and (2) the child's immediately previous use of declaratives where auxiliary BE was produced or omitted, on his subsequent use or non-use of auxiliary BE. The results show that in both the experimental and naturalistic contexts, the presence of questions in the input resulted in lower levels of auxiliary provision in the children's speech than in utterances following declaratives in the input. In addition, the children's prior use or non-use of auxiliary BE influenced subsequent use. The findings are discussed in the context of usage-based theories of language acquisition and the role of the language children hear in their developing linguistic representations.

The Role of Musical Development in Early Language Acquisition

2018 ◽  
pp. 565-591
Author(s):  
Anthony Brandt ◽  
L. Robert Slevc ◽  
Molly Gebrian
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Developmental Disorders ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Music And Language ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
Infant Brain

Language and music are readily distinguished by adults, but there is growing evidence that infants first experience speech as a special type of music. By listening to the phonemic inventory and prosodic patterns of their caregivers’ speech, infants learn how their native language is composed, later bootstrapping referential meaning onto this musical framework. Our current understanding of infants’ sensitivities to the musical features of speech, the co-development of musical and linguistic abilities, and shared developmental disorders, supports the view that music and language are deeply entangled in the infant brain and modularity emerges over the course of development. This early entanglement of music and language is crucial to the cultural transmission of language and children’s ability to learn any of the world’s tongues.

What Is the Role of Reinforcement in Early Language Acquisition?

1988 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grover J. Whitehurst ◽  
Marta C. Valdez-Menchaca
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Early Language

scholarly journals EARLY SYNTACTIC ACQUISITION IN A BALINESE SPEAKING CHILD

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-92
Author(s):  
Ni Luh Putu Sri Adnyani
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Natural Setting ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Phonetic Transcription ◽  
Spontaneous Interaction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Grammatical Functions

This article addresses the acquisition of syntax in a Balinese monolingual child at the age of 2;5 until 2;7. The data was collected in natural setting when the child involved in spontaneous interaction with adults. The speech produced by the child was segmented based on the utterances. The speech produced by the child was transcribed orthographically, along with the phonetic transcription. Besides, every utterance produced by the child accompanied by contextual description and explanation. The data was coded and glossed according to the parts of speech, and grammatical functions. The results show that at this stage, even though the child goes through early sentence or word combinations stage, the child still produces single-word utterances at the onset as well. The words belong to noun, verb, adjective, adverb and particle. Words combination produced can be classified into declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences. Initially, the child frequently omit subject. The fact that in colloquial adult’s conversation in Balinese omitting subject is acceptable may contribute to the subject omission. In two words combinations NP and VP occurred and in three or more words utterances S-P, S-P-O and S-P-C starting to be produced. In making questions kije‘where’, ape ‘what’, encen ‘which one’ and nyen ‘whose’ are used. In question, the child also applied rising intonation when question words are not applied. The child is also able to express tag question. In imperative sentences, the child is able to use command, request, and invitation. This study implies the role of adult’s input in children language acquisition as shown in subject omission and the flexible word order.   

scholarly journals The role of automatic reinforcement in early language acquisition

1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark L. Sundberg ◽  
Jack Michael ◽  
James W. Partington ◽  
Cindy A. Sundberg
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Automatic Reinforcement ◽  
Early Language

Transfer in bilingual first language acquisition

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
NATASCHA MÜLLER
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Word Order ◽  
First Language ◽  
Quantitative Difference ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Grammatical Analysis ◽  
Bilingual Language Development

Much research on bilingual first language acquisition has stressed the role of the dominant or preferred language when the two languages have some influence on one another. The present paper tries to look at transfer or interference from the perspective of the input the child is exposed to. Transfer will be argued to occur in those domains of the grammar where the language learner is confronted with ambiguous input. The bilingual child may, as a relief strategy, use parts of the analysis of one language in order to cope with ambiguous properties of the other. Ambiguity of input is crucial and will be evaluated through a comparison with monolingual language acquisition: if monolingual children have problems with the language material in question, it may be suggested that the input contains evidence for more than only one grammatical analysis. A quantitative difference between monolingual and bilingual language acquisition will be interpreted as evidence in favor of cross-linguistic influence in bilingual language development. The paper reviews longitudinal studies on the acquisition of word order in German subordinate clauses.

The Role of Universal Grammar in Nonnative Language Acquisition

2016 ◽  
pp. 288-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie Schwartz ◽  
Rex Sprouse
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Target Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Concerted Effort ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Standard Assumption ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Nonnative Language

Children, at least children acquiring their native language (L1), develop grammars vastly underdetermined by the primary linguistic data available to them, converging on both obvious and subtle properties of the target language (TL), rapidly, (essentially) uniformly, and reflexively (i.e., without effort or intentional instruction). In contrast, (adult) nonnative language (L2) acquisition, even under optimal conditions of TL exposure, displays more varied outcomes, frequently with readily observable divergence from the TL, often despite concerted effort and instruction. The standard assumption in mainstream generative grammar is that (L1) children display target convergence because early language acquisition is guided and constrained by the set of innate domain-specific cognitive structures generally referred to as Universal Grammar (UG). This chapter considers conceptual issues surrounding as well as empirical evidence for and against the claim that (despite initial appearances) some or all of the principles and primes of UG likewise guide and constrain (adult) L2 acquisition.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document