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LIN1502 Notes Linguistics The STUDY UNITS LANGUAGE
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lOMoARcPSD|3013804LIN1502 Notes Linguistics. Help you pass your module
Linguistics1502 (University of South Africa)
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The STUDY UNIT 1
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Learning to speak mother tongues is one of the most amazing cognitive achievements of human
beings --- the question of how this happens is a problem that has always not only linguists, but also
psychologists, philosophers and educationists.
Exploring the ideal conditions for children to acquire their mother tongues, and the role played by the
parents or caretakers in supporting their children’s language development.
Investigating language acquisition
Linguists use the term language acquisition to refer specifically to first language
development (or any second – or even third – language that a pre-adolescent child learns
unconsciously and informally.)
Term language learning usually refers to the mor conscious learning process that occurs
when adolescents or adults learn a second (or later) language.
L1 --- refer to a person’s first language or mother-tongue
L2 --- refer to a person’s second and additional languages.
One of the major tasks of psycholinguists is to find out how much of our language ability is
innate (inborn) and how much is shaped by environment factors such as the conditions or
surroundings in which we grow up --- known as nature-nurture debate.
Some scholars believe that internal or innate factors --- nature factors --- are the most
dominant factors in this relationship while others believe that external or environmental factors
--- nurture factors --- are dominant.
Observations about language acquisition
Observation 1: All children acquire the language to which they are exposed
Observation 2: All children go through the same stages of development within the first 12 –
18 months and achieve linguistic competence approximately the same age.
Observation 3: Children acquire language at a time when they are intellectually
immature. Observation 4: Children acquire language fairly effortlessly and in a short period
of time. Observation 5: Children acquire language without being taught explicitly.
Observation 6: Children who have been isolated from human contact do not acquire language.
The innateness hypothesis
Innateness hypothesis --- associated with the linguist Noam Chomsky, which suggests that
the ability to learn language is an innate or inborn human ability in the same way as learning to
walk is an innate or inborn human ability.
American linguist Noam Chomsky has claimed that children are born with a “Universal
Grammar”, i.e. a mental blueprint of linguistic rules and principles that are common to all
languages.
Universal Grammar (UG) allows children to recognise a finite set of basic rules that can be
used to produce an infinite number of possible sentences.
The role of the environment in language acquisition
Many linguists believe that exposure to language acts as a trigger for a genetic language
acquisition programme which unfolds almost automatically.
Children who grow up hearing little or no language are those “wild” children who grow up
outside of human society --- most of these children experienced severe problems in acquiring
language after they were found.
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The critical period
The idea of a critical period during which a first language must be acquired gained prominence
--- known as the critical period hypothesis.
Hypothesis relates closely to the nature-nurture issue, suggesting that children’s ability to
hypothesis learn their first language effective ends at the onset adolescence because of
physiological changes in the brain at this time.
Note that the focus here is on the acquisition of a first language after puberty, not on a second
or additional language, since there are millions of people over the world who learn a second or
third language during adolescence or adulthood with greater or lesser degrees of success.
Caretaker speech
Linguists use the terms caretaker speech or child-directed speech to refer to speech directed
at young children.
The kinds of modifications that adults make when talking to small children include higher
overall pitch, slower tempo, exaggerated intonation and lengthened vowels.
List of the characteristic features of caretaker’s speech and examples of each:
CHARACTER FEATURE EXAMPLE AND EXPLANATION
The sentences are short. The sentences range from 1 word (example:
“Look!”) to 7 words long (example: “The bad wolf is
huffing and puffing”).
Words and phrases are repeated, sometimes with Example: “Now he blows the house down. He blew
slight variations. down Piggy’s house. Poor Piggy has no house now.”
Many questions are used. Example: “What’s this wolf doing? What will he do?”
Caretakers tend to focus on “the here and now” --- in other words objects and actions that are
visible to the child the time.
Diminutives (like piggy, horsie and birdie) are often used by adults when speaking to very
young children and are sometimes referred to as “baby-talk” words.
Baby-talk words: tummy --- stomach
bunny --- rabbit
yummy --- delicious
blankie --- blanket
tata --- goodbye
STUDY UNIT 1
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MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. The nature-nurture controversy in linguistics concerns:
a) the relationship between innate and inborn factors
b) the role environment plays in language acquisition
c) the role that caretakers play motivating their children to learn language
d) the way that factors internal to the child interact with the child’s social and linguistic
environment
2. Research into language acquisition indicates that:
a) children acquire language by storing in memory all the words and sentences they
encounter
b) the linguistic system is acquired slowly because of the immaturity and limited experience of
the acquirers
c) children are genetically equipped to acquire any language
d) imitation plays a crucial role in “cracking the linguistic code”
3. The INNATENESS HYPOTHESIS states that:
a) language is learned by trail and error
b) word meanings are programmed into the mind
c) children are born knowing specific languages
d) the ability to acquire language is genetically determined
4. The CRITICAL AGE HYPOTHESIS states that:
a) a child’s first language is acquired easily after puberty
b) word meanings are programmed into the mind
c) children are born knowing specific languages
d) the ability to acquire language is genetically determined
5. The case of Genie:
a) proves that the critical period hypothesis is false
b) shows that the grammar of a first language can be acquired easily after puberty
c) shows that it may be difficult to acquire the grammar of a first language after puberty
d) shows that languages cannot be learned successfully after puberty
6. Which of these linguistic features is not generally found in caretaker speech?
a) lengthened vowels
b) hesitations and mispronunciations
c) slow rate of speech
d) focusing on objects and actions that the child can see
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