Inhoud
Seminar 1 – 4th April...............................................................................................................................2
Lecture 1 – 8th April.................................................................................................................................4
Main approaches................................................................................................................................5
Seminar 2 – 11th April.............................................................................................................................8
Lecture 2 – 15th April...............................................................................................................................9
Phonetics............................................................................................................................................9
Phonology...........................................................................................................................................9
Experimental paradigms with infants...............................................................................................10
Guest lecture by Reza Falahati..........................................................................................................10
Lecture 3 – 22th April...........................................................................................................................12
Lecture 4 – 6th May – syntax.................................................................................................................17
How is syntax approached from different perspectives?..................................................................17
Where does syntax come from?.......................................................................................................18
Acquiring part-of-speech (syntax categories)....................................................................................19
Acquiring basic word orders: subject/verb/object............................................................................19
Interplay between morphology and syntax......................................................................................19
Sequence of development................................................................................................................20
Recall (samenvatting)........................................................................................................................22
Paradigms or tests exploring children’s syntactic development........................................................22
Lecture 5 – 13th May.............................................................................................................................23
Lexical semantics..............................................................................................................................23
Possible solutions for the gavagai problem.......................................................................................26
Compositional meaning vs. speaker meaning...................................................................................26
1
,Seminar 1 – 4th April
Describing who you are
Jing (41;00;03) (f)
41 = years old
00 = months
03 = days old
(f) = female
FLA = First Language Acquisition. This is unconscious, without instructions.
From birth till the age of 6 or 7 years old (critical period)
Multiple L1’s possible
When child goes to school, the FLA kinds of ‘ends’ when the child goes to school.
This is because in school, the literacy developmental starts: learning letters,
instructions in language. Here starts another process.
What is there to acquire?
- Form of language: syntax, morphology, phonology
- Content: semantics
- Use: pragmatics
Developmental milestones: there is a picture on the PowerPoint.
Factors affecting FLA
Nature:
IQ?
Cognitive abilities, like working memory. Notice that children vary in how well they
are able to play memory cards.
Hearing abilities
ADHD
Developmental Language Disorder
Nurture:
Exposure to input
Age of onset (not always from birth)
Quality/quantity of input
Why do we study FLA?
Humans are unique in a sense that only human beings have languages this complex.
Because we have mechanisms in our brain that are very special. We are able to create
language,, build up from nothing.
Learnability
Variations
Constraints: there are concepts for which there are no words in certain language
2
, Methodology
1. Speech corpus research
Most often naturistic data, especially when it comes to child subjects.
o Diary
o Recording of (child) speech
Hard to control.
2. Experimental research
- Manipulated conditions
- Most often unnatural or semi-naturistic data
- Controlled
You can do a combination of these two options.
3
Seminar 1 – 4th April...............................................................................................................................2
Lecture 1 – 8th April.................................................................................................................................4
Main approaches................................................................................................................................5
Seminar 2 – 11th April.............................................................................................................................8
Lecture 2 – 15th April...............................................................................................................................9
Phonetics............................................................................................................................................9
Phonology...........................................................................................................................................9
Experimental paradigms with infants...............................................................................................10
Guest lecture by Reza Falahati..........................................................................................................10
Lecture 3 – 22th April...........................................................................................................................12
Lecture 4 – 6th May – syntax.................................................................................................................17
How is syntax approached from different perspectives?..................................................................17
Where does syntax come from?.......................................................................................................18
Acquiring part-of-speech (syntax categories)....................................................................................19
Acquiring basic word orders: subject/verb/object............................................................................19
Interplay between morphology and syntax......................................................................................19
Sequence of development................................................................................................................20
Recall (samenvatting)........................................................................................................................22
Paradigms or tests exploring children’s syntactic development........................................................22
Lecture 5 – 13th May.............................................................................................................................23
Lexical semantics..............................................................................................................................23
Possible solutions for the gavagai problem.......................................................................................26
Compositional meaning vs. speaker meaning...................................................................................26
1
,Seminar 1 – 4th April
Describing who you are
Jing (41;00;03) (f)
41 = years old
00 = months
03 = days old
(f) = female
FLA = First Language Acquisition. This is unconscious, without instructions.
From birth till the age of 6 or 7 years old (critical period)
Multiple L1’s possible
When child goes to school, the FLA kinds of ‘ends’ when the child goes to school.
This is because in school, the literacy developmental starts: learning letters,
instructions in language. Here starts another process.
What is there to acquire?
- Form of language: syntax, morphology, phonology
- Content: semantics
- Use: pragmatics
Developmental milestones: there is a picture on the PowerPoint.
Factors affecting FLA
Nature:
IQ?
Cognitive abilities, like working memory. Notice that children vary in how well they
are able to play memory cards.
Hearing abilities
ADHD
Developmental Language Disorder
Nurture:
Exposure to input
Age of onset (not always from birth)
Quality/quantity of input
Why do we study FLA?
Humans are unique in a sense that only human beings have languages this complex.
Because we have mechanisms in our brain that are very special. We are able to create
language,, build up from nothing.
Learnability
Variations
Constraints: there are concepts for which there are no words in certain language
2
, Methodology
1. Speech corpus research
Most often naturistic data, especially when it comes to child subjects.
o Diary
o Recording of (child) speech
Hard to control.
2. Experimental research
- Manipulated conditions
- Most often unnatural or semi-naturistic data
- Controlled
You can do a combination of these two options.
3
