本科生语言学讲稿(六).ppt

LanguageacquisitionFirstlanguageacquisitionItisnowonderthatparentstakesuchjoyinobservingtheirchildren’sfirststepintheacquisitionoflanguage.Forexample,somescholarsnoticedthatwhenmothersspokentotheirbabies,theytendedtointerprettheinfants’vocalizationsandsoundsasconversationalturns.Considerthefollowingsequencebetweenamotherandher3-month-olddaughter:Ann:(smiles)Mom:Oh,whatanicelittlesmile!Yes,isn’tthatnice?There.There’sanicelittlesmile.Ann:(burps)Mom:Whatanicewindaswell!Yes,that’sbetter,isn’tit?Yes.Ann:(vocalizes)Mom:Yes!There’sanicenoise.Notethatthemotheriscountingthechild’sburps,passingofwind,andsoon,asanattempttotakeaturninaconversation.Childrenarebornintoasocialworld.Adultsspeakdifferentlytochildrenthantoadults,andthesespeechpatternsintroduceinfantstotheuseoflanguageasasocialinstrument.Children’sacquisitionoflanguageissorapidandcommonthatitistakenforgrantedbymostpeople,howeverithasbeenoneofthemostintriguingphenomenastudiedbylinguists.Inrecentdecades,alargeamountoflinguisticresearchhasfocusedonthequestionofhowchildrenthroughouttheworldareabletomasterhisfirstlanguageinitsfullcomplexityinafewyears.Firstlanguageacquisition(L1acquisition)isthetermmostcommonlyusedtodescribetheprocesswherebychildrenbecomespeakersoftheirnativelanguageorlanguages,althoughsomelinguistsprefertousethetermlanguagelearning.However,thereisadistinctionbetweenacquisitionandlearning.Thetermacquisition,whenusedoflanguage,referstothegradualdevelopmentofabilityinalanguagebyusingitnaturallyincommunicativesituations.Thetermlearning,however,appliestoaconsciousprocessofaccumulatingknowledgeofthevocabularyandgrammarofalanguage,particularlythroughformali