THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE:

CHAPTER 13 - FIRST LANGUAGE

ACQUISITION
IT IS REMARKABLE FOR THE SPEED WITH WHICH IT TAKES
PLACE. EVERY NEWBORN CHILD HAS A SPECIAL CAPACITY
FOR LANGUAGE WITH WHICH IT IS ENDOWED. BUT THIS
NEWBORN LANGUAGE CAPACITY IS NOT ENOUGH.

Presenter
Presentation Date Aug. 12th, 2018
Requirements
• Basic requirements:
first 2-3 years - interaction, cultural
transmission
physically capable of sending and receiving
sound signals
opportunity to interact with others via
language - CRUCIAL!
input
• Input - provided by family in a simplified speech,
simplified words, frequent use of questions,
exaggerated intonation, extra loudness, slower
tempo, longer pauses

• Caregiver speech - Reaction from the caregiver as if it

would be areal conversation. Using simple sentences
structures and a lot of repetition.

• Expl: M: Look! Child: (touches the picture) M: What

are those? Child: (babbles and smiles) M: Yes, there
are rabbits.
Conti…
• All normal children develop language at roughly
the same time.

• Long before they talk, they process what they

hear. -> turning their heads in the sound
direction

• First three month - developing range of crying

styles, producing smiles, creating distinct
vocalization
Conti…
• Earliest use of speech during the first few
month, vowel-like sounds such as (i:) and (u:)

• 4 month - ability to bring the back of the

tongue into contact with the palate -> (k), (g)
Conti…
• 6-8 month - the child is sitting up, producing a
number of different vowels and consonants, as
well as combinations such as ba-ba-ba

• 9-10 month - combination ba-ba-da-da, nasal

sounds become more common ma-ma, da-da

• 10-11 month - standing position - express

emotions and emphasis
ma-da-ga-ba - pre-language - social interaction
Conti…
• 12-18 month - producing a variety of
recognizable single unit utterances -> "milk”
• -> I want milk. This is milk
Conti…
• 18-20 month - two distinct words are used together to
express something -> cat eat, mommy eat (50 words)

• Adult interpretation is tied to the context -> Adults

and older children behave as if communication is
taking place -> the child receives feedback!

• 24 month - 200-300 distinct words understanding 5

times as many
Conti…
• 24-30 month - multiple-word speech,
vocabulary is expanding rapidly

• telegraphical speech - "this shoe all wet"

3 years - vocabs contains of 100 of words
Telegraphic speeck
• For the vast majority of children, no one provides any
instruction on how to speak the language.

• The child's linguistic construction appears to be

mostly a matter of TRYING OUT CONSTRUCTIONS and
TESTING whether they WORK OR NOT

• It is simply NOT POSSIBLE that a child is acquiring

language principally through adult instruction.
The acquisition prosses
• IMITATION - There is evidence against learning
through imitation.
They may repeat single words BUT NOT THE
SENTENCE STRUCTURE!

• CORRECTION - Unlikely that adult "corrections" are

very effective determiner.

• WORD PLAY - seems to be an important element in

the development of the child's linguistic repertoire.
Developing morephology
• 2.5 years - child is going beyond telegraphical speech,
incorporationg some of the inflectional morphemes
that indicate the grammatical function of nouns and
verbs
-> cat sitting (-ing)

• Next steps:
- regular plurals (-s) -> OVERGENERALIZATION (mans,
foots, ..)
- irregular past forms (went, came,..)
- past (-ed)
- regular -s third person (looks, comes, ..)
Forming questions
• stage 1 - 18-26 month - rise of intonation

• stage 2 - 22-30 month - rising intonation

continues, more Wh-formes (What, Why)

• stage 3 - 24-40 month - movement of the

auxiliary
-> I can have --> CAN I have..? (quite close to the
adult model)
Forming negatives
• stage 1 - 18-26 month - putting NO or NOT at the
beginning
-> NOT a teddy bear.
stage 2 - 22-30 month - additional negative
forms DON'T, CAN'T
-> I DON'T want it.
stage 3 - 24-40 month - auxiliary forms DIDN'T,
WON'T
--> She WON'T let go.
• OVEREXTENSION - overextend the meaning of a word on
the basis of similarities of shape, sound and size.
ball -> can be extends to all kind of round subjects
LATER DEVELOPMENTS
(after the age of five)
Which trees has more apples? Which tree has less apples?
-> Children seem to think the correct answer will be the
LARGER one.
--> Complex structures take place later
With 5 years - Completed the greater part of the basic
language acquisition process. (Good time to learn a
second language?)
 • The acquisition schedule -
Exercise
The one-word stage
12-18 month - • The acquisition of language
producing a variety of – The two word stage
recognizable single
unit utterances -> • The acquisition schedule –
"milk"- > I want milk. Babbling
This is milk
• The acquisition of language
– Telegraphic speech
 • The acquisition schedule –
Exercise
Babbling
Input - provided by family in a
simplified speech, simplified
• Acquisition - Input and
words, frequent use of Caregiver speech
questions, exaggerated
intonation, extra loudness, • The acquisition schedule -
slower tempo, longer pauses
The one-word stage
Caregiver speech - Reaction
from the caregiver as if it • The acquisition of language
would be areal conversation.
Using simple sentences - The two word stage
structures and a lot of
repetition.
Expl: M: Look! Child: (touches
the picture) M: What are
those? Child: (babbles and
smiles) M: Yes, there are
rabbits.
 • The acquisition schedule
Exercise • The acquisition process
Basic requirements: • Acquisition
first 2-3 years -
interaction, cultural • The acquisition schedule
transmission cooing
physically capable of
sending and receiving
sound signals
opportunity to
interact with others
via language -
CRUCIAL!
 • The acquisition schedule –
Exercise
Babbling
24-30 month - • The acquisition schedule –
multiple-word speech, The one-word stage
vocabulary is
expanding rapidly • The acquisition of language
telegraphical speech - – The two word stage
"this shoe all wet"
3 years - voc. contains • The acquisition of language
of 100 of words – Telegraphic speech
 • The acquisition schedule –
Exercise
The one –word stage
6-8 month - the child is • The acquisition of
sitting up, producing a
number of different vowels language-Telegraphic
and consonants, as well as
combinations such as ba-ba- speech
ba
9-10 month - combination • The acquisition of language
ba-ba-da-da, nasal sounds
become more common ma-
– The two word stage
ma, da-da
10-11 month - standing
• The acquisition schedule –
position - express emotions Babbling
and emphasis
ma-da-ga-ba - pre-language
- social interaction