What is Language

Acquisition?

• The process of attaining a specific

variant of human language.

• The process of learning a native or a

second language.
 What is Cognitive Science?
• The multi-disciplinary approach to the study
of the mind, including
– Adult and developmental psychology
– Philosophy
– Linguistics
– Anthropology
– Neuropsychology
– Artificial intelligence
– Psycholinguisics
 What is Language?
• a system of symbols and rules that enable us
to communicate

• a symbolic code used in communication

• the systematic, meaningful arrangement of

symbols
 Language Acquisition,
Representation, & Processing
• Language acquisition
– How is language acquired or learned?

• Language representation
– How are the symbols of language represented in
memory?

• Language processing
– What factors influence the processing of language?
How are Language Acquisition,
Representation, & Processing
Related?
How are Language Acquisition,
Representation, & Processing
Related?

Language is acquired
How are Language Acquisition,
Representation, & Processing
Related?

Language is acquired

Acquisition
leads to a set of
representations
How are Language Acquisition,
Representation, & Processing
Related?

Language is acquired

Acquisition Language use is the

leads to a set of processing of these
representations representations
 Language Acquisition
Major Issues
First language acquisition

• How does our general intelligence interact

with our biological predispositions?
• How do we learn our native language? What
are the stages this process follows?
• How do failures in this process occur?
 Language Acquisition
Language Development

• Phonological development

• Semantic development

• Syntactic development and syntactic

categories
 Language Acquisition
Second language acquisition
• Factors that affect our chances of learning L2:
– Individual differences
– Age of acquisition effects
– Environment of learning
– Style of instruction--conejo is “rabbit” or

• Stages of second language acquisition

 Language Processing
Language Comprehension

• Lexical ambiguity resolution

– “spade”
• Syntactic ambiguity resolution
– “fly”
• Imageability and other word-specific factors
– “table” versus “freedom”
• Context effects--autonomous or interactive?
 Spoken Word Recognition
Models
• Initial contact, selection of a lexical entry,
word recognition/lexical access, integration

• Cohort model (Marslen-Wilson, 1973, 1975)

Access stage--> cohort of items
Selection stage--> one item chosen
Integration stage--> syntax, semantics
 Spoken word recognition:
An example
• /d/
dog, dirt, dry, dries, drive, drip, dumb, desk
• /dr/
dry, dries, drive, drip
• /dry/
dry, dries, drive, driving, driver
• /drive/
drive, driving, driver
• /drivi-/
DRIVING!!!
 Visual Word Recognition
Methods/Findings
• Semantic priming

Nurse
Doctor
--respond “yes”

Butter
Doctor
--respond “yes”, but more slowly
 Visual Word Recognition
Methods/Findings
• Word frequency effects

– “year” versus “permutation”

– “rain” versus “puddle”

related effects: familiarity

 Visual Word Recognition
Models
• Logogen Model

– Logogens for each word

– Accumulate evidence passively until
threshold
– Perceptual & contextual evidence raise
activation
– Lower thresholds for more frequent words
 Visual Word Recognition
Models
• Interactive-Activation Model

– Accounts for the “word superiority effect”

– Visual features, letters, words
– Facilitatory and inhibitory connections
• “T” excites “take” but inhibits “cake”
– Lateral inhibition
– Parallel activation of all links
 Language Processing
Language Production

• Lexicalization--stages of processing
– Lemma selection
– Word form (lexeme) retrieval
• Phonological specification

• Speech errors
– Syntactic planning--how far ahead?

• Aphasias
Models of Language Production
• Dual-route model (revised)
– Non-lexical route (G-P)
– Non-semantic route (O-P)
– Lexical-semantic route (G-L-S-P)

• Connectionist model
– Similar to IA model of word recognition
– Learns by associating phonology and orthography
– Patterns of activation
 Individual Differences
• Do individual differences determine the
activation of multiple meanings of
ambiguous words (especially the
irrelevant ones)?

• What is the influence of verbal ability

and working memory on syntactic
processing?
 Language Representation
• What is a concept?

• Is there any such thing?

 Things I Haven’t Covered
• Language and thought
• Structure of the language system
• Speech perception
• Language disorders
• Discourse processing
• Reading
• Orthographic (e.g., neighborhood) effects
 Bilingualism Defined
• Bilingualism is the ability to master the use of two languages,
and multilingualism is the ability to master the use of more than
two languages. Although bilingualism is relatively rare among
native speakers of English, in many parts of the world it is the
standard rather than the exception. For example, more than
half the population of Papua New Guinea is functionally
competent in both an indigenous language and Tok Pisin.
People in many parts of the country have mastered two or more
indigenous languages. Bilingualism and multilingualism often
involve different degrees of competence in the languages
involved. A person may control one language better than
another, or a person might have mastered the different
languages better for different purposes, using one language for
speaking, for example, and another for writing.
 Consequences of
Bilingualism
• Interrelation among the two languages
—RHM
– Language dominance issue
• Selectivity of activation in the two
languages—BIA model
• Relative activation of the two languages
—BIMOLA and IC models
 My Own Work
• Bilingualism
– Concept representation
• Concept types, learning environments

– Ambiguity resolution
• Number of translations, number of meanings

– Structure of the memory representations

• To what extent are the two languages connected?
 My Own Work
• Second Language Acquisition
– Stages at which distinctions are learned

– Is the L1 grammar always active?

– How are the semantics differentiated?

 Interrelation among the two
languages, especially at the
conceptual level

• Are concepts shared by the bilingual’s

two languages?

• Is there an easy answer??? Fully versus

partially shared semantics
Word Association Model
(Potter et al., 1984)

IMAGES
L1 L2

CONCEPTS L1=First Language

L2=Second Language
Concept Mediation Model
(Potter et al., 1984)

IMAGES
L1 L2

CONCEPTS
L1=First Language
L2=Second Language
Revised Hierarchical Model
(Kroll & Stewart, 1994)
lexical
links

L1 L2

conceptual conceptual
links links

concepts

L1=First Language
L2=Second Language
Distributed Feature Model
(De Groot, 1992)
Concrete Words lexical
L1 L2
level

conceptual
level

lexical
L1 Abstract Words L2 level

conceptual
level

L1 = First Language
L2 = Second Language
Distributed Representation Model
(Van Hell, 1998)
lexical conceptual

wraak .... .... .... ....

revenge .... .... .... ....

boosheid .... .... .... ....

anger .... .... .... ....

lexical conceptual

rok .... .... .... ....

skirt .... .... .... ....

jurk .... .... .... ....

dress .... .... .... ....

lexical conceptual

appel .... .... .... ....

apple .... .... .... ....

peer .... .... .... ....

pear .... .... .... ....

 Number of Translations
Dutch word English
word
One Translation voordeel advantage
Synonym translation 1 autumn
herfst
Synonym translation 2 fall

Meaning translation 1 message

boodschap
Meaning translation 2 errand
 Relative activation of the two
languages and selectivity of
activation
• Can one language ever be fully turned
off?
• Is L1 grammar always active?
• Can L2 become the more dominant
language?
• What factors influence the relative
activation of the two languages
(individual and contextual)?