Child Language Acquisition

Sahil Thapa
Amit Kumar Upadhyay

Prakhar Goyal
Naineet Patel

Language Acquisition

Ponder on Language Acquisition A complex task

Encompasses research fields

Natural Language Processing Neural networks Psychology Statistics and other related fields

Language Acquisition- The meaning..

Language acquisition - process by which the language capability develops in a human.

First language acquisition or Child Language Acquisition concerns the development of language in children. da --> daddy --> daddy loves me ..

Why to learn that !!

Long range influences on adult behaviour: as the twig is bent, so grows the tree !! Children change so rapidly compared to us adults. Insights into complex adult processes. Interesting subject matter.

Lets learn How Krish learns to talk

1 Week "WAAAAAAAA!" Translation - "I'm hungry!" Krish learns that people pay attention to you when you make noises

Lets learn How Krish learns to talk

6 Months "Babadadagugubaba" Translation - none. Krish has learned that making noises is fun.

Lets learn How Krish learns to talk

1 Year "paalle - g" Translation "I want biscuit" (First time he ate Parle G biscuit, although this time, it is a different biscuit now) Krish has learned that you don't always have to point to show people things. You can correlate one type of thing to its similar type.

Lets learn How Krish learns to talk

2-3 Years "Chacha Choudhry hit boy. Stick daddy. No Talks !!" Translation Chacha Choudhry hitting boy with his stick. And stop reading this story daddy! ( Because I'm scared) He has learned that language helps you be quite specific about what you feel and what you want.

Lets learn How Krish learns to talk

5 Years "Papa, mai yeh kaam karna chahta huun!" Finally he has learned the core structure and grammar of the language. By now, he is almost able to communicate with his fellow people and from now onwards he will try expanding the vocabulary and knowledge of the language.

Outline

Motivation & Meaning Some facts about language acquisition Theories explaining Child Language Acquisition Imp Stages in CLA CHILDES

3 imp facts about CLA

1. REGARDLESS OF THE LANGUAGE KIDS ARE EXPOSED TO....

at 6 weeks they coo at 6 months they babble at 1 year they produce their first word at 2 years they construct 2 word sentences at 5 years they have almost acquired the core grammar of their language

3 imp facts about CLA

2. Universal phenomenon phonologically, syntactically, and semantically.

3 . A natural process
Their syntax is very rarely explicitly corrected, and attempts at such correction are almost invariably unsuccessful.

Outline

Motivation & Meaning Some facts about language acquisition Theories explaining Child Language Acquisition Imp Stages in CLA CHILDES

Theories of Language Acquisition

Theories

Nativist

Non Nativist

Cognitive Chomsky

Behaviorist

Vyogtsky

Piaget

Skinner

Chomskys Universal Grammar Theory

Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation

-- Avram Noam
Chomsky

Chomskys Universal Grammar Theory

Language acquisition is influenced by language, not controlled by it !!! Arguments:

Language is complicated No formal instruction. Always succeed and that too in a short period of time Independent of other mental tasks. Use deduction rather than by imitation or memorization.

Chomskys Universal Grammar Theory

Neurological system in human brains that supports language acquisition. Language Acquisition Device or LAD. Children are exposed to infinite data and given data LAD produce a finite set of grammar rules.

Data as Input

Grammar Output

L.A.D.

Chomskys Universal Grammar Theory

Children learn language by applying this unconscious universal grammar to the sounds they hear. Universal grammar forms the foundation of all human language. A universal grammar can be equated with computer languages. There are many kinds of computer languages, but they all have some fundamental similarities Language Base Component
(Innate)

Transformational Component
(comes by interaction with society)

Chomskys Universal Grammar Theory

Lexicon Base Rules

Deep Structure
Transformation Rules

Surface Structure

Chomskys Universal Grammar Theory

Transformation rules are language specific.. Single Deep Structure can be expressed in many different Surface Structures Ambiguity in the sentence: I have seen eating a rabbit Deep Structure I have seen someone eating a rabbit..

I have seen a rabbit eating something.

Chomskys Universal Grammar Theory

So how these transformation rules look like? Subject-auxiliary inversion (SAI). X NP AUX Y ==> X AUX NP Y Ram is eating an alphonso mango." Is ram eating an alphonso mango?". the bird was killed by the cat the bird was killed. Deletion A+B+C A+ B: Get out! Get out of here!; addition/insertion, A+B A+B+ C: Mary up Call up Mary permutation A+B+C A+C+B Call

Theories of Language Acquisition (Revisiting..)

Theories

Nativist

Non Nativist

Cognitive Chomsky

Behaviorist

Vyogtsky

Piaget

Skinner

The Cognitive Approach (Piaget)

Children can only use certain linguistic structures

when they understand fully the concepts surrounding them
A child can not use comparison of size if he/she does not understand the concept of size. Can focus on only one aspect or dimension of problems. Example - row of 5 blocks and a row of 7 blocks can count the blocks in each row and can tell number contained in each. But cant tell which is longer?

Progressive reorganization resulting from maturation and experience.

Based on discrepancies between what they

The Cognitive Approach (Piaget)

Sensorimotor stage (0-2 yrs):

Trial and error learning. Behaviors become goal directed. Object permanence.

Preoperational stage (2-7 yrs):

mentally represent objects and events. egocentric thoughts and communications. unable to focus on more than one concepts simultaneously.

The Cognitive Approach (Piaget)

Concrete operational stage(711yrs):

Abilities of conversation and reversibility. Organized and rational thinking. can solve problems with more logical fashion.

Formal operational stage(11+ yrs):

More abstract thinking. Higher order reasoning. Can combine and classify in more sophisticated way.

The Cognitive Approach (Vygotsky)

Knowledge from external world transformed and internalized. Not isolated 'lone thinker', culture and society are more important for a child's thought. Social Interaction and then cognition: Development first on a social plane. Learn from parents' behavior, their speech, imitate them. Parents correct them. Afterwards information becomes internalized. Language is now inner speech.

The Behaviorist Approach (Skinner)

language is acquired by conditioning and reinforcement Learns through rewards and punishments.

Children learn to speak by imitation. Parents then reinforce or correct their speech. Children dont imitate perfectly they may say words similar to what they hear around them.

Problems : 1. They over-extend language patterns they already know; Steal > stealed > instead of stole Drive > drived > instead of drove
This is not imitation instead it is an extension as adults do

Poverty of the Stimulus

Outline

Motivation & Meaning Some facts about language acquisition Theories explaining Child Language Acquisition Imp Stages in CLA CHILDES

Significant stages in Child Language Acquisition

Function
What children try to do with the language:request, ask questions, etc..

Meaning & Examples

States, events & relationships about which they talk. Some interesting examples too !!

Structure
The way in which their language is put together ultimately the Grammar !!

Significant stages in Child Language Acquisition

Stage - 1 Function
First utterances: Purpose:To

Meaning & Examples

Commonly called as naming insight.

Structure
-Single

get someones attention.

To

They relate objects to other things, places and people.

Mummy Daddy car

words such as look car known as operators. Other sentences consist of 2 words:
-

direct attention to an object or event.

Daddy car (Obj Name + Operator)

Significant stages in Child Language Acquisition

Stage - 2 Function
Ask questions

Meaning & Examples

They

Structure

may begin to - Sentences follow: where & what talk about locations interrogative questions appear changing and actions. pronoun + (object first.. or verb) daddy sitting car Purpose:They Curious

try to fulfill the desire of naming & classifying things.

to know about where and what of object ! where ball

(where ball) Other sentences: Articles (a/an, the) appear before noun:
-

Significant stages in Child Language Acquisition

Stage - 3 Function
Start

Meaning & Examples

They

Structure
-

asking lots of questions !

More

complexity appears in the sentences !

enquire about the state of the actions in a proper way. Daddy sitting in car ?
They

Sentences follow:

subject + verb + object (mai khaau use ??)

- Auxiliary

start to ask about actions & events.

verbs come into play. Use prepositions too !! daddy sitting in car

Significant stages in Child Language Acquisition

Stage - 4 Function
Sentences

Meaning & Examples

Here,

Structure
Use question forms (Can I) & negations (doesnt laugh) easily.
-They

become more complex:

Start

making requests.
Ask

for explanations too: Why questions appear !

they begin to express meaning indirectly, replacing imperatives (Give me...) with questions (Can I have?) when these suit their purposes better.

use (often implied) relative clauses

I know daddy is kya main use khaun? sitting in car.

Significant stages in Child Language Acquisition

Stage - 5 Function
Learns

Meaning & Examples

They

Structure
-Multiple

to make actual use of language for all the things they do !

Give

are able to talk about things conditionally If I study, I will score good

or complex clauses appear in statements.

-Up

& take info. They understand the Ask & answer conditions & answer. questions. Where is your bag?
Express

their

-In

my room.

to now grammatical development has mostly added to the length of sentences. They

Significant stages in Child Language Acquisition

This model explains the process of language acquisition. Variations possible among children at each stage but little variation in sequence of language learning. From stage-5 on, what is learned increasingly depends upon experience and environment Opportunities to use language And hearing it used. Involves wide range of contexts and corresponding environment.

Outline

Motivation & Meaning Some facts about language acquisition Theories explaining Child Language Acquisition Imp Stages in CLA CHILDES

CHILDES CHIld Language Data Exchange System

Childes Its relevance !!

A system for transcribing and encoding childrens interactions. It is developed at CMU. It helps in studying syntactic construct and Part of Speech. Research on various language disorders.

A brief introduction

Founded : 1984 Director: Brian Mac Whinney An international Database for the study of first and second language acquisition Tools to analysis conversational interaction Linking data to digitized audio and video

4500 Members 1500 published articles

Components

CHILDES includes three integrated components CHAT the system for discourse notation and coding CLAN (Child Language Analysis) the set of computer programs for searching and manipulating the database Database language community from over sixty major projects in English and additional data from various other languages

An Example
A picture

description task - the patient is mentioning animal in a set of pictures - each picture having animal eating bananas. - only single animal appears in each - raw form, the patient said was simply, rabbits, squirrel and monkeys

Here is how this is transcribed:

Transcription
@g: 3a = bunny is eating banana *PAT: rabbits [*]. %mor: DET|0 N|rabbit-*PL %err: rabbits = rabbit $SUB; @g: 3b = squirrel eating banana *PAT: squirrel. %mor: DET|0 N|squirrel @g: 3c = monkey eating banana *PAT: monkeys [*]. %mor: DET|0 N|monkey-*PL. %err: monkeys = monkey $SUB ;

References
Manolson, Ayala It Takes Two to Talk, A Parent's Guide to Helping Children Communicate. 1992 Communication and Cognition - Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 12, Nos. 1-2, pp. 45-61, Special Issue SelfReference in Biological and Cognitive Systems, Luis Rocha On the role of parameters in Universal Grammar: a reply to Newmeyer, Ian Roberts and Anders Holmberg, University of Cambridge/ University of Newcastle upon Tyne A Working Paper on First Language Acquisition Research: Some Notes on Theory and Method, Joseph Galasso, San Diego State University (1999) The CHILDES System, Brain Mac Whinney, From:

Thank You