UNIT 2 FACTORS AFFECTING FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 2.1. How children learn languages 2.2.

The acquisition of a grammar 2.3. Production and comprehension 2.4. Language and the brain 2.5. Language disorders 2.6. Language, thought and culture 2.1. How children learn language http://www.helium.com/items/291719-why-childhood-is-a-critical-period-forlanguage-learning http://www.helium.com/items/1772588-why-childhood-is-a-critical-period-forlanguage-learning By the age of 4 years old we all learn the basis of our language. Even though we dont know some elaborate syntactic structure at that age, the language proficiency of the 4-5 year-old is often the envy of the adult second-language learner, who has been struggling for years to master the language. Its one of the fundamental tasks of psycholinguistics to explain how children learn language. Nevertheless, childrens L1 acquisition is a complex task, which is studied by developmental psycholinguistics studies how children acquire their First language (a sub-field of psycholinguistics), and we cant say that this new science has responses to all the questions. Some of the questions, which are difficult to respond, are, for example: when does a child start to communicate; does a crying/ cooing/ gurgling baby have a communicative intent, etc. Infants everywhere seem to make the same variety of sounds (even the children who are born deaf), thus childrens ability and propensity to utter these sounds appears to be unlearned. Its questionable, though, whether sounds children utter could be considered communicatively meaningful and intentional, i.e. they produce the sounds in order to communicate. Crying, at least in the first few months, is a kind of language without speech, because the child communicates different types of disconformities. Cooing emerges at about two months, the child make soft gurgling sounds, seemingly to express satisfaction. When we observe childrens sound production, we notice that infants master first the simple sounds and after that the more complicated ones. Around the seventh month, children ordinary begin to babble (repeated syllables). Some researchers claim that infants from different language communities babble somewhat distinctively, using some of the intonation of the language they have been exposed to. The deaf infants do not progress to babbling, even though they are able to vocalize and cry. From the advanced

stage of babbling, children move to uttering their first words. It usually occurs at around one year of age but it could be also sooner or a little bit later. While babbling is nonintentional, in the sense that particular babbling sounds are not under central cognitive control, the case of meaningful speech is quite different. When the child becomes motivated to produce meaningful speech( this occurs after the child has learned to understand some words other people say), then he begins to find the way how to produce desired sounds. Its sometimes difficult to tell when children start to tell their first words because the mere production of the word may not indicate its knowledge; so basically we could say that first words have been reported for children from 4 months old till 18 months old (i.e. the average for the first words around 10 months of age). Naming of objects and persons is one of the first uses to which children put words. In theholophrastic stage the children use single words to express complex thoughts, in places where a mature speaker would use the whole sentence. This stage is often referred as In theholophrastic stage (where holo indicates whole, and phras indicates phrase or sentence). Children can be remarkably inventive in the use of singleword holophrases and its not easy to interpret what a child is intending to convey by the single word. Children then proceed gradually to two- and then three-word utterances (we prefer to use the term utterance rather than sentence to avoid problems when we decide if what the child says is really a sentence and if its grammatical). (It involves syntactic and grammatical correct expressions) Children around 2 years of age begin to produce two-and three-word utterances. (we prefer to use the term utterance rather than sentence to avoid problems when we decide if what the child says is really a sentence and if its grammatical).At that time they become aware that adding more words will improve communication. This stage of language development of speech is called telegraphic. (Its called like that because childrens utterances at that stage remind a telegram message; i.e. they are short and mainly composed of content words). The most noticeable feature of the telegraphic speech is the variety of purposes and the complexity of semantic relations they exhibit.

2.2. The acquisition of a grammar Somewhere between the holophrastic and the telegraphic speech stages, the birth of grammar appears. when the variety of purposes and the complexity of semantic relations are being disclosed, the birth of grammar appears. It was in the 1960s when the child language acquisition research begun. It focuses on syntax, i.e. on the form, not on semantics, i.e. the meaning. One of the most influential linguists, Noam Chomsky, believed that each child has an innate capacity to master grammar. He was convinced that there is something like a mental grammar, in linguistic theory called Universal Grammar. Chomsky argued that only humans have that capacity. (See the experiment with the chimp, in Scovel, 2000, p.16). Mainly sociolinguists have attacked Chomskys theories. (Note: details on Chomskys theory and arguments against it will be discussed further on, in the Chapter 4.2.). Noam Chomsky proposes the universal grammar theory which states that each child has an innate capacity to master grammar and only humans have that capacity.

If we focus on some common grammatical features of childrens utterances, we notice that theres a low frequency of function words such as articles, prepositions, and the copulas be. On the other hand, nouns, verbs, and adjectives appear very frequently. Childrens utterances also show that they have some notion of the word order (this would be an argument for Universal Grammar). For example, the child learning English tends to say my cup rather than cup my. Once when the child acquires two-and three-word utterances, he/she stars to add function words and inflections (like plural or 3rd pers. s) to their utterances. From the function words, the child learns first the prepositions (because they are easier to observe and more meaningful for a child than the rest of the function words); next, articles follow, then modals, auxiliaries, inflections (=plural /s/ and/z/, and tenses (such as the ed marker the past tense form. This order of acquisition is documented, for children learning English, by many researchers, for example, by Roger Brown (1973), but the mechanisms, which govern the predetermined order, are not fully known. (See Steinberg, 2001,pp.13-27.) In later speech stages children acquire the rules for negative formation, questions, relative clauses, passives, and other complex structures. They still acquire these complex rules in their first five years. Children begin to use more complex forms such as passive much later in their language development, perhaps because the adults dont use it frequently either -children cant comprehend the passive form before the age of 4, approximately- but they start to produce it even later. Between the ages 5 to 10, children are still in the process of learning the more complex aspects of their language. 2.3. Production and comprehension Childs development of speech production starts from the first sounds, crying, cooing, gurgling, babbling of syllables to first words: one-word utterances and two- and three-word utterances, as we have already seen. As far as the order of production of speech sounds, children produce first the back vowels, like /a/ in watch because these vowels are easier to create than those sounds which require more motor control to create, like, for example, the front /i/ in feet. As far as the consonants, a child first produces the sounds that are visibly articulated, i.e. those that are pronounced with the mouth and lips, such as /m/, /p/, and /b/. Its relatively easy to document the childs development of speech production; nevertheless, its rather difficult to document the childs development of speech comprehension. When, for example, does the understanding of speech begin and how does it relate to production? Some researchers document that the language development starts even before the child is born. The researchers were monitoring the reaction of fetus to mothers speech sound, and it was documented. Nevertheless, a large portion of responses to those investigations (fetus language development) remains unanswered and unknown. Other investigations (Mehler, in Steinberg 2001, p.28) state infants preference for their native language. Its also interesting that speech comprehension can also occur without speech production (many hearing persons are born mute). People can be also born with some abnormality that prohibits them from articulating speech, yet theyre able

to comprehend all that is spoken to them (people with brain damage but with normal hearing and intelligence). The model of speech production developed by Levelt (in Scovel, 2000, p.27) distinguishes 4 stages: (1) conceptualization, (2) formulation, (3) articulation, and (4) self-monitoring. Speech is first conceptualized in the human mind and Levelts theory refers to two forms of thinking:syntactic (it is when we think on the sequence of words we are going to produce) and imagistic( it is when we create a visual mode of communication, i.e. pointing and gestures). Referring to the second stage of speech production, the formulation, many studies were carried out in order to discover the way how we put our words into our mouth (Scovel, 2000, p.31). The investigators were analyzing so called slips of tongue. The study of linguistic deviations, like spoonerism, was also used for various psycholinguistic interpretations. Psycholinguists have also examined the way our organs of speech operate (=articulation stage). Self-monitoring stage occurs after the production stage; it deals with the problem of classification of mistakes and errors (in L1 and L2). Scovel draws an analogy with computes when he says: mistakes are production problems; they are the troubles you have with your linguistic printer, not with the original software (p.46). While mistakes are usually committed by both native and non-native speakers, errors are committed only by nonnative speakers (according to Corder, in Scovel, Ibid). Those errors could result, in majority of the cases, as Corder suggests (in De Bot, Lowie and Verspoor, 2005, p. 35) from transfer from the L1. Ex. Can I become a beefsteak. ( Rather than get , from German bekommen) I think Senhor is constipated (rather than caught a cold from Portuguese constipado). (Examples taken form De Both, p.35). An error is defined by Brown as a noticeable deviation form the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflect the competence of the learner. (Brown, 2000, p. 217). Normally, mistakes are recognized and automatically corrected by the L1 speakers (mistakes can be self-corrected while errors cannot). Sometimes its not easy to distinguish a mistake from an error, in that case, we consider the factor of self-correction and also the frequency. If the deviation from the rule is systematic, than it is an error. In normal children speech, comprehension develops in advance of speech production. Comprehension is described in more detail in Scovel (2000, pp.50-69). Although, there is any hard evidence to support it, this theory just helps to explain how speech is initiated. Priming: It is when an earlier stimulus influences response to a later stimulus. Lashley suggested that production and comprehension of speech is largely a linear process, so they are affected by priming. Spoonerisms are slips of tongue in which an actual word or phrase is created, often with a humorous twist to the meaning which was intended. Slip of tongue: is a statement that contains a mistake

It examined the way our organs of speech operate One of the organs that adapts itself for articulation is the larynx (voice box), which has unique characteristics that are absent in other mammals.

2.4. Language and the brain Language and the brain are also of great interest to psycholinguistics, especially to its further subdivision, neurolinguistics. Neurolinguistics helps us understand why we have body preferences, the function of the hemispheres of the brain, implications of the relation of the brain size and intelligence, etc. The brain controls the body- the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body, including the right hand, arm and the right side of the face while the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body. Most persons prefer their right hand and their right foot. About 9% of the population is left-handed (see Klar, in Steinberg 2001, p.315). There are also some interesting studies (Lamm and Epstein, 1999) that report that left-handed native speakers of Hebrew perform worse in their English classes than the right-handers; the area of the major difficulty seemed to be reading. (It would be interesting to investigate the performance of the left-handed vs. right-handed Mexican speakers in their English classes to see if the rule is valid generally.) Nevertheless, such premise sounds logical to me because the left hemisphere, which governs the right part of the body, contains the main language centers of the brain: Brocas Area and Wernickes Area. Paul Broca was a French pathologist 1824-1880) who made the first discovery regarding brain and language. He discovered a certain area of brain that is involved in the production of speech. Carl Wernicke was a German neurologist (18481905) who discovered which areas of the brain are involved in the process of speech comprehension. Left hemisphere specializes in: Right hemisphere is involved in: Language Logical and Analytical Operations Mathematics Recognizing emotions Recognizing faces Perceiving the structures of things globally, without analysis Recognition of non-linguistic sounds like noises and animal sounds Music perception

As far as the difference between the brains of males and females, its suggested in some studies, even though the studies are few, that females have thicker left hemisphere while males have thicker right hemisphere. Because language abilities are typically located in the left hemisphere and visual-spatial abilities are located in the right hemisphere, its suggested females have better language capacity, while males are better in the visual-spatial aspects. In the following figure 2.4, youll be able to observe language areas and their functioning. Note: the figures are reprinted from Speech and Brain Mechanism (Penfield&Roberts, 1959, in Steinberg, 2001, pp.322-323).

While the left hemisphere is involved in most language tasks, recent investigations (Beeman& Chiarello, 1998) showed that the right hemisphere is also involved in language processing, especially in the area of semantics, understanding discourse or metaphors, as the right hemisphere has an ability to use knowledge of the world and relate it to the language topic. 2.5. Language disorders Language disorders, known as aphasias, are caused by some damage in the brain hemisphere where language is located. Such damage causes characteristic problems in speech, as well as in reading and writing. There are two basic groups Brocas aphasias and Wernickes aphasias according to the area affected. In addition to these basic groups, other aphasic sites can be found. We, as teachers, are mainly interested in the kinds of aphasias, which are speech-related, and above all the reading and writing aphasias, called dyslexias.

There are many sorts of dyslexia. In childrens acquisition of reading and writing, we sometimes observe that some children write backwards (deer as reed), upside-down, or they confuse letters (b as d, p with q, u with n, m with w) or other anomalies. To help remedy such problems, its recommended to teach b and d (for example) in words, e.g. tub, dog, etc. and not letters in isolation. Dyslexia may be subdivided into 2 basic categories: alexia, which involves disorders in reading, and agraphia, which involves disorders in writing. Apart of aphasia, the language comprehension/production can also be affected by the insufficient or defective development of speech articulatory organs, sensatory organs (sight, hearing), or other psychological or social factors. Language disorders can also be accompanied by other neurological perturbations or inherited disorders of different types (for more details, Scovel, 2000, pp.70-87). 2.6. Language, thought and culture The relationship of language, thought, and culture is a central topic to psycholinguistics. People have always wondered whether speech or language is necessary for thought. Questions like: can we think without the language, does language influence culture, does language affect our perception of world, etc. have been in the center of attention of different theorists. There are several formulations concerning the relationship of language /thought, and culture. The most well-known are the following: Theory 1: Speech is Essential for Thought. We must learn how to speak aloud, otherwise we cant develop thinking. Theory 2: Language is Essential for Thought. We must learn language, how to produce or understand speech, otherwise we cant develop thinking. Theory 3: Language Determines or Shapes Our Perception of Nature. The learning of language will determine or influence the way we perceive the physical world, visually, auditorily, etc. Theory 4: Language Determines or Shapes Our Cultural World View. The learning of language will determine or influence the way we understand our culture and the world. (See Steinberg, 2001, p.246). We can find arguments to prove that each of these theories is inadequate in some aspect. For example: according to Theory 1 people who cannot speak shouldnt be able to think (which is not true, obviously). It has been proved that animals have to think of strategies for gathering food, defending themselves or finding mates. This is an argument against Theory 2, which considers it impossible (as animals dont speak, they shouldnt have any ability to think. The argument that the multilinguals (according to Theory 3) have a variety of ways of viewing the physical world is questionable- the multilingual person is a whole and integrated person, who perceives nature as other humans do. The views of the Theory 4 are more recent than the previously mentioned ones. The supporters of the theory believe that knowing a language will itself condition and influence ones cultural and social beliefs or views of the world. The common sense objection to that theory could be the following facts. There are people who speak the

same language, but have completely different world view, or that there are people who share the same world view, even though they speak different languages, etc. In conclusion, we can say that thought is independent of language, that language is dependent on thought, and that the function of language is to provide means for the expression and communication of thoughts. The development of language does not affect the nature of thought with respect to its basic categories; there are cases when language can assist in conveying new ideas and culture (for example, language may be used to change beliefs and values, etc.). We have concluded UNIT 2. I hope that you were able to find some interesting information that will also be useful in your everyday life. Additional references: Brown, D.H. (2000). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. (4th Ed.).White Plains, NY: Pearson. De Both, K., Lowie, W, & Verspoor, M. (2005). Second Language Acquistition. New York; London : Routledge.