1st Language

Acquisition

How do humans
acquire speech?
So how DO we learn
our first language?
 L1 acquisition

 Sound production/babbling
 Phonological acquisition
 Morphological/Syntactical
acquisition
 Semantic development
 Caretaker Speech
 A register characterized by:
– Simplified lexicon
– Phonological reduction
– Higher pitch
– Stressed intonation
– Simple sentences
– High number of interrogatives (Mom) &
imperatives (Dad)
Caretaker Speech
 ASL Caretaker Speech
Some of the major features:

signing on the baby's body (when the location should be on

the signer)
using the baby's hands to sign on the adult's or child's body
placing the child on the lap and facing away from the mother
signing on the object
signing using the object
signing bigger than normal
signing repeated more often then normal
sign lasts longer than normal
signing special “baby” signs rather than adult signs

BSL Caretaker Speech

Acquisition of phonetics
 Few weeks: cooing and gurgling, playing with
sounds. Their abilities are constrained by
physiological (normal functions of living
organisms and their parts) limitations.
 4 months: distinguish between [a] and [i], so their
perception skills are good.
 4-6 months: children babble (the production of
meaningless strings of speech sounds by
infants), putting together vowels and consonants.
This is not a conscious process! Experiment with
articulation
 7-10 months: starts repeated babbling.
 10-12 months, children produce a variety of
speech sounds. (even ‘foreign’ sounds)
Acquisition of phonology
 Early stage: Unanalyzed syllables
 15-21 months: words as a sequence of phonemes.
 Mastery of sounds differing in distinctive
features (e.g., voicing)
 Duplicated syllables: mama, dada. They reduce
= banana  [na.na] 2 syllable words
 Early mastery of intonation contours (even in
non-tone languages)
 Perception comes before production (‘fis’ or
‘fish’?)
Phonological Processes
 Lexicon
 Begin with simple lexical items for
people/food/toys/animals/body functions
 Lexical Achievement:
• 1-2 years old 200-300 words (avg)
• 3 years old 900 words
• 4 years old 1500 words
• 5 years old 2100 words
• 6-7 years old 2500 words
• High school grad 40,000 – 60,000 words!
 “5,000 per year, 13 words a day” --
Miller & Gildea
The acquisition of morphosyntax
 At about 12 months, children begin
producing words consistently.
 One-word stage (holophrastic stage):
– Name people, objects, etc.
– An entire sentence is one word
 Two-word stage:
– Approximately 18-24 months
– Use consistent set of word orders: N-V, A-N,
V-N…
– With structure determined by semantic
relationships
• agent+action (baby sleep)
• possessor+possession (Mommy book)
 Telegraphic stage (only content words)
 Negative Formations

 Negatives
 1st stage - attach no/not to beginning of sentence
(sometimes at end)
 2nd stage – negatives appear between subject and
verb
 3rd stage – appearance of nobody/nothing &
anybody/anything & inconsistent use of “to be”
verb is and auxiliary “dummy” do verb.
 Question Formations
 1st stage – wh- word placed in front of rest
of sentence: Where daddy go?
 2nd stage – addition of an auxiliary verb:
Where you will go?
 3rd stage – subject noun changes places
with the auxiliary: Where will you go?
Acquisition of Semantics

 Concrete before abstract:

– ‘in/on’ before ‘behind/in front’
 Overextensions:
– Using ‘moon’ for anything round
– Using ‘dog’ for any four-legged
animals
 Underextensions:
– The word ‘bird’ may not include
‘pigeon’, etc
 Reviewing Linguistic Stages
 6-12 weeks: Cooing (googoo, gurgling, coocoo)
 6 months: Babbling (baba, mama, dada)
 8-9 months: Intonation patterns
 1-1.5 years: Holphrastic stage (one word)
 2 years: Two-word stage
 2.5 years: Telegraphic stage
 3,4 – 11 years: Fluent speech w/errors
 12 years+: Fluent speech
 What about
Second Language
Acquisition?
L2
Second Language
Acquisition

Differences from L1
acquisition
Teaching Methods
 Terms/Associations
 Native Language = L1 =1st Language, mother
tongue, heart language
 Second Language = L2 = Target Language or
Learner Language

 Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

– Research investigates how people attain proficiency in
a language which is not their mother tongue
 Stages of L2 Aquisition
 Stage 1 – Random errors/wild guesses
– The different city is another one in the another two. Or
John cans sing.
 Stage 2 – Emergent
– Learner cannot correct errors even when pointed out.
• L: I go New York
• NS: You will go to New York? When?
• L: 1972.
• NS: Oh, you went to New York in 1972.
• L: Yes, I go 1972.
 Stages of L2 Acquisition
 Stage 3 – Systematic
– Learners can correct errors if pointed out:
• L: Many fish are in the lake. These fish are serving in the
restaurants near the lake.
• NS: [laughing] The fish are serving?
• L: [laughing] Oh, no, the fish are served in the restaurants!
 Stage 4 – Stabilization
– Learners can self-correct.
– However, often they may not correct errors that aren’t
brought to their attention and may manifest
fossilization (Fossilization refers to the process in
which incorrect language becomes a habit and cannot
easily be corrected.) of their L2.
 L2 Teaching Methods
 Grammar-translation
– Mother tongue, vocabulary lists, grammar, classical
texts, reading important
 Direct (Berlitz) method
– Active oral interaction, spontaneous use, no
translation between L1 and L2, little grammar, good
for smaller classes
 Audio-lingual method
– Dialogue form, mimicry, set phrases, drills,
memorization, tapes, language labs, pronunciation
important, little use of mother tongue, popular in
military training, short-term effectiveness
 Today’s approach?
– Multiple approaches, customized, interactive
 Communicative Competence
 What is it, and how do we know when we
have it?
– Pragmatic Competence:
• Functions of language:
– Discourse, sociolinguistic, cultural, contexts of use
– Organizational Competence:
• Grammatical:
– Vocabulary, morphology, syntax, phonology, graphology
• Textual:
– Cohesion, rhetorical organization

 What does it mean to be fluent?