Tentamen ETO 1
Week 1: learning your first language
Stof
Saxton 1: landmarks in the landscape of child language
1.1 pre-school years: burps to grammar
Development:
- newborn: reflexive crying and fussing + small repertoire of vegetative sounds:
burping, spitting, swallowing
- 8 weeks old: cooing and laughing
- 5 years old: extensive vocabulary & able to form complex sentences
1.2 levels of language
4 levels in chronological order:
1. Phonology (sound of speech)
2. Vocabulary (meaning & words)
3. Morphology (bits of meaning encoded in grammar, like plural -s)
4. Syntax (rules to build sentences)
These levels are not staircases, characteristics of language acquisition are simultaneous
development and mutual influence.
Linguistics = Study of language: how meaning and sound are connected
Pragmatics = the way language is used
Grammar = umbrella to cover morphology & syntax
1.3 listen in mother
Conclusions on sound
1. Human ear functions 2 months prior to birth
2. Foetus can respond to sound of bell, recognizes & can distinguish mother’s voice, can
recognize the telling of a particular story & can discriminate between tones
3. Foetal brain is well equipped to process human speech sounds
4. Specific experiences have a large impact on learning and memory before birth
5. Considerable ingenuity is required to unlock secrets of language learning > we can’t
speak with infants & they have no metalinguistic skills until 5.
Metalinguistic skill: thinking about language. Emerges from +- 5YO.
1.4 word learning: from 0 to 14.000 in 5 years
- Word learning starts slow, but once it has been cracked, it fastens. From 50 words,
things go faster. Children learn 1-2 words a day at this stage.
- The vocabulary spurt: Increased speed in word learning. Between the ages 2-6 a child
learns 10 new words per day.
- 6 year old knows 10.000-14.000 words.
Word: pairing sound with meaning.
The Gavagai-problem: how does the infant work out what an adult means when they use a
particular word? Words combine sound with meaning. This combination is arbitrary. This
raises more fundamental challenges:
1. How does a child know that a word such as mummy is the name for something?
2. Segmentation problem: how does the child cut up a continuous stream of speech
into appropriate linguistic units?
3. How does a child extract a new word and its meaning from running discourse?
, 4. Generalization issue: how do children know what to extend a word to (one rabbit can
be generated to all rabbits)?
Every typical child solves these problems naturally, otherwise communication would be
impossible.
1.5 morphology: bits and pieces
Words can be divided into separate parts: morphemes
Morpheme = the smallest unit of meaning in a language.
- Single morphemes (tree)
- Bound morphemes (-s, tree + -s = trees)
Makes words more difficult and introduces grammar. One word is not enough; child needs
to distinguish between the different meanings and uses of different forms (plural, but also in
verbs: jump, jumps, jumped, jumping). Difficulties differ per language.
By the time children reach school, they posess a morphological system which they can apply
to words never before encountered.
1.6 syntax
We need syntax for putting words together into utterances (making sentences).
Syntax = set of principles/rules which dictate how words can combine.
Syntactic categories:
- verb
- noun
- adjective
- preposition
Linguistics rely on 2 criteria to identify syntactic categories:
1. Possible word forms: the way we can change the shape of words in particular ways
(inflections = characteristic endings, which are permitted)
2. Behavior in phrases: the combinations that are allowed with other words (important:
word order & position of the agent), verb/noun phrases
1.7 language in context: perceptual, cognitive and social development
4-year old differs from adult on linguistic basis more in degree than kind;
- Vocabulary size
- Less difference in grammar do distinguish
Child may seem slow cognitively compared to linguistic; but this is not easy to determine.
1.8 the study of child language
Noam Chomsky: first in linguistics, radical. Language is innate. The form of language that is
acquired is largely determined by internal factors.
Research is eather with or against this (especially on grammar)
Saxton 4: input and interaction: tutorials for toddlers
4.1 talking to young children
How do children learn language: fuel provided by parents
Child directed speech (CDS)= the way in which parents speak to their children. A distinct
register by comparing it to adult directed speech (ADS)
critical distinction: input (what child hears) & interaction (adult+child discourse).
CDS has a facilitative influence of child language development. But facilitative is not
the same as necessary. Many researchers assume that CDS cannot be necessary for
language development, because they believe that CDS is not supplied to all children
everywhere. We shall consider the validity of this assumption. CDS does not simply
Week 1: learning your first language
Stof
Saxton 1: landmarks in the landscape of child language
1.1 pre-school years: burps to grammar
Development:
- newborn: reflexive crying and fussing + small repertoire of vegetative sounds:
burping, spitting, swallowing
- 8 weeks old: cooing and laughing
- 5 years old: extensive vocabulary & able to form complex sentences
1.2 levels of language
4 levels in chronological order:
1. Phonology (sound of speech)
2. Vocabulary (meaning & words)
3. Morphology (bits of meaning encoded in grammar, like plural -s)
4. Syntax (rules to build sentences)
These levels are not staircases, characteristics of language acquisition are simultaneous
development and mutual influence.
Linguistics = Study of language: how meaning and sound are connected
Pragmatics = the way language is used
Grammar = umbrella to cover morphology & syntax
1.3 listen in mother
Conclusions on sound
1. Human ear functions 2 months prior to birth
2. Foetus can respond to sound of bell, recognizes & can distinguish mother’s voice, can
recognize the telling of a particular story & can discriminate between tones
3. Foetal brain is well equipped to process human speech sounds
4. Specific experiences have a large impact on learning and memory before birth
5. Considerable ingenuity is required to unlock secrets of language learning > we can’t
speak with infants & they have no metalinguistic skills until 5.
Metalinguistic skill: thinking about language. Emerges from +- 5YO.
1.4 word learning: from 0 to 14.000 in 5 years
- Word learning starts slow, but once it has been cracked, it fastens. From 50 words,
things go faster. Children learn 1-2 words a day at this stage.
- The vocabulary spurt: Increased speed in word learning. Between the ages 2-6 a child
learns 10 new words per day.
- 6 year old knows 10.000-14.000 words.
Word: pairing sound with meaning.
The Gavagai-problem: how does the infant work out what an adult means when they use a
particular word? Words combine sound with meaning. This combination is arbitrary. This
raises more fundamental challenges:
1. How does a child know that a word such as mummy is the name for something?
2. Segmentation problem: how does the child cut up a continuous stream of speech
into appropriate linguistic units?
3. How does a child extract a new word and its meaning from running discourse?
, 4. Generalization issue: how do children know what to extend a word to (one rabbit can
be generated to all rabbits)?
Every typical child solves these problems naturally, otherwise communication would be
impossible.
1.5 morphology: bits and pieces
Words can be divided into separate parts: morphemes
Morpheme = the smallest unit of meaning in a language.
- Single morphemes (tree)
- Bound morphemes (-s, tree + -s = trees)
Makes words more difficult and introduces grammar. One word is not enough; child needs
to distinguish between the different meanings and uses of different forms (plural, but also in
verbs: jump, jumps, jumped, jumping). Difficulties differ per language.
By the time children reach school, they posess a morphological system which they can apply
to words never before encountered.
1.6 syntax
We need syntax for putting words together into utterances (making sentences).
Syntax = set of principles/rules which dictate how words can combine.
Syntactic categories:
- verb
- noun
- adjective
- preposition
Linguistics rely on 2 criteria to identify syntactic categories:
1. Possible word forms: the way we can change the shape of words in particular ways
(inflections = characteristic endings, which are permitted)
2. Behavior in phrases: the combinations that are allowed with other words (important:
word order & position of the agent), verb/noun phrases
1.7 language in context: perceptual, cognitive and social development
4-year old differs from adult on linguistic basis more in degree than kind;
- Vocabulary size
- Less difference in grammar do distinguish
Child may seem slow cognitively compared to linguistic; but this is not easy to determine.
1.8 the study of child language
Noam Chomsky: first in linguistics, radical. Language is innate. The form of language that is
acquired is largely determined by internal factors.
Research is eather with or against this (especially on grammar)
Saxton 4: input and interaction: tutorials for toddlers
4.1 talking to young children
How do children learn language: fuel provided by parents
Child directed speech (CDS)= the way in which parents speak to their children. A distinct
register by comparing it to adult directed speech (ADS)
critical distinction: input (what child hears) & interaction (adult+child discourse).
CDS has a facilitative influence of child language development. But facilitative is not
the same as necessary. Many researchers assume that CDS cannot be necessary for
language development, because they believe that CDS is not supplied to all children
everywhere. We shall consider the validity of this assumption. CDS does not simply
