1. There are two main approaches to explaining first language acquisition: behavioristic approaches and the nativist approach. Behavioristic approaches view language acquisition as learned through stimuli, responses, and reinforcement. The nativist approach views humans as born with an innate language acquisition device that predisposes them to learn language.
2. Key issues in understanding language acquisition include determining the relationship between nature and nurture, competence in a language versus actual performance, and the roles of imitation, practice, linguistic input, and discourse function in acquiring language skills.
3. While behaviorists see language as learned through environmental conditioning, nativists believe humans are born with specialized brain circuits and mental structures that allow for innate, rule-based
3. A boy named Christian
1 Week
"WAAAAAAAA!"
6 Months
"Babadadagugubaba"
"I'm hungry!"
none
5 Years "Mum I don't think I
want to go through with this!"
1 Year
"Haargy!“
2 Years
"Captain Haddock hit "There's a cat!"
Tintin. Wine baba. No Talk!"
Captain Haddock's hitting Tintin with a wine
bottle. Stop reading this story! (I'm scared)
4. Christian
1 Week
"WAAAAAAAA!"people pay
attention to you 6 Months
making
"Babadadagugubaba"
"I'm hungry!" make
when you
noises is
noises
has learned the core fun
none
structure if his native
5 Years "Mum I don't think I
language and that
want to go through with this!"
even if you talk like
the grown-ups, they
still make you go to
school. you don't
language lets always have
1 Year
you be quite "Haargy!“ to
to point
specific about
2 Years show people
"Captain Haddock hit feel
what you "There's a cat!"
things
and what you
Tintin. Wine baba. No Talk!"
want.
Captain Haddock's hitting Tintin with a wine
bottle. Stop reading this story! (I'm scared)
6. Theories
Behavioristic
Language
Acquisition
Functional Nativist
13. • Representational
Mediation Theory
2 • Charles Osgood
Linguistic stimulus elicits response
Mentalism
Cognitive-Rational Theory
14. • Word Association Norms
3 • Jenkins and PAlermo
Frames: You shall know a word by the
company it keeps.
Phrase-structure grammar
Stimulus-Response equivalences
17. Species-Specific
•Eric Lenneberg
• Unique to the
2 • Washoe
species • Communication • Lana
system is part of
the genetic
make-up
1 3
18. Little Black Box
•Noam Chomsly
Specialized
Circuits
Human Specialized
Instinct Genes
Human
Speech
19. After
Begin to
puberty
Starts Vacuu function
our
functioning
m from in
ability to
Language
Acquisition
when our different
acquire
ways
we are environment after we language
immediate
Device
still a native reach six seems to
infants language years of reduced be
age
again
20. Born with
orienting/
Organize
categorizing
linguistics
structures
Rules of a
particular
language
Rule Formation