NATURE OR NURTURE?
First language acquisition theories
Behaviourism
Watson, Pavlov and SkinnerTabula rasaFocus on
observable behaviour role of the environment
Imitation and practice
Pavlov and classical conditioning
Developing unconditioned responses through stimulus–response-reinforcement
Skinner: operant conditioning
We are goverened by the consequences of our actions
Behaviouristic pedagogy
Objections 1. "What children say"
Jean Berko (1958): wug-wugs, gling-glinged-glangwented, taked, mices, mouses, sheepsett, kenyért, lót, tégem> Analogous thinking
2. "What children don't say"McNeill (1966):CHILD: Nobody don't like me.MUM: No, say "nobody likes me". CHILD: Nobody don't like me. (eight repetitions of this dialogue)MUM: No, now listen carefully, say "nobody likes me". CHILD: Oh! Nobody don't likes me. > Inability to imitate
Nativism/Innatism
Chomsky: genetic pre-programming
Based on
1. the Argument from the Poverty of the Stimulus
2. evidence of rule governed language generation
LAD, language universals
Example: SVO components in sentences
- 75% of the world's languages: SVO (English, French, Vietnamese) or SOV (Japanese, Tibetan, Korean)
- 10 - 15% VSO ( Welsh) or VOS (Malagasy)- 10-15% free word order (Latin, Hungarian),
but SOV common: Márta tortát evett.
„Setting the parameters” – matching UG to particular language
Criticism of Chomsky1. Competence – performance
- Performance igored- Competence judged on the basis of intuitions?
2. Core grammar – peripheral grammar- focus on core grammar(?) only ?We was there. I ain’t no fool.
3. Syntax vs. semantics- Colourless green ideas sleep furiously. - My mother, he no like bananas.
4. Ignoring meaning, function, context- situation for child FLA
Functionalism
Focus on imput: Interaction vs. exposure Bruner’s Language Acquisition Support System
(LASS)- parents communicate in ritualistic scenarios- easily comprehensible and predictable language- emotionally charged situations- repetition of acts and language
Motherese, parentese (interaction, initiation, response)
1. Simplified in grammar and meaning 2. Shorter sentences - about 4-8 words/
sentence, when speaking to 2-year olds 3. More restricted range of sentence patterns 4. Expansion and repetition of sentences
5. Slower speech 6. Use of special words and sounds 7. High pitch 8. High, rising intonation - looking for feedback. 9. Embedded in the here and now.
Findings from motherese
Not so partial and ungrammatical as suggested byChomsky a large number of WH forms
However No close correlation between motherese and
child speech
Not all social groups adapt speech to young children
Children do not simply repeat the language they hear from their caretakers.
They also produce utterances that they have never heard. Eszel tégem?Mummy sock.
Motherese: focus on meaning, not on grammar
Child : Mamma isn't boy, he a girl. Mother : That's right. Child : And Walt Disney comes on
Tuesday. Mother : No he does not.
Children’s mistakes not random errors - own grammar.
INTERLANGUAGE
Negation sequence of English-speaking children
1. No and Not appear as single word sentences. 2. Two-word (pivot) sentences: No car, Not gone3. Negative words used within constructions:
You no do that, Mummy 4. Negative auxiliaries appear: Won't, can't5. Not replaces no. Double negatives 6. Any, hardly, scarcely during early years of school.
Connectionism
Focus on neuro-programming: neurons, synapses, wiring, circuits
Where does language reside in the brain? Is there a LAD?
Answer from neurology- Lateralisation- Left hemisphere:language and logical functions
Aphasia studies
Paul Broca 1861: „Tan” Broca’s aphasia: inability to form correct
sentences, patient is aware of difficulty Broca’s area: responsible for grammatical
structuring
Carl Wernicke, 1874: Wernicke’s area Wernicke’s aphasia: grammatical correctness,
semantically meaningless utterances, unaware of problem
Relation between Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas
Phases of development
Before birth: neurons, wiring for life functions
0/1: "biological exhuberance„neurons connect in response to environmental impulsesLanguage: - vocal map of L1 is formed
1/10: flexible synapses, easily formedLanguage: - sensorimotor connections flexible (no accent!) - vocab.learnt through repeated exposure and interaction
After 10: "pruning"Language: fixed synapses
GENETICALLY PROVIDED BRAIN POTENTIAL
RICH ENVIRONMENT
RICH BRAIN "Experts now agree that a baby does not come into the world as a genetically preprogrammed automaton or a blank slate at the mercy of the environment ... Learning happens by the interaction of the genes and the environment.„ (S. Begley)
Critical period in FLA: - no hope after CP
Critical period in SLL/SLA:- weak version: difficult- strong version: impossible
Alternative considerations and counterevidenceLeft/Right cooperation in SLL
strategies of acquisition guessing meaning formulaic utterances
Hill (1970), Sorenson (1967): multilingual tribes, no accent
Areas of change
Neurological Pruning Lateralisation
Psychomotor Accent
Cognitive Concrete Formal thinking
Affective Inhibition Motivation
Personality factors
Talent: neurological flexibility New wiring for L2 Talent cluster
Motivation, + attitude, involvement
Strategies Active
Conclusion
Language learning, a unique human capacity: neurological basis
Genetic programme + environmentLearning capacity limited by time (CPH)
Loss of unconnected neurons and unused synapses
Also influenced by personality factors