Lecture 21: Acquisition I

The Big Question about Human Language!

• How do we come to know all that we know about our language? (albeit unconsciously)

Facts that we need to explain...

• when asked, we seem to agree on many aspects of language that we were never even aware of ... so it can't be that everything that we know is what we were explicitly taught
• we agree about the grammaticality or ungrammaticality of sentences that we've never even heard before!
• within a speech community there is very little variation in speakers' language: only in very extreme cases of brain damage or genetic mutations does language develop differently.

Part of an answer...

Human Nature: something about how we're built makes us learn languages the way we do.

Of course, this answer just begs the question of what it is about human nature that gives us this special ability. Providing a detailed answer to this question is one of the basic goals of linguistics. The kinds of linguistic analysis that we've been engaged in over the course of the semester is also aimed at that goal.

Lessons from Birdsong

Different Effects of Nature and Environment in different species of song-birds.

Cuckoo: learns cuckoo song no matter what the environment

 

Bullfinch: learns more or less any song from the environment

 

Song Sparrow: some aspects of song develop the same no matter what; other aspects of song dependent on the environment

click here to hear a sample song-sparrow song. [The recording is from Greg Kunkel's Birdsong Website ... worth a visit for the ornithologically inclined; did you ever wonder how a Baltimore Oriole sounds, or a Mourning Warbler, or a Indigo Bunting?]

...numerous parallels between sparrow song and human language

Features of Song Sparrow Song

• Song is structured: consists of notes arranged into 'syllables' and 'phrases'
• Across continent songs are largely similar, but with some differences, 'regional dialects'
• Song normally learned from father or other male ... includes features of 'regional dialect'
• If raised in isolation, basics of song develop, without fine-grained details
• If environment consists of song of other species, may develop song with syllables of other species, but overall syntax of song sparrows
• To learn mature song, must get input within a 'critical period' (50 days approx)
• Highly specific brain structures control song learning and production

Lessons from Apes

Attempts to teach complex language-like systems to primates have generally been a failure. Many of the attempts to teach spoken or signed languages to primates are summarized in Fromkin & Rodman's textbook rather nicely.

Laura Pettito & Nim Chimpsky

 

Articles: New York Times, The Fund for Animals, unknown (but useful), Laura Pettito, BBC Documentary

To cut a somewhat lengthy story very short: although primates are extremely intelligent and able to perform many cognitively sophisticated tasks rather well, their ability to combine symbols to form utterances has generally been very disappointing. They have been able to learn signs as names for things or actions, but unable to go much beyond that.

...although primates have far superior 'general intelligence' to song birds

Parallels between human language and bird-song

• Human language is highly structured system at phonological, morphological, syntactic levels
• Around world many features of languages are shared by all languages; many other features vary from language to language
• Language normally learned from hearing and talking with caregivers
• But, if deprived of any normal language input, basic language system emerges (Home Sign)
• Children don't just copy the input: plenty of evidence that they impose their own system on the input, and sometimes transform it
• To fully learn mature song, must get input within a 'critical period' (8-10 years approx)
• Specific brain structures may be responsible for human language

Language Universals

I. All languages have coronal consonants (e.g. alveolar, palatal, dental)

II. In all languages it is impossible to move a "wh-phrase" out of a conjoined noun phrase, as in (2b) and (4).

1a. You met who?

b. Who did you meet?

 

2a. You met Mary and who?

b. *Who did you meet Mary and?

French

3. Qui as-tu encontré?

who have-you met

 

4. *Qui as-tu encontré Marie et?

who have-you met Marie and

Non-Universal Features of Language

Many languages allow wh-phrases to 'strand' prepositions.

5. You met Mary with who?

 

6. Who did you meet Mary with?

Many other languages do not allow 'preposition stranding'

French

7. Tu as encontré Marie avec qui?

you have met Marie with who

 

8. *Qui as-tu encontré Marie avec?

who have-you met Marie with

Linguistic Abilities Requiring No Input

1. Innate ability to discriminate speech sounds

e.g. Japanese babies discriminate r/l

2. "Home Sign" languages of deaf children born to hearing parents

languages with basic word order pattern

similar complexity to Genie's language

3. Non-imitation of parents

Dialog 1:

 

Child: My teacher holded the baby rabbits and we patted them

Adult: Did you say your teacher held the baby rabbits?

Child: Yes

Adult: What did you say she did?

Child: She holded the baby rabbits and we patted them.

Adult: Did you say she held them tightly?

Child: No, she holded them loosely.

 

Dialog 2:

 

Child: Want other one spoon, Daddy.

Father: You mean, you want "the other spoon"

Child: Yes, I want other one spoon, please, Daddy.

Father: Can you say "the other spoon"?

Child: Other ... one ... spoon.

Father: Say ... "other"

Child: Other.

Father: Spoon.

Child: Spoon.

Father: Other ... spoon.

Child: Other ... spoon. Now give me other one spoon?

4. Creole languages; regularization and extension of input

5. Syntactic Sophistication

Knowledge of wanna-contraction possibilities in English

9a. I want to eat a cookie.

b. I wanna eat a cookie.

 

10a You want to eat what?

b. You wanna eat what?

 

11a What do you want to eat?

b. What do you wanna eat?

 

12a You want who to eat a cookie?

b. Who do you want to eat a cookie?

 

13. *Who do you wanna eat a cookie.

 

14a Who do you want to help?

b. Who do you wanna help?

Generalization: wanna-contraction is not possible when questioning the subject of the subordinate clause.

Experiment (brief video shown in class on 12/2)

An Experiment to test wanna-contraction in children aged 3-5 years. This experimental procedure was developed by Prof. Stephen Crain (Univ. of Maryland) and his colleagues, and has been used to test many different aspects of young children's linguistic knowledge.

The first sample experimental protocol is designed to elicit questions in which the object of the subordinate clause is questioned (i.e. what is the action performed upon).

Exp: The rat looks hungry. I bet he wants to eat something. Ask Ratty what he wants.

Child: What do you wanna eat?

Rat: Some cheese would be good.

The next protocol is used to elicit questions about the subject of the subordinate clause (i.e. who or what performs the action).

Exp: There are three guys in this story: Cookie Monster, a dog, and this baby. One of them gets to take a walk, one gets to take a nap, and one gets to eat a cookie. And the rat gets to choose who does each thing. So, one gets to take a walk, right? Ask Ratty who he wants.

Child: Who do you want to take a walk?

Rat: I want the dog to take a walk.