Acquiring Language: Life with 1st and 2nd Language

Introduction

First language acquisition is remarkable for the speed with which it takes place. Long before a
child starts school, he or she has become an extremely sophisticated language user,operating
system for self expression, and communication that no other creature, computer, comes close to
matching.

During the first two or three years of development, a child requires interaction with other
language-users in order to bring this general language capacity into operation with a particular
language such as English.

Caregiver Speech

Under normal circumstances, human infants are certainly helped in their language acquisition by
the typical behavior of older children and adults in the home environment.

The characteristically simplified speech style adopted by someone who spends a lot of time
interacting with a young child is called caregiver speech. Salient features of this type of speech
are also called ‘motherese’ or ‘child directed speech’.

The 1st Steps of Language Acquisition in Childhood

For the most part, children are not taught by their native language. They learn it by
exposure to people who talk to them. The child samples that adult provide to their children are
called input.

During the first eight or ten weeks, only reflexive(basic biological) noises such as
burping,crying, and coughing are produced

Cooing ( 4-6 months)

The first step of the infant is to find some way to learn the phonological system or speech-
like sounds and it was described as cooing. Babies can produce sounds similar to velar sounds
which is [k] and [g] and syllables. The child also gradually becomes capable of producing
sequences of vowel-like sounds, particularly high vowels similar to [i] and [u]. Speech
perception studies have shown that by the time they are five months old, babies can already hear
the difference between the vowels [i] and [a] and discriminate between syllables like [ba] and
[ga].

Babbling (6-12 months)

The second half of an infant’s first year is characterized by babbling. The child is sitting up
and producing a number of different vowels and consonants. In this stage, babies make
combinations like mamama,dadada and gagaga.

As children begin to pull themselves into a standing position during the tenth and eleventh
months, they become capable of using their vocalizations to express emotions and emphasis.
This late babbling stage is characterized by more complex syllable combinations (ma-da-ga-ba),
a lot of sound play and attempted imitations.

* Deaf babies babble with their hands

The one-word stage (12-18 months)

This is characterized by speech in which single terms are uttered for everyday objects such as
‘milk’, ‘cookie’, ‘cat’, ‘cup’ and ‘spoon’ (usually pronounced[pun]). These are just few words
but no sentence structure. We sometimes use the term holophrastic (meaning a single form
functioning as a phrase or sentence) to describe an utterance that could be analyzed as a word, a
phrase, or a sentence.

The two-word stage (18-20 months)

The child’s vocabulary moves beyond fifty (50) words.This is an occurrence of two distinct
words used together. By the time the child is two years old ,a variety of combinations, similar to
baby chair, mommy eat, cat bad, will usually have appeared.Moreover,by the age of two,whether
the child is producing 200 or 300 distinct ‘words’, he or she will be capable of understanding five
times as many, and will typically be treated as an entertaining conversational partner by the
principal caregiver.

Telegraphic Speech (2 - 2 1/2 years)

In this stage, the child begins producing a large number of utterances that could be
classified as ‘multiple-word’ speech. This is characterized by strings of words (lexical
morphemes) in phrases or sentences such as this shoe all wet, cat drink milk and daddy go bye-
bye. The child has clearly developed some sentence-building capacity by this stage and can get
the word order correct. Also in this stage, the child adds 10 words in their vocabulary a day.
 Other Process

Overgeneralization - The child takes a grammatical rule and it applies to every case.

Ex. Walk- walked

See - seed

Overextension - The child takes the name of person or object and names of all things.

Ex. Circles - ball, earth

Trivias

A three day old infant are able to distinguish their mother’s voice.

On 30 months of the child, 900 words are already in their vocabulary

Cryptophasia is the language phenomenon that only twins can understand.

Theories of Language Acquisition

Behaviorist Psychology Theory

Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is a theory of learning based on the idea that all
behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the
environment. Behaviorists believe that our responses to environmental stimuli shape our actions.

According to this school of thought, behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner
regardless of internal mental states. Basically, only observable behavior should be considered—
cognitions, emotions, and moods are far too subjective.

Types of Conditioning

There are two major types of conditioning:

1 Classical conditioning is a technique frequently used in behavioral training in which a neutral

stimulus is paired with a naturally occurring stimulus. Eventually, the neutral stimulus comes to
evoke the same response as the naturally occurring stimulus, even without the naturally occurring
stimulus presenting itself. The associated stimulus is now known as the conditioned stimulus and the
learned behavior is known as the conditioned response.4
 2 Operant conditioning (sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning) is a method of
learning that occurs through reinforcements and punishments. Through operant conditioning, an
association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior. When a desirable
result follows an action, the behavior becomes more likely to occur again in the future. Responses
followed by adverse outcomes, on the other hand, become less likely to happen again in the future.

Ivan Pavlov- Father of Behaviorism

B.F Skinner - Father of Operant Conditioning

Innatist Theory

The best known and most influential proponent of the innatist position is Noam Chomsky.
In his famous review of Skinner's book Verbal Behavior*, he pointed out that imitation and SR-
theories (SR= stimulus-response) of learning fail to explain how people come to produce
sentences which they never heard before. Chomsky’s theory came shortly after Skinner's theory
of Behaviorism. He argued that if children learn language by imitation, why do they say things
have never heard before?

The innatist theory states that learning is natural for human beings. They believe that babies
enter the world with a biological propensity, an inborn device, to learn language (Cooter &
Reutzel, 2004). This human built in device for learning language has been coined the – LAD -
language acquisition device.

In later versions of Chomskyan theories the LAD is renamed Universal Grammar (UG)**.
Chomsky hypothesizes that infants must be born with some special built-in ability to learn
language. He called this biological ability as the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). This
device contains the main rules for all possible human languages. Chomsky called this set of
common rules Universal Grammar (UG).

To sum up, the innatist theory proposes that the ability to learn language is inborn, that the
nature is more important than nurture and that experience using language is only necessary in
order to activate the LAD. However, one problem with Chomsky's theory is that it does not take
enough account of the influence that thought (cognition) and language have on each other's
development.

Critical or Sensitive Period Hypothesis

Language is acquired with remarkable ease during maturation. This time,brain has reached it’s
full potential in acquiring language.

Socio-cultural Theory
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of human learning describes learning as a social process and the
origination of human intelligence in society or culture. The major theme of Vygotsky’s
theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of
cognition. Vygotsky believed everything is learned on two levels. First, through interaction with
others, and then integrated into the individual’s mental structure.

A second aspect of Vygotsky’s theory is the idea that the potential for cognitive development is
limited to a "zone of proximal development" (ZPD). This "zone" is the area of exploration for
which the student is cognitively prepared, but requires help and social interaction to fully
develop (Briner, 1999).

The Social Aspect of Multilingualism

A particular people is as a rule linked with a particular language, and this language more
than anything else serves as the people’s badge of ethnic identity and uniqueness. As an
example, the plains Indians societies were similar in culture but quite distinct by virtue of the
languages they spoke, some of which were as different from each other as English is from
Russian or Japanese. And it used to be assumed that peoples who speak different languages have
different cultures therefore the boundaries between different societies coincide with lines
separating mutually unintelligible languages. It was also widely accepted that any given
language is the medium of communication for members of the corresponding society and that
relationship among language, culture, and communication tends to persist in time.

If members of different ethnic groups live side by side and interact frequently, at least
some of them learn to speak a language or languages other than their own mother tongue and
thereby become multilingual. The most common instance of multilingualism is bilingualism,
characterized by the ability to speak two languages. Not everyone agrees on the definition of this
term. Strictly speaking, bilinguals are individuals who have complete and equal command of two
languages in all situations, in other words, those who pass for native speakers in either language.
In practice, however, term is applied more loosely, extending to those who can spontaneously
produce meaningful utterances in a language other than their first.

The demand on bilinguals to use two different linguistic system may result in various forms
of simplification for one of the two languages. The Filipino language incorporated Spanish
loanwords as a result of 333 years of contact with the Spanish language. In their review of a
Pilipino-English dictionary, Llamzon and Thorpe (1972) point out that 33% of word roots are of
Spanish origin.[1] An example is the sentence below in which Spanish–derived words are in
italics (original in parentheses):
Tagalog: "Puwede (Puede) ba akóng umupô sa silya (silla) sa tabi ng bintana (ventana)
hábang nása biyahe (viaje) táyo sa eroplano (aeroplano)?"
Translation in English: ("May I sit on the chair near the window during our voyage in
the aeroplane?")

Bilingualism generally refers to the existence of more than one language in an individual

or a community. Bilingualism in a broad meaning constitutes the most common condition on
both the personal level and the society level: the real exception is rather monolinguals. More
specifically, bilingualism refers to both the broader and more general concept of the knowledge
and usage of two languages, and the more specific concept of linguistic inventory (better defined
as social bilingualism) formed by two languages, which stands opposite to diglossia. Diglossia is
therefore a particular form of bilingualism in which the two available languages are related in a
hierarchical and complementary way.

Multilingualism is the use of two or more language, either by an individual speaker or

by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers out number monolingual speakers in the
world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of
globalization and cultural openness. 

Code–Switching, Code–Mixing, and Diglossia

Code-switching is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety, in
conversation. Code-switching is the use of more than one linguistic variety in a manner
consistent with the syntax and phonology of each variety. In linguistics, code-switching occurs
when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context
of a single conversation. Multi-linguals, speakers of more than one language, sometimes use
elements of multiple languages when conversing with each other. Thus, code-switching is the
use of more than one linguistic variety in a manner consistent with the syntax and phonology of
each variety.

In code-switching one language is dominant

The Matrix language

Matrix Language lays out the basis for the
communication.
The additional language

Utterances from the

Embedded Language additional language are
embedded.

There are various reason why people switch the Matrix Language into Embedded
Language

1. Directive function – people switch languages to either include or exclude other people
from the conversation.
2. Expressive function- people include the embedded language in other to express some
part of their identity.
3. Referential function- someone is unable to express an idea easily in one language,
switches to another language in order to express it more easily. This seems to be very
common among bilinguals and immigrant families.
4. Phatic function- sometimes a speaker switches languages or repeats something in both
languages in order to emphasize it.
5. Metalinguistic function- reporting something in the other language, or commenting on
something said in the other language.
6. Poetic function- the speaker says certain words or make jokes in the embedded language
for amusement or for some kind of artistic purpose.
Code-Switching takes few different forms. Here are some of the main ones:

1. Intersentential switching- the language switches for entire sentences or clauses.

2. Intra-sentential switching- the speaker switches language within a clause or sentence
boundary.
3. Extra-sentential switching or Tag-Switching- a tag from one language is inserted
into another language.

(In this kind of code-switching using basically fifty percent English and fifty percent
Tagalog is quite common in Philippines especially among middle-class and upper-class
people.)

Code mixing is a thematically related term, but the usage of the terms code-switching and
code-mixing varies. Some scholars use either term to denote the same practice, while others
apply code-mixing to denote the formal linguistic properties of said language-contact
phenomena, and code-switching to denote the actual, spoken usages by multilingual persons. 

Diglossia happens when children are taught in a language they do not speak at home, as is
happening in the Philippines where children are taught in Tagalog and English from the first day
of school in grade one up to fourth year of high school.
The dialect that is used in a daily communication
Low Variety
 Not formal
 Its speakers don’t formally learn grammar or writing
 Its learned as a spoken language
Language used in a formal situation
High Variety
 It is learned at school
 Its speakers learn how to write and learn grammar rules
The high variety is often considered “correct” variety and is prevented from changing a lot.
The low variety is more flexible and is more likely to change over time because it’s not restricted
by the rules of the high variety.

THE LANGUAGE AND THE HUMAN BRAIN

The human brain is divided into two hemispheres. The left hemisphere is the "logical brain"
and is involved in language and analysis and the right hemisphere is the "creative brain,"
involved in daydreaming and imagination. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body
while the right hemisphere controls the left side.

The earliest research on speech and language centers of the brain dates back to the early
nineteenth century. Physicians noted that brain-injured patients with damage to the left
hemisphere would lose power of speech and language abilities, while those with injuries to the
right hemisphere did not lose this ability.

Prediction of Language Outcome

The auditory cortex is the part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information in

humans and many other vertebrates. It is a part of the auditory system, performing basic and
higher functions in hearing, such as possible relations to language switching.
 The primary visual cortex is sometimes also called the striate cortex due to the presence of a
large band of myelinated axons( It is electrically insulating, the long threadlike part of a nerve
cell along which impulses are conducted from the cell body to other cells.) that runs along the
edges of the calcarine sulcus.

Wernicke's area is the region of the brain that is important for language development. It is
located in the temporal lobe on the left side of the brain and is responsible for the comprehension
of speech, while Broca's area is related to the production of speech.

Wernicke's area is an area in the cerebral cortex related to speech and is involved in both
spoken and written language. This area was named after Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist
who discovered that the area is related to how words and syllables are pronounced. Wernicke's
area is the region of the brain that is important for language development. It is located in the
temporal lobe on the left side of the brain and is responsible for the comprehension of speech.

Broca's area is an area in the frontal lobe of the brain that is related to the production of
speech. The area is named after Pierre Paul Broca who noticed an impaired ability to produce
speech in two patients who had sustained injury to the region. Broca's area is found in
the forebrain division of the brain. In directional terms, Broca's area is located in the lower
portion of the left frontal lobe, and it controls motor functions involved with speech production
and language comprehension. Broca's area, Wernicke's area, and the angular gyrus of the brain
are all connected and work together in speech and language comprehension. The angular gyrus is
a region of the brain in the parietal lobe, that lies near the superior edge of the temporal lobe, and
immediately posterior to the supramarginal gyrus; it is involved in a number of processes related
to language

THE BIGINGUAL BRAIN

It may be helpful to say at the outset that we are talking about the human brain, bilingual or
not, which is the only brain that can learn and use complex natural languages for communication.
No brain of any other species on our planet has language like ours, despite claims that other
animals may also have sophisticated communication systems.

Defining bilingualism in just a few words is not easy, as each individual has different
bilingual characteristics.  There may be distinctions between ability and use of a language, or
differences in proficiency between the two languages. Let’s define bilingualism simply as the
ability to express oneself with ease in two languages. People usually become bilingual because
they need it in their day-to-day lives. As a result the degree of bilingualism may vary from one
individual to another. Bilinguals are not necessarily perfectly fluent in their languages; it is in
fact quite common to have a dominant language. It is to be noted that being able to express
yourself in two languages takes time. It is not after studying a language for six months that one
can become bilingual.

Mixing languages is often used by bilinguals when they speak to each other. Most of the
time they stick to one language if speaking to monolinguals but sometimes the word just sounds
better in one language or cannot be expressed the same way in the other language. This often
happens to me when I speak to someone close to me who understands both the languages I
speak. Some people might use foreign words to “show off” but most bilinguals actually try to
avoid mixing languages. If they do, it is usually because a word has a stronger meaning in a
particular language.
 Bilingualism can be attained at any stage in your life. However, it is easier if you have
acquired your second language growing up as the brain is more flexible but anyone can become
bilingual. The difference in bilinguals who acquired the language later in life is that they often
have an accent.

MULTILINGUAL BRAIN

According to recent studies, it’s difficult to know exactly how many people are
multilingual, but it’s estimated that over half the world’s population is multilingual to some
extent. When a person is multilingual, they obviously reap the social benefits of communicating
with a whole new set of people, as well a numerous career benefits. But what else to they get?

The cognitive benefits of being multilingual reach farther than most people realize. Your
memory and learning abilities change over time. Your brain itself even becomes more efficient
and actually physically restructures itself. Read on to discover some of the many cognitive
benefits of being multilingual.

8 Demonstrated Cognitive Benefits of Being Multilingual

1. A better innate understanding of how language works

Because learning a second (or third, or fourth) language brings your attention to the
mechanics of the two languages, (including how they differ), multilingual people tend to
understand things like grammar, conjugations, and sentence structure better than monolinguals.

2. Less mental decline in old age

Many studies have demonstrated that the more cognitive energy that elderly people expend
every day, the less cognitive decline they experience overall. It turns out that this is especially
true when they expend that energy using multiple languages.

3. A more efficient and better developed executive control system in the brain

When you are multilingual, you constantly switch between languages without thinking about
it. Perhaps this is why multilingual people have more efficient and better developed executive
control systems. A more developed executive control system allows multilingual people to better
perform on tasks that require high-level thought, multitasking, and sustained attention. Perhaps
this is why multilingual people are often seen as more intelligent than peers with similar innate
intelligence, education, and background.

4. Greater cognitive flexibility (and thus more creative problem-solving skills)

This makes them more creative when solving problems, as they can more easily perceive
situations in different ways and maintain or manipulate these perceptions to suit the task at hand.
Multilingual people tend to solve complex problems in more creative ways than their
monolingual peers, no matter what kind of problem is being solved.

5. Improvements in learning abilities

 As mentioned earlier, multilingual people have more developed executive functions. One
important executive function is inhibition, the ability to discard irrelevant or unimportant stimuli
and focus on the key stimuli. Inhibition is key to learning new information and skills, as it allows
you to focus on new information while reducing interference from the information that you
already know, as well as similar concepts. Since multilingual people have better-developed
inhibition, studies demonstrate that they not only learn a third or fourth language more quickly,
but also even develop any learned skill faster.

6. Changes in neurological processing and structure that fine tune cognitive control

Brain imaging techniques, such as fMRIs, have shown that multilingual brains tend to
activate the linguistic portion of their brains even when not engaged in linguistic tasks.
Multilingual brains tend to show higher level of activation to auditory stimuli overall, which
gives them an advantage in sensory processing. Even the actual structure of the brain is affected.
Studies show that multilingual people have a higher density of grey matter in their brains, and
older bilingual people usually have better-maintained white matter, even late in life. The
cognitive control required to manage multiple languages seems to broadly impact sensory
processes.

7. More rational decision-making skills

A study done at the University of Chicago demonstrated that multilingual tend to make more
rational decisions. As language contains nuance and subtle implications in its vocabulary that can
subconsciously influence your judgment, thinking in your native language tends to be fraught
with emotional biases. Interestingly, though, multilingual people tend to be less affected by such
biases, especially in their second language. Bilinguals are able to draw from their understanding
of a problem using both languages, which allows them to rely more on analytic processes than
emotional linguistic cues.

8. A more perceptive understanding of the world

Multilingual people tend to be better at observing their environment and spotting misleading
information. Perhaps this is because of their enhanced inhibition skills that allow them to focus
on relevant information and edit out the rest. Due to this, multilingual people have been shown to
be keen observers of the world around them, as well as more skilled at identifying and correctly
analyzing the sub-context of a situation and interpreting the social environment. This makes
multilingual people highly perceptive, a skill sometimes additionally necessitated when
interacting in the unfamiliar social or cultural context of a second language.

Evaluation
Directions: Encircle the correct letter of the answer on the following questions.

1. This type of speech are also called ‘motherese’ or ‘child directed speech’.

a) Caregiver speech c) Informative speech

b) Persuasive speech d) Explanatory speech

2. It was described as the first step of the infant is to find some way to learn the phonological
system or speech-like sounds.

a) Babbling c) Cooing

b) One-word stage d) Telegraphic Speech

3. He is the Father of Behaviorism

a) Noam Chomsky c) B.F. Skinner

b) Ivan Pavlov d) Lev Vygotsky

4.) The language phenomenon that only twins can understand is called

a) Chrypthophasia c) Cryptophasia

b) Crypthopasia d) Chryptophasia

5. On the stage of telegraphic speech, the child adds in their vocabulary for how many words a
day?

a) 10 c) 20

b) 14 d) 24

6. It is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning.

a) Innatist Theory c) Socio-cultural Theory

b) Behavioral Psychology Theory d) Pooh-pooh Theory

7. A technique frequently used in behavioral training in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a
naturally occurring stimulus.

a) Classical Conditioning c) Socio-Cultural Conditioning

b) Behavioral Conditioning d) Operant Conditioning

8. This device contains the main rules for all possible human languages
a) Access point device c) Acquisition Language device

b) Language acquisition device d) Point Access Device

9. It describes learning as a social process and the origination of human intelligence in society or
culture.

a) Socio-anthropological Theory c.) Socio-cultural Theory

b) Cultural-sociological Theory d) Anthropological-Sociocultural Theory

10.In this process,the child takes the name of person or object and names of all things.

a) Overextension c) Overgeneralization

b) Over-vocabulary d) Generalization

11. The earliest research on speech and language centers of the brain dates?

A. Early 20th century

B. Early 18th century
C. Early 19th century
D. Early 90th century

12 . It is an area in the frontal lobe of the brain that is related to the production of speech. The area is
named after Pierre Paul_________?
A. Wernicke's area
B. angular gyrus 
C. auditory cortex 
D. Broca's area 

13. what do you call when your brain may have developed some distinct advantages over your
monolingual peers?
A. speech and communication
B. bilingual brain
C. multilingual brain
D. monolingual brain

14. _________ Is divided into two hemispheres.

A. The human brain
B. the logical brain
C. the creative brain
D. the nonsense brain

15. is the part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information in humans and many other
vertebrates.
A. Visual cortex
B. Auditory cortex
C. Angular gyrus 
D. Wernicke's area 
16. What do you call a custom requiring marriage partners to be from different tribes, making
multilingualism the cultural norm rather than the exception?
a. exogamy

b. Monogamy

c. Ultragamy

d. Esogamy

17.It is generally refers to the existence of more than one language in an individual or a
community.

a. Multilinguism

b. Bilingualism

c. Monolingual

d. Polygot

18. It is the use of two or more language, either by an individual speaker or by a community of
speakers.

a. Monolingual

b. Polygot

c. Multilinguism

d. Bilingualism

19. These speakers of more than one language, sometimes use elements of multiple languages
when conversing with each other.

a. Polygot

b. Exogamy

c. Code-switching

d. Multi-lingual

20.It is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety, in conversation.

a. Code-switching

b. Diglossia

c. Multilinguism

d. Bilinguism

II. Explain the following questions comprehensively. (5pts.each)

1. On you own opinion as a Filipino, what is the advantage of being a multilingual and how does
it affects your intellectual growth?

2. What is the best theory for you in the different theories of language acquisition device?

ANSWER KEY:
1.A 11.C

2.C 12. D

3.B 13.B

4.C 14.A

5.A 15.B

6.B 16. A

7.A 17.B

8.B 18.C

9.C 19.D

10.A 20. A

References:
Books:

Yule, G. (2006). The study of language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Salzmann, Stanlaw, J.M. and Adachi, (2011) Language, Culture and Society: An Introduction to
Linguistic Anthropology. Fifth Edition. New York: Westview Press.

Websites:

https://www.verywellmind.com/behavioral-psychology-4157183

http://soda.ustadistancia.edu.co/enlinea/MAURICIO_BUITRAGO_ingles_PSYCHOLINGUISTICS_PRIMER_
MOMENTO/Innatism.pdf

http://www.ceebl.manchester.ac.uk/events/archive/aligningcollaborativelearning/Vygotsky.pdf

http://sarikusumaberbagiilmu.blogspot.com/2016/06/code-diglossia-bilingual-multilingual.html

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324529.php
pandora.cii.wwu.edu › vajda › ling201 › language_and_the_brain
The Bilingual Brain - BrainFacts

https://www.brainfacts.org › archives › the-bilingual-brain

https://www.merriam-webster.com › dictionary › multilingual