The document discusses psycholinguistics and language acquisition. Psycholinguistics explores the psychological processes involved in language use and how language is represented in the mind. It is concerned with how children acquire language so quickly and what cognitive and environmental factors influence acquisition. The document also outlines some key stages of language development in children, including babbling, first words, two-word phrases, and early multi-word stages. It discusses how different elements of language like phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics develop over time in childhood.

1. Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat
Mentouri University Constantine

2.  Concerned with the relationship between language
and the mind.
 Different from sociolinguistics (focus on the social
dimension of language).
 It explores the psychological processes involved in
using the language.
 It asks how we store words and syntactic structures in
the brain, what processes of memory are involved and
how we understand and produce speech.
 These are all of great importance when it comes to
understanding language disorders.
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

3. Two developments shook psychologists out of
their indifference:
The scientific description provided
by linguists claiming that language
Psychologists felt that they had to join with linguists in
was rule-governed,
resolving the conflict between our genetic and our
social heritage. Psycholinguists are interested in the
acquisition of language: with how children learn (the
learning of a child's first language, learning a second
language, etc.).
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

4. Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

5.  We know that all children learn the
language of the community they live in.
 But they do that in a remarkably short
period of time.
 They arrive at the same grammar, even
though the sample of language that each
child is exposed to is necessarily different,
and regardless of how much teaching or
training they get from their parents.
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

6.  How do children acquire their language in
such a short time?
 What course does this activity take?
 What is the role of the environment in
language acquisition?
 Is the child pre-disposed to language
learning?
 This has given rise to a number of theories
to account for language acquisition.
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

7. /u/, /i/,
Cooing and Babbling
ba-ba-ba
ga-ga-ga
Cat, milk, cup,
First Words cookie
Baby chair/
Bye Daddy/
Two-Word Stage Cat bad/ Baby
sleep
Mommy eat
The Hierarchical Stage cookie
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

8. One Word Stage
No eat/no
sit down
Early Multi-word Stage There no
milk/he
not big
Later Multi-word Stage
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

9. Yes/no Questions Wh-questions
 One-Word Stage  One-Word Stage
Intonation and/or
Context
 Early Multi-word
That mine? See  Early Multi-word
Where Daddy go?
Stage baby? StageWhat dat?
 Later Multi-Word
She not play?  Later Multi-Word
Why Mommy go?
Stage 1 boom?
Dolly go Stage 1kitty sleep?
Why
 Later Multi-Word  Later Multi-Word
Stage 2 get it?
Can’t you Stage 2doggie run?
Why
Did you see him? What he can do?
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

10. Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

11. Early age
10-12 Sounds the
baby hears
months from the adults
around him
Later
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

12.  Acquisition starts early.
 Overgeneralization
Child: I taked a cookie
Father: You mean you took a cookie
Child: Yes, I taked a cookie
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

13.  Holophrases
 Word order (semantic relation)
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

14. Dogs
 Starts around 1 year
 Never ending process
 6 years → 14000 words
 SemanticHorses Cows
overgeneralization or overextension
Sheep
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

15. Hemishperes
Left side of the Right side of the
body body
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

16. Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

17. That the two brain hemispheres are
responsible for different cognitive functions
and that they do not copy each other.
 Lateralization is the specialization of the two
hemispheres for different functions.
 People suffering from some damage to the left
hemisphere experience aphasia.
 This and other pieces of evidence support the
hypothesis that language is lateralized.
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

18. Lenneberg situates this period from the age of 2 to
puberty. Krashen suggested a much earlier stage: 5.
Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010

19. Dr. K. Lakehal-Ayat M.U.C. 2010