英语语言学Chapter16FirstLanguageacquisition.pptVIP

Chapter 16 First Language Acquisition Basic requirements interact with other language users in order to bring the “language faculty” into operation a particular language-using environment physically capable of sending and receiving sound signals in a language American Sign Language for deaf infants The Acquisition Schedule All normal children ,regardless of culture, develop language at roughly the same time, along much the same schedule. The language acquisition schedule has the same basis as the biologically determined development of motor skills. The biological schedule is tied to the maturation of the infant’s brain and the lateralization process the biological/acquisition capacity to cope with constant linguistic input work out the regularities in a particular language and then apply them Some controversies The early environment of a child differs considerably from one culture to the next The issue of “innateness”: Noam Chomsky The linguistic production of young children Caretaker speech the characteristically simplified speech style adopted by someone who spends a lot of time interacting with a young child Features of “motherese” --frequent questions, often using exaggerated intonation --baby-talk: simplified words or alternative forms with repeated simple sounds --simple sentence structure and a lot of repetition Pre-language stages Cooing stage: --3 months old --with velar consonants and high vowel present Babbling stage: --6 months old --contains syllable-type sounds Pre-language stages Later babbling stage: --around 9 months old --recognizable intonation patterns to consonant and vowel combination Late babbling stage --10 and 11 months old --using vocalization to express emotions and emphasis The one-word or holophrastic stage between 12-18 months produces a variety of recognizable single unit utterances single terms for everyday objects such as “cookie”, “milk”. a single form functioning as a phrase or sentence The two-word stage Around 18