This document discusses theories of language acquisition in children. It covers: - Theories of first and second language acquisition, including behaviorist vs. innateness views. - Stages of first language acquisition from babbling to telegraphic to multi-word stages. - The logical problem of how children acquire language from incomplete input. - The innateness hypothesis that children have an innate blueprint or Universal Grammar that aids language acquisition. - Development of grammar includes acquisition of phonology, word meanings, morphology and syntax. Children intuitively learn language rules from contextual cues in the environment.

1. LA 1
1
Second
Language
(L2)
Acquisition:
the
acquisition
of
a
second
language
by
someone
who
has
already
acquired
a
first
language.
Bilingual
language
acquisition:
the
more
or
less
simultaneous
acquisition
of
two
languages
beginning
in
infancy.
2
Theories
of
Bilingual
Development
➢
The
unitary
system
hypothesis:
The
child
constructs
only
one
lexicon
and
one
grammar.
The
reason
children
may
not
have
the
same
set
of
words
in
both
languages
is
that
they
use
their
two
languages
in
different
circumstances
and
acquire
the
vocabulary
appropriate
to
each
situation.
3
➢The
separate
systems
hypothesis:
the
bilingual
child
builds
a
distinct
lexicon
and
grammar
for
each
language.
How
can
we
explain
the
mixed
utterances?
1.
Children
mix
because
they
have
lexical
gaps.
2.
It
is
similar
to
codeswitching
used
by
many
adult
bilinguals
4
Two
Monolinguals
in
One
Head
Bilingual
children
develop
their
grammars
along
the
same
lines
as
monolingual
children.
They
go
through
a
babbling
stage,
a
holophrastic
stage,
a
telegraphic
stage,
and
so
on.
From
a
grammar
–
making
point
of
view,
the
bilingual
child
is
like
“two
monolinguals
in
one
head.”
5
The
Role
of
Input
in
helping
the
child
to
separate
the
two
languages
• One
input
condition
that
is
thought
to
promote
bilingual
development
is
“one
person,
one
language”.
It
means
keeping
the
two
languages
separate
in
the
input
will
make
it
easier
for
the
child
to
acquire
each
without
influence
from
the
other.
• Another
condition
is
that
the
child
should
receive
roughly
equal
amounts
of
input
in
the
two
languages
to
achieve
native
proficiency
in
both.
6
Cognitive
Effects
of
Bilingualism
Many
early
studies
showed
that
bilingual
children
did
worse
than
monolingual
children
in
IQ
and
other
cognitive
and
educational
tests.
Bilingual
children
seem
to
have
better
metalinguistic
awareness,
which
refers
to
a
speaker’s
conscious
awareness
about
language
-­‐
the
ability
to
objectify
language
as
a
process
as
well
as
a
thing.
7
The
fundamental
difference
hypothesis
of
L2
Acquisition
It
is
believed
that
L2
acquisition
is
something
different
from
L1
acquisition.
However,
L2
acquisition
is
like
L1
acquisition.
Learners
go
through
the
same
stages.
They
construct
grammars.
8
Interlanguage
The
rule-­‐governed
language
that
the
learner
constructs
between
L1
and
L2.
It
is
influenced
by
both
L1
and
L2
Transfer
The
use
of
first
language
features
or
rules
in
the
second
language.
9
Factors
Affecting
Second
Language
Acquisition
➢Age
➢Motivation
➢
Cognitive
Style
10
Critical
period
for
L2
Acquiition
L2
acquisition
abilities
decline
with
age
and
there
are
“sensitive
periods”
for
the
native-­‐like
mastery
of
certain
aspects
of
the
L2.
The
sensitive
period
for
phonology
is
the
shortest.
To
achieve
native-­‐like
pronunciation
of
an
L2
requires
exposure
during
childhood.
Other
aspects
of
language,
such
as
syntax,
may
have
a
larger
window.

2. LA 2
1
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Language is extremely complex.
All children are able to quickly and effortlessly extract the intricate system of rules from the language the
hear around them and thereby “reinvent” the grammar their of parents.
2
Language was viewed as a kind verbal behavior, and it was proposed that children learn language through
imitation, reinforcement, analogy, and similar processes.
B. F. Skinner claims that language is learned; it is basically a stimulus-response mechanism.
3
Noam Chomsky claims that language is innate, a cognitive system that could not be acquired by
behaviorist principles.
Noam Chomsky convincingly presented twelve types of evidence that language is basically innate, not
learned.
4
1.Language is very complex. Consider the complexity of any complete English grammar book.
2. The model for language learning is imperfect. Mothers use caregiver language; friends use baby talk;
children use modified grammar.
3. All humans learn a spoken language (NOTE: Chomsky does not claim that written language is innate).
5
4. No animals learn a human-type language. However, some animal languages are impressive.
5. There are many human-language universals, and these are only a small subset of semiotic possibilities;
computer languages don’t have these same natural-language constraints (embedding, cross-over, A over A,
etc.).
6. There is a critical age for foreign-language acquisition (around puberty).
7. There is a sequence in language acquisition (holophrastic, pivot-open, telegraphic, adult).
6
8. Human language is rule-governed (like mathematics). It is not memorized.
9. Human language is very creative. Except for small-talk, almost all sentences are novel.
10. Human language has duality. A limited number of symbols are reused in many different ways.
7
11. Human language has displacement in Time, Place, and Truth.
12. Human language is not predictable. Given a particular stimulus, there is a much wider range of
responses for humans than for animals.
8
Is the language acquisition process the same for all children?
All children acquire language in the same way. In order to understand child language acquisition, we need
to keep two very important things in mind:
1. children do not use language like adults. Acquiring language is a gradual, lengthy process, and
they shouldn't be corrected, because errors will disappear in time.
2. Second, children will learn to speak the dialect(s) and language(s) that are used around them.
9
Theories about how children aquire language:
▪Imitation
▪Correction & Reinforcement (behaviorist)
▪Analogy
▪Connectionism (behavior, analogy, & reinforcement)
▪Structured Input
▪Innateness Hypothesis
""""""""""""

3. LA 3
10
First Language Acquisition Stages
11
The Logical Problem of
Language Acquisition
Children acquire the grammar of their language—a SYSTEM of RULES for Syntax and Morphology and
Phonology, etc. with input that is
“…incomplete, noisy, and unstructured. The utterances include slips of the tongue, false
starts, ungrammatical and incomplete sentences, and no information as to which utterances heard are well
formed and which are not.”
12
THE INNATENESS HYPOTHESIS
The Innateness Hypothesis
Linguists believe that children are equipped with an innate template or blueprint for language (referred to as
Universal Grammar) and that this blueprint aids the child in the task of constructing a grammar of his
language.
13
Development of Grammar
◆ Acquisition of Phonology
◆ Acquisition of Word Meaning
◆ Acquisition of Morphology
◆ Acquisition of Syntax
◆Acquisition of Pragmatics
14
The Development of Grammar
Phonology: The sound system of a language; the component of a grammar that indicates the inventory of
sounds (phonetic and phonemic units) and rules for their combination and pronunciation; the study of
the sound systems of all languages.
• First words are generally monosyllabic with CV (consonant-vowel) form.
• Children acquire the small set of sounds that are common to all languages before the sounds that are
specific to child’s language.
• Acquisition begins with vowel sounds
• Manner of articulation: Nasals (m, n), glides (j, w), stops (p,t,k), liquids (l,r), fricatives (f), and affricates
(t,d).
• Place of articulation: labials (lips), velars (back part of the tongue against the soft palate), alveolars
(tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge), and palatals (tongue raised against the hard
palate).
• Can comprehend more phonological contrasts than they can produce. (wabbit – ring, wing)
Stage Typical Age Description
Babbling 6-8 months Repetitive CV patterns
One-word stage or
holophrastic stage
9-18 months Single open-class words or word stems
Two-word stage 18-24 months "mini-sentences" with simple semantic relations
Telegraphic stage or
early multiword stage
24-30 months "Telegraphic" sentence structures of lexical
rather than functional or grammatical
morphemes
Later multiword stage 30+ months Grammatical or functional structures emerge

4. LA 4
15
The Acquisition of Word Meaning
• Intuitively we know children learn words when we label objects.
• Children overextend words by calling all men daddy.
• After child acquired about 75-100 words, begin to narrow the meanings.
• Underextension – when children apply a word like “bird” only to family pet but not to animals in
trees outside.
• Children learn about fourteen words a day for the first six years of life!
• Syntactic bootstrapping is when children use syntax and context clues to determine word
meaning.
16
The Acquisition of Morphology
Morphology: The study of the structure of words; the component of the grammar that includes the rules
of word formation.
• Overgeneralization is evidence of “rule learning”, when children use terms like bringed, goed…we
know they are not using imitation to acquire language.
• Children usually go through 3 phases of acquisition of irregular forms of verbs
o Phase 1 – child uses correct form (brought)
o Phase 2 – when child forms rules for past tense and applies the rule to all verbs (bringed)
o Phase 3 – child understands past tense and knows there are exceptions to the rule. They
use (brought) again but now understand the root of the word is bring.
Children acquiring other language may also have to learn number and gender rules.
17
The Acquisition of Syntax
• In a study done on children, infants tend to look longer at videos of the sentences they hear.
Results show that children as young as 17 months can understand the differences between
sentences
o i.e. "The dog is chasing the cat." vs."The cat is in the tree."
• Around the age of 2, children start to put words together.
o These 2 word sentences have clear syntactic and semantic relations.
▪ i.e. "mommy sock" (noun noun) expresses a subject + object relation [Mommy has
my sock]
• Telegraphic speech occurs as children create multiword utterances. During this stage, they tend to
leave out auxiliaries, function words, and determiners. But the sentences contain the required words
for basic understanding.
o i.e. "Daddy build house."
• Between ages 2 years 6 months and 3 years 6 months, a "language explosion" occurs.
18
The Acquisition of Pragmatics
• Birth to 9 months
o looking/listening to speaker (eye contact)
o smiles/coos/vocalizes in response to a voice
o enjoys being played with
o Recognizes familiar people
• 9-1 year 1/2 months
o Shakes head no, Waves
o reaches to request objects
o comments by pointing
o teases, scolds, warns using gestures
• 1.5 years - 3 years
o Verbal turn-taking
o Expresses emotion

5. LA 5
o 2 word phrases
• 3 years - 5 years
o Pretend play
o longer dialogue
19
Sixteen month-old JP’s Vocabulary
[/aw] not [s:] aerosol spray
[bÃ/]/[mÃ/] up [sju:] shoe
[da] dog [haj] hi
[i/o]/[si/o] Cheerios [sr] shirt / sweater
[sa] sock [sQ:]/[«sQ:] what’s
that?/hey, look
[aj]/[Ãj] light [ma] mommy
[baw]/[daw] down [dQ] daddy
"20
Acquisition Order of Sounds
Manner Place
of Articulation of Articulation
Nasals Labials
Glides Velars
Stops Alveolars
Liquids Palatals
Fricatives
Affricates
21
Perception and Production
Linguist Neil Smith and his 2-year-old son
Father: What does [maws] mean?
Amahl: Like a cat.
Father: Yes, what else?
Amahl: Nothing else
Father: It’s part of your head.
Amahl: [fascinated]
Father: [touching Amahl’s mouth] What’s this?
Amahl: [maws]
22
Simplifying the Sounds of a Language
[ pun ] spoon
[ peyn ] plane
[ tIs ] kiss
[ taw ] cow
[ tin ] clean
[ pol«r ] stroller
[ majtl ] Michael
[ dajt«r ] diaper
[ pati ] Papi
[ mani ] Mommy
[ b«rt ] Bert
[ b«rt ] (big) Bird

6. LA 6
23
The Problem of Acquiring Meaning
“A child who observes a cat sitting on a mat also observes…a mat supporting a cat, a mat under a cat,
a floor supporting a mat and a cat, and so on. If the adult now says. ‘The cat is on the mat’ even while
pointing to the cat on the mat, how is the child to choose among these interpretations of the
situation?”
24
Innate Bias in Acquiring Word Meaning
1. Whole object principle
2. Form over color principle
3. Everything has a name
4. Each thing has only one name
25
Stages of Irregular Verb Acquisition
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
broke breaked broke
brought bringed brought
went goed went
26
Acquisition of Morphology
TOM: Where’s Mommy?
CHILD: Mommy goed to the store.
TOM: Mommy goed to the store?
CHILD: NO! (annoyed) Daddy, I say it that way, not you.
CHILD: You readed some of it too…she readed all the rest.
DAN: She read the whole thing to you, huh?
CHILD: Nu-uh, you read some.
DAN: Oh, that’s right, yeah. I readed the beginning of it.
CHILD: Readed? (annoyed surprise) Read!
(pronounced / rEd /)
DAN: Oh, yeah, read.
CHILD: Will you stop that, Papa?
"27
Morpheme Acquisition Order
-ing
in, on
-s (REGULAR PLURAL)
-s (1st PERS SINGULAR PRESENT)
’s (POSSESSIVE)
28
Two-Word Sentences
allgone sock hi Mommy
bye bye boat allgone sticky
more wet it ball
Katherine sock dirty sock
29
Chapter 7 Homework (Exercise 5, pp. 370-371)
1. don’t [ dot ] simplification: ConCl
2. skip [ kHIp ] simplify: ConsClust
3. shoe [ su ] substitute
4. that [ dQt ] substitute
5. play [ pHe ] simplify: ConsClust
6. thump [ dÃp ] substitute & simplify
7. bath [ bQt ] substitute
8. chop [ tHap ] substitute/simplify

7. LA 7
9. kitty [ kIdi ] ??
10. light [ wajt ] substitute
11. dolly [ dawi ] substitute
12. grow [ go ] simplify: ConsClust
"
30
Chapter 7 Homework (Exercise 7, p. 371)
Adult Form Child form
a. children childs
b. went goed
c. better gooder
d. best goodest
e. brought bringed
f. sang singed
g. geese gooses
h. worst baddest
i. knives knifes
j. worse badder
"Assignment
Exercise 3: Chapter 7 in Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2011). An Introduction to Language.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 369
Resources
Crain, S. & Pietroski, P. (2001). Nature, Nurture and Universal
Grammar. Linguistics And Philosophy, 24(2), 139-186.
"
Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2007). An Introduction to
Language. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Publishing.
"
Hill, J. D. & Flynn, K. M. (2006). Classroom Instruction That Works
with English Language Learners. [Retrieved] 5/28/2012, [from]
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/106009/chapters/The-Stag
es-of-Second-Language-Acquisition.aspx.
"
Stages of Language Acquisition in Children. (n.d).
[Retrieved]5/28/2012 [from] http://www.ling.upenn/edu/courses/
Fall_2003/ling001/acquisition.html
"
L.R. Gleitman and E. Wanner. 1982. Language Acquisition: The State of the State of the Art. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, p. 10.] [Reference not given in 2009, 9th ed.; given in 2003.]
"
Steven Pinker. Words and Rules. New York: Basic Books, 1999, pp. 199-200.
"

8. LA 8
1
The
Human
Mind
at
Work:
Human
Language
Processing
Psycholinguistics
is
concerned
with
linguistic
performance
or
processing,
which
is
the
use
of
linguistic
knowledge
(competence)
in
speech
production
and
comprehension.
2
Comprehension
Comprehension,
the
process
of
understanding
an
utterance,
requires
the
ability
to
access
the
mental
lexicon
to
match
the
words
in
the
utterance
to
their
meanings.
Comprehension
begins
with
the
perception
of
the
acoustic
speech
signal.
3
The
speech
signal
can
be
described
in
terms
of
the
fundamental
frequency
of
the
sounds,
perceived
as
pitch;
the
intensity,
perceived
as
loudness;
and
the
quality,
perceived
as
differences
in
speech
sounds,
such
as
between
an
[i]
and
an
[a].
The
speech
wave
can
be
displayed
visually
as
a
spectrogram,
sometimes
called
a
voiceprint.
In
a
spectrogram,
vowels
exhibit
dark
bands
where
frequency
intensity
is
greatest.
4
Speech
Perception
and
Comprehension
The
speech
signal
is
a
continuous
stream
of
sounds.
Listeners
have
the
ability
to
segment
the
stream
into
linguistic
units
and
to
recognize
acoustically
distinct
sounds
as
the
same
linguistic
unit.
5
If
you
heard
someone
say
The
cat
chased
the
rat
and
you
perceived
the
sounds
as
[ð
ə
kʰ
æ
ʔ
tʃʰ
e
s
t
ð
ə
r
æ
t]
a
lexical
look-­‐up
process
would
lead
you
to
conclude
that
an
event
concerning
a
cat,
a
rat,
and
the
activity
of
chasing
had
occurred.
You
could
know
this
only
by
segmenting
the
words
in
the
continuous
speech
signal,
analyzing
them
into
their
phonological
word
units,
and
matching
these
units
to
similar
strings
stored
in
your
lexicon.
6
Bottom-­‐up
and
Top-­‐down
Models
The
perception
of
the
speech
signal
is
necessary
but
not
sufficient
for
the
comprehension
of
speech.
To
get
the
full
meaning
of
an
utterance,
we
must
parse
the
string
into
syntactic
structures,
because
meaning
depends
on
word
order
and
constituent
structure
in
addition
to
the
meaning
of
words.
Some
psycholinguists
believe
we
use
both
top-­‐
down
processing
and
bottom-­‐up
processing
during
comprehension.
7
Top-­‐down
processing
uses
semantic
and
syntactic
information
in
addition
to
the
lexical
information
drawn
from
the
sensory
input
For
example,
upon
hearing
the
determiner
the,
the
speaker
begins
constructing
an
NP
and
expects
that
the
next
word
could
be
a
noun,
as
in
the
boy.
In
this
instance
the
knowledge
of
phrase
structure
would
be
the
source
of
information.
bottom-­‐up
processing
uses
only
information
contained
in
the
sensory
input.
According
to
this
model
the
speaker
waits
until
hearing
the
and
boy
before
constructing
an
NP,
and
then
waits
for
the
next
word,
and
so
on.
8
Lexical
Access
and
Word
Recognition
➢
Semantic
Priming
➢
Naming
Task
➢
Shadowing
Task
9
Psycholinguistic
experimental
studies
are
aimed
at
uncovering
the
units,
stages,
and
processes
involved
in
linguistic
performance.
Several
experimental
techniques
have
proven
to
be
very
helpful.
In
a
lexical
decision
task,
subjects
are
asked
to
respond
to
spoken
or
written
stimuli
by
pressing
a
button
if
they
consider
the
stimulus
to
be
a
word.
In
naming
tasks,
subjects
read
from
printed
stimuli.
10
The
measurement
of
response
times,
RTs,
in
naming
and
other
tasks
shows
that
it
takes
longer
to
process
less
frequent
words
compared
to
more
frequent
words,
longer
to
produce
irregularly
spelled
versus
regularly
spelled

9. LA 9
words,
and
longer
to
pronounce
nonsense
forms
as
opposed
to
real
words.
In
addition
to
using
behavioral
data
such
as
RT,
researchers
can
now
use
various
measures
of
electrical
brain
activity
to
learn
about
language
processing.
For
example,
more
commonly
used
words
such
as
car
are
responded
to
more
quickly
than
words
that
we
rarely
encounter
such
as
fig.
Subjects
read
irregularly
spelled
words
like
dough
and
steak
just
slightly
more
slowly
than
regularly
spelled
words
like
doe
and
stake.
11
A
word
may
prime
another
word
if
the
words
are
related
in
some
way
such
as
semantically,
phonetically,
or
even
through
similar
spelling.
For
example,
making
a
lexical
decision
on
the
word
doctor
will
be
faster
if
you
just
made
a
lexical
decision
on
nurse
than
if
you
just
made
one
on
a
semantically
unrelated
word
such
as
flower.
This
effect
is
known
as
semantic
priming:
we
say
that
the
word
nurse
primes
the
word
doctor.
12
Syntactic
Processing
In
addition
to
recognizing
words,
the
listener
must
figure
out
the
syntactic
and
semantic
relations
among
the
words
and
phrases
in
a
sentence,
that
is
“parsing.”
Listeners
actively
build
a
phrase
structure
representation
of
a
sentence
as
they
hear
it.
They
must
therefore
decide
for
each
“incoming”
word
what
its
grammatical
category
is.
Many
sentences
present
temporary
ambiguities,
such
as
sentences
in
which
the
phrase
structure
rules
allow
two
possible
attachments
of
a
constituent,
as
illustrated
by
the
following
example:
After
the
child
visited
the
doctor
prescribed
a
course
of
injections.
13
Experiments
that
track
eye
movements
of
people
when
they
read
such
sentences
show
that
there
may
be
attachment
preferences
that
operate
independently
of
the
context
or
meaning
of
the
sentence.
When
the
mental
syntactic
parser
receives
the
word
doctor,
it
attaches
it
as
a
direct
object
of
the
verb
visit
in
the
subordinate
clause.
For
this
reason,
subjects
experience
a
strange
perceptual
effect
when
they
encounter
the
verb
prescribed.
They
must
“change
their
minds”
and
attach
the
doctor
as
subject
of
the
main
clause
instead.
Sentences
that
induce
this
effect
are
called
garden
path
sentences.
14
There
are
two
principles
that
have
been
suggested
to
deal
with
syntactic
ambiguity:
minimal
attachment
and
late
closure.
Minimal
attachment
says,
“Build
the
simplest
structure
consistent
with
the
grammar
of
the
language.”
In
the
string
The
horse
raced
past
the
barn
fell,
the
simpler
structure
is
the
one
in
which
the
horse
is
the
subject
and
raced
the
main
verb;
the
more
complex
structure
is
similar
to
The
horse
that
was
raced.
.
.
..
15
The
second
principle,
late
closure,
says
“Attach
incoming
material
to
the
phrase
that
is
currently
being
processed.”
Late
closure
is
exemplified
in
the
following
sentence:
The
doctor
said
the
patient
will
die
yesterday.
Readers
often
experience
a
garden
path
effect
at
the
end
of
this
sentence
because
they
interpret
yesterday
as
modifying
will
die,
which
is
semantically
inappropriate.
Late
closure
explains
this:
The
hearer
encounters
yesterday
as
he
is
processing
the
embedded
clause,
of
which
die
is
the
main
verb.
On
the
other
hand,
the
verb
said,
which
yesterday
is
supposed
to
modify,
is
part
of
the
root
clause.
The
hearer
must
therefore
backtrack
to
attach
yesterday
to
the
clause
containing
said.
16
Another
technique
is
shadowing,
in
which
subjects
repeat
as
fast
as
possible
what
is
being
said
to
them.
Subjects
often
correct
errors
in
the
stimulus
sentence,
suggesting
that
they
use
linguistic
knowledge
rather
than
simply
echoing
sounds
they
hear.
fast
shadowers
often
correct
speech
errors
or
mispronunciations
unconsciously
and
add
inflectional
endings
if
they
are
absent.
Even
when
they
are
told
that
the
speech
they
are
to
shadow
includes
errors
and
they
should
repeat
the
errors,
they
are
rarely
able
to
do
so.
17
Speech
Production
The
units
and
stages
in
speech
production
have
been
studied
by
analyzing
spontaneously
produced
speech
errors.
Anticipation
errors,
in
which
a
sound
is
produced
earlier
than
in
the
intended
utterance,
and
spoonerisms,
named
after
William
Archibald
Spooner,
in
which
sounds
or
words
are
exchanged
or
reversed,
show
that
we
do
not
produce
one
sound
or
one
word
or
even
one
phrase
at
a
time.
Rather,
we
construct
and
store
larger
units
with
their
syntactic
structures
specified.
"
"
"

10. LA 10
18
Indeed,
speech
errors
show
that
features,
segments,
words,
and
phrases
may
be
conceptualized
well
before
they
are
uttered.
This
point
is
illustrated
in
the
following
examples
of
speech
errors
(the
intended
utterance
is
to
the
left
of
the
arrow;
the
actual
utterance,
including
the
error,
is
to
the
right
of
the
arrow):
1.
The
hiring
of
minority
faculty.
→
The
firing
of
minority
faculty.
(The
intended
h
is
replaced
by
the
f
of
faculty,
which
occurs
later
in
the
intended
utterance.)
2.
ad
hoc
→
odd
hack
(The
vowels
/æ/
of
the
first
word
and
/a/
of
the
second
are
exchanged
or
reversed.)
3.
big
and
fat
→
pig
and
vat
(The
values
of
a
single
feature
are
switched:
in
big
[+voiced]
becomes
[–voiced]
and
in
fat
[–voiced]
becomes
[+voiced].)
19
Lexical
Selection
Word
substitutions
and
blends
show
that
words
are
connected
to
other
words
phonologically
and
semantically.
The
production
of
ungrammatical
utterances
also
shows
that
morphological,
inflectional,
and
syntactic
rules
may
be
wrongly
applied
or
fail
to
apply
when
we
speak,
but
at
the
same
time
shows
that
such
rules
are
actually
involved
in
speech
production.
20
Such
blends
are
illustrated
in
the
following
errors:
1.
splinters/blisters
→
splisters
2.
edited/annotated
→
editated
3.
a
swinging/hip
chick
→
a
swip
chick
4.
frown/scowl
→
frowl
These
blend
errors
are
typical
in
that
the
segments
stay
in
the
same
position
within
the
syllable
as
they
were
in
the
target
words.
21
Brain
and
Language
The
attempt
to
understand
what
makes
the
acquisition
and
use
of
language
possible
has
led
to
research
on
the
brain-­‐
mind-­‐language
relationship.
Neurolinguistics
is
the
study
of
the
brain
mechanisms
and
anatomical
structures
that
underlie
linguistic
competence
and
performance.
22
The
Human
Brain
The
nerve
cells
that
form
the
surface
of
the
brain
are
called
the
cortex,
which
serves
as
the
intellectual
decision
maker,
receiving
messages
from
the
sensory
organs
and
initiating
all
voluntary
actions.
The
brain
of
all
higher
animals
is
divided
into
two
parts
called
the
cerebral
hemispheres,
which
are
connected
by
the
corpus
callosum,
a
network
that
permits
the
left
and
right
hemispheres
to
communicate.
23
Each
hemisphere
exhibits
contralateral
control
of
functions.
The
left
hemisphere
controls
the
right
side
of
the
body,
and
the
right
hemisphere
controls
the
left
side.
Despite
the
general
symmetry
of
the
human
body,
much
evidence
suggests
that
the
brain
is
asymmetric,
with
the
left
and
right
hemispheres
lateralized
for
different
functions.
24
The
Localization
of
Language
in
the
Brain
An
issue
of
central
concern
has
been
to
determine
which
parts
of
the
brain
are
responsible
for
human
linguistic
abilities.
In
the
early
nineteenth
century,
Franz
Joseph
Gall
proposed
the
theory
of
localization,
which
is
the
idea
that
different
human
cognitive
abilities
and
behaviors
are
localized
in
specific
parts
of
the
brain.
25
Aphasia
The
study
of
aphasia
has
been
an
important
area
of
research
in
understanding
the
relationship
between
brain
and
language.
Aphasia
is
the
neurological
term
for
any
language
disorder
that
results
from
brain
damage
caused
by
disease
or
trauma.
In
the
second
half
of
the
nineteenth
century,
significant
scientific
advances
were
made
in
localizing
language
in
the
brain
based
on
the
study
of
people
with
aphasia.
In
the
1860s
the
French
surgeon
Paul
Broca
proposed
that
language
is
localized
to
the
left
hemisphere
of
the
brain,
and
more
specifically
to
the
front
part
of
the
left
hemisphere
(now
called
Broca’s
area).
26
A
decade
later
Carl
Wernicke,
a
German
neurologist,
described
another
variety
of
aphasia
that
occurred
in
patients
with
lesions
in
areas
of
the
left
hemisphere
temporal
lobe,
now
known
as
Wernicke’s
area.

11. LA 11
Language,
then,
is
lateralized
to
the
left
hemisphere,
and
the
left
hemisphere
appears
to
be
the
language
hemisphere
from
infancy
on.
Lateralization
is
the
term
used
to
refer
to
the
localization
of
function
to
one
hemisphere
of
the
brain.
27
The
Linguistic
Characteristics
of
Aphasic
Syndromes
Neurolinguists
have
studied
the
living
brain
as
it
processes
language.
By
studying
split-­‐brain
patients
and
aphasics,
localized
areas
of
the
brain
can
be
associated
with
particular
language
functions.
For
example,
lesions
in
the
part
of
the
brain
called
Broca’s
area
may
suffer
from
Broca’s
aphasia,
which
results
in
impaired
syntax
and
agrammatism
(they
often
leave
out
obligatory
function
words
and
inflections).
Damage
to
Wernicke’s
area
may
result
in
Wernicke’s
aphasia,
in
which
fluent
speakers
produce
semantically
anomalous
utterances,
or
even
worse,
jargon
aphasia,
in
which
speakers
produce
nonsense
forms
that
make
their
utterance
uninterpretable.
Damage
to
yet
different
areas
can
produce
anomia,
a
form
of
aphasia
in
which
the
patient
has
word-­‐finding
difficulties.
28
Language
and
Brain
Development
The
critical-­‐age
hypothesis
assumes
that
language
is
biologically
based
and
that
the
ability
to
learn
a
native
language
develops
within
a
fixed
period,
from
birth
to
middle
childhood.
During
this
critical
period,
language
acquisition
proceeds
easily,
swiftly,
and
without
external
intervention.
After
this
period,
the
acquisition
of
grammar
is
difficult
and,
for
most
individuals,
never
fully
achieved.
However,
it
is
possible
to
acquire
words
and
various
conversational
skills
after
this
point.
This
evidence
suggests
that
the
critical
period
holds
for
the
acquisition
of
grammatical
abilities,
but
not
necessarily
for
all
aspects
of
language.
29
The
Modular
Mind:
Dissociations
of
Language
and
Cognition
The
language
faculty
is
modular.
It
is
independent
of
other
cognitive
systems
with
which
it
interacts.
There
are
children
without
brain
lesions
who
nevertheless
have
difficulties
in
acquiring
language.
They
show
no
other
cognitive
deficits;
they
are
suffering
from
specific
language
impairment
(SLI).
Only
their
linguistic
ability
is
affected,
and
often
only
specific
aspects
of
grammar
are
impaired.
30
Assignments
"
1.
Speech
errors
-­‐
Ex.
1:
ch.8
/
p.
421.
2.
What
are
arguments
and
evidence
that
have
been
put
forth
to
support
the
notion
that
there
are
two
separate
parts
of
the
brain?
"
"
"

12. LA 12
1
Language
and
Society
Differences in Language
Different
languages
Different
dialects
(AAE)
Lingua
Franca
Pidgins
and
Creoles
Styles
Slang
Jargon
and
Argot
(Register)
Taboo
words
Euphemisms
2
Dialects
Every
person
has
a
unique
way
of
speaking,
called
an
idiolect.
The
language
used
by
a
group
of
speakers
is
a
dialect.
The
dialects
of
a
language
are
the
mutually
intelligible
forms
of
that
language
that
differ
in
systematic
ways
from
each
other.
Dialects
develop
because
languages
change,
and
the
changes
that
occur
in
one
group
or
area
may
differ
from
those
that
occur
in
another.
Regional
dialects
and
social
dialects
develop
for
this
reason.
Some
differences
in
U.S.
regional
dialects
may
be
traced
to
the
dialects
spoken
by
colonial
settlers
from
England.
Those
from
southern
England
spoke
one
dialect
and
those
from
the
north
spoke
another.
3
It
is
also
not
easy
to
draw
a
distinction
between
dialects
and
languages
on
strictly
linguistic
grounds.
dialects
merge
into
each
other,
forming
a
dialect
continuum.
4
The
study
of
regional
dialects
has
produced
dialect
atlases,
with
dialect
maps
showing
the
areas
where
specific
dialect
characteristics
occur
in
the
speech
of
the
region.
A
boundary
line
called
an
isogloss
delineates
each
area.
Social
dialects
arise
when
groups
are
isolated
socially,
such
as
Americans
of
African
descent
in
the
United
States,
many
of
whom
speak
dialects
collectively
called
African
American
(Vernacular)
English,
which
are
distinct
from
the
dialects
spoken
by
non-­‐Africans.
5
Isoglosses
and
Dialect
Boundaries
Isogloss
is
the
line
which
represents
the
boundary
between
the
areas
with
regard
to
that
one
particular
linguistic
ties.
(e.g.
paper
bag/
paper
sack)
Dialect
Boundary
is
a
more
solid
line
of
a
number
of
isoglosses.
6
Dialect
differences
include
phonological
or
pronunciation
differences
(often
called
accents),
vocabulary
distinctions,
and
syntactic
rule
differences.
The
grammar
differences
among
dialects
are
not
as
great
as
the
similarities,
thus
permitting
speakers
of
different
dialects
to
communicate.
In
many
countries,
one
dialect
or
dialect
group
is
viewed
as
the
standard,
such
as
Standard
American
English
(SAE).
Although
this
particular
dialect
is
not
linguistically
superior,
some
language
purists
consider
it
the
only
correct
form
of
the
language.
Such
a
view
has
led
to
the
idea
that
some
nonstandard
dialects
are
deficient
7
Accent
and
Dialect
Accent
is
the
description
of
aspects
of
pronunciation
which
identify
where
an
individual
speaker
is
from,
regionally
or
socially.
Dialect
describes
the
features
of
grammar
and
vocabulary,
as
well
as
aspects
of
pronunciation.
8
The
Standard
Language
Standard
English
is
the
variety
which
forms
the
basis
of
printed
English
in
newspapers
and
books,
which
is
used
in
the
mass
media
and
which
is
taught
in
schools.
It
is
more
easily
described
in
terms
of
the
written
language
than
the
spoken
language.
9
African American English
◆ Phonology
◆ Syntax
◆Vocabulary

13. LA 13
10
AAE Phonology 1
◆ r-­‐deletion
guard
god
sore
saw
"
11
AAE Phonology 2
◆ l-­‐deletion
(some
speakers)
all
awe
help
hep
◆
Consonant
cluster
simplification
passed
pass
meant
men
"
12
AAE Syntax 1
◆ Multiple
negatives
He
don’t
know
nothing.
"
◆
Deletion
of
the
verb
‘be’
SAE
AAE
He
is
nice
/
He
nice
He’s
nice
13
AAE Syntax 2
Habitual
“Be”
In
SAE,
the
sentence
John
is
happy
can
be
interpreted
to
mean
John
is
happy
now
or
John
is
generally
happy.
In
AAE,
this
distinction
is
made
syntactically;
an
uninflected
form
of
be
is
used
if
the
speaker
is
referring
to
habitual
state.
John
be
happy.
“John
is
always
happy.”
John
happy.
“John
is
happy
now.”
*John
be
happy
at
the
moment.
He
be
late.
“He
is
habitually
late.”
He
late.
“He
is
late
this
time.”
*He
be
late
this
time.
"
14
Genderlects
The
linguist
Deborah
Tannen
calls
the
different
variants
of
English
used
by
men
and
women
“genderlects”
(a
blend
of
gender
and
dialect).
"
15
Lakoff’s Women’s Language
More
hedges
I
suppose,
I
would
imagine,
This
is
probably
wrong
but…
More
tag
questions
He’s
not
a
very
good
actor,
is
he?
Words
showing
politeness
please,
thank
you
Intensifying
adjectives
really,
so
"
16
Sociolinguistic
Analysis
The
linguist
William
Labov
carried
out
a
sociolinguistic
analysis
in
New
York
City
that
focused
on
the
rule
of
r-­‐
dropping/r/,
and
its
use
by
upper-­‐,
middle-­‐,
and
lower-­‐class
speakers.
While
most
American
accents
are
rhotic,
New
York
(and
Boston)
have
distinctive
non-­‐rhotic
accent.
Labov
showed
that
rhotic
use
of
/r/
reflected
social
class
and
aspiration,
and
was
more
widespread
in
younger
speakers
"
"

14. LA 14
17
Languages
in
Contact
In
areas
where
many
languages
are
spoken,
one
language
may
become
a
lingua
franca
to
ease
communication
among
people.
In
other
cases,
where
traders,
or
travelers
need
to
communicate
with
people
who
speak
a
language
unknown
to
them,
a
pidgin
may
develop.
When
a
pidgin
is
widely
used,
and
constitutes
the
primary
linguistic
input
to
children,
it
is
creolized.
18
Pidgins
and
Creoles
A
pidgin
is
a
variety
of
a
language
(e.g.
English)
which
developed
for
some
practical
purpose
(e.g.
trading).
The
English
Pidgins
are
characterized
by
an
absense
of
any
complex
grammatical
morphology
and
a
limited
vocabulary.
E.g.:
plural
-­‐
s
and
possessive
-­‐'s
are
very
rare
in
the
English
Pidgins.
e.g.:
Functional
morphemes
often
take
the
place
of
inflectional
morphemes
found
in
the
source
language.
(instead
of
your
they
use
belong
you)
Your
book
=
buk
bilong
yu
19
When
a
Pidgin
develops
beyond
its
role
as
a
trade
language
and
becomes
the
first
language
of
a
social
community,
it
is
described
as
a
Creole.
A
Creole
develops
as
the
first
language
of
the
children
of
Pidgin
speakers.
Creoles
have
large
numbers
of
native
speakers
and
are
not
restricted
at
all
in
their
uses.
20
Codeswitching
is
shifting
between
languages
within
a
single
sentence
or
discourse
by
a
bilingual
speaker.
It
reflects
both
grammars
working
simultaneously
and
does
not
represent
a
form
of
“broken”
English
or
Spanish
or
whatever
language.
21
Language
in
Use
Besides
regional
and
social
dialects,
speakers
may
use
different
styles,
or
registers,
depending
on
the
context.
Slang
is
not
often
used
in
formal
situations
or
writing
but
is
widely
used
in
speech;
argot
and
jargon
refer
to
the
unique
vocabulary
used
by
particular
groups
of
people
to
facilitate
communication,
provide
a
means
of
bonding,
and
exclude
outsiders.
22
Register
and
Jargon
A
register
is
a
conventional
way
of
using
language
that
is
appropriate
in
a
specific
context,
which
may
be
identified
as
situational
(e.g.
in
church),
occupational
(e.g.
among
lawyers)
or
topical
(e.g.
talking
about
language).
One
of
the
defining
features
of
a
register
is
the
use
of
jargon,
which
is
special
technical
vocabulary
(e.g.
plaintiff,
suffix)
associated
with
a
specific
area
of
work
or
interest.
In
social
terms,
jargon
helps
to
create
and
maintain
connections
among
those
who
see
themselves
as
"insiders"
in
some
way
and
to
exclude
“outsiders."
23
Slang
Whereas
jargon
is
specialized
vocabulary
used
by
those
inside
established
social
groups,
often
defined
by
professional
status
(e.g.
legal
jargon),
slang
is
more
typically
used
among
those
who
are
outside
established
higher-­‐
status
groups,
Slang,
or
"colloquial
speech,"
describes
words
or
phrases
that
are
used
instead
of
more
everyday
terms
among
younger
speakers
and
other
groups
with
special
interests,
24
In
all
societies,
certain
acts
or
behaviors
are
frowned
on,
forbidden,
or
considered
taboo.
Attitudes
toward
specific
words
or
linguistic
expressions
reflect
the
views
of
a
culture
or
society
toward
the
behaviors
and
actions
of
the
language
users.
At
times,
slang
words
may
be
taboo
where
scientific
or
standard
terms
with
the
same
meaning
are
acceptable
in
“polite
society.”
Taboo
words
and
acts
give
rise
to
euphemisms,
which
are
words
or
phrases
that
replace
the
expressions
to
be
avoided.
25
Assignment
1. What
are
the
factors
that
determine
if
a
particular
way
of
speaking
is
considered
to
be
a
dialect
or
a
language?
2. Ex.
5
/
ch.9:
p.
482.
""