FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITON

Table Of Contents:

 What Is Language?

 Origin Of Language?

 Language Acquisition

 Language & Thought

 Theories Of Language Acquisition

1. Chomsky Theory

2. Crystal Theory

3. Aitchison Theory

4. Piaget theory

 Stages in Learning Language

 Overview Of Language Development

 We may regard language as a natural phenomenon an aspect of his
biological nature, to be studied in the same manner as, for instance, his anatomy.
Eric H. Lenneberg, Biological Foundations of Language
(1967),

What is Language?

Human beings can communicate with each other. We are able to exchange knowledge,
beliefs, opinions, wishes, threats, commands, thanks, promises, declarations, feelings only
our imagination sets limits. We can laugh to express amusement, happiness, or disrespect
we can smile to express amusement, pleasure, approval, or bitter feelings, we can shriek to
express anger, excitement, or fear, we can clench our fists to express determination, anger
or a threat, we can raise our eyebrows to express surprise or disapproval, and so on, but our
system of communication before anything else is language.

.Communication by means of language may be referred to as linguistic

communication, the other ways mentioned above – laughing, smiling, shrieking, and so on
are types of non-linguistic communication.

Most or all non-human species can exchange information, but none of them
are known to have a system of communication with a complexity that in any way is
comparable to language. Primarily, they communicate with non-linguistic means resembling
our smiling, laughing, yelling, clenching of fists, and raising of eyebrows. Chimpanzees,
gorillas, and orang-utans can exchange different kinds of information by emitting different
kinds of shrieks, composing their faces in numerous ways, and moving their hands or arms
in different gestures, but they do not have words and sentences. By moving in certain
patters, bees are apparently able to tell their fellow workers where to find honey, but
apparently not very much else. Birds sing different songs, whose main functions are to
defend their territory or to attract a mate.

Double Articulation and syntax basically distinguish between linguistics and

non linguistics communication. Now first we will see what these to basically be.

Double Articulation:

Double articulation is a linguistic term referring to the two levels into

which language can be divided. Meaningful units of sound, called morphemes, make up the
first level, while the second level consists of phonemes, or sounds without meaning by
themselves. In addition, the term double articulation can also be applied to any semiotic
code, or method of communication, which can be analyzed on two levels.

The first level of articulation in a language consists entirely of morphemes. Some

morphemes are entire words, such as “dog” or “child,” while others are only part. For
example, the word “unbelievable” is made of three morphemes: “un-,” “-believ-,” and “-
able,” each with a specific meaning. Morphemes like these make up the words and
sentences people use to communicate.
Phonemes, which are simply sounds without meaning, compose the second level of
articulation. A phoneme is not the same thing as a letter, although some phonemes can be
written with one. Others use multiple letters, while some letters are used for different
phonemes depending on their context. By themselves these sounds can’t communicate
anything, but together they make the morphemes of the first level of articulation.

Language basically consist of thousands if signs. These signs are basically

combination of different forms and meanings. For example for deaf person there are
different gestures that means differently for him but for ordinary person it means
something else, similarly while speaking there are certain word that sounds almost same
but have different meanings. Writing also has different words when you written these are it
seems to be pronounce differently but when you pronounce that word it sounds something
else because some word are silent when speaking a word e.g often when you speak that
word t is silent . Languages have tens of thousands of signs, and the term double
articulation refers to the fact that the formal sides of these sign are built from a relatively
small repertoire usually between 10 and 100 of meaningless sounds.

Syntax:
In linguistics, the study of the rules that govern the ways in which words combine
to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. Syntax is one of the major components
of grammar.
Traditionally, linguists have recognized a basic distinction between syntax (which
is primarily concerned with the ways in which words are put together in sentences)
and morphology (which is primarily concerned with the internal structures of words).
However, this distinction has been somewhat disrupted by recent research
in lexicogrammar.

Syntax basically allows using more simple and precise words in order to give
more precise picture. Now consider the two statements Man killed lion and lion killed man.
Now if you look these statements appear to be same or sounds like same but there is major
difference in scenario in first case the assassin is lion while in second case assassin is man.
Number of sentences in a language is infinitive. You can take any sentence and
make it longer as much as you want. E.g considers the first example man killed lion. It can be
written as alit told that the man killed the lion. Or ali saw man killed the lion. Or on last
Sunday man killed the lion etc
In short in order to understand any language its syntax must be known to you.
The most common example is computer languages or Ms dos in computers. Each command
that we gave has syntax even if one extra dot is inserted computer does not run the
program it gives error which indicates that proper syntax of a language is necessary because
any extra thing if included completely changes the meaning of what you want to say.

Speed Of Acquisition:
According to some scholars speed of acquisition language is very
fast. People become use to the atmosphere in which he goes in very short time period.
Chomsky argued that speed of acquisition is strong if man has innate power to acquire.
People when attract with others they come to know about the other traditions culture
values in this way it helps them to learn quickly.
Theories Of Language Acquisition:

There are two theories of language acquisition. These are

1. Learning theory.
2. Nativism

Now we will see them one by one.

1. Learning Theory:

This theory states that learning came through experience alone. The more
you interact with people the more you knowledge increase. When you interact with other
people you came to know how they interact, how the approach different situations, the
more you interact the more you fail and through your failure you learn a lot. Children
acquire language based on general learning mechanisms that are also involved in learning
many other phenomena. These general learning mechanisms are crucially driven by the
‘input’.
2. Nativism:
This theory states that learning does not came through experience alone.
Language learning is not really something that the child does; it is something that happens
to the child placed in an appropriate environment, much as the child’s body grows and
matures in a predetermined way when provided with appropriate nutrition and
environmental stimulation.

Language Universals:

Majority of the language in the world resemble with each other

in a remarkable way. Note that resemblance in on the basis of structures of languages not
on the basis of words and meaning. This was the argument by Chomsky however lot of
critics were made on is statement.

Was language invented by Humans?

There is no such specific formula for inventing a language. It all

depends on the people culture, area, traditions, values , that how people read the things
around them and interpret them. Depending upon the observation and findings of people
language came to know. Due to diversified nature there are huge numbers of languages in
the world. Theories about an innate language faculty cannot be defended before serious
attempts have been made to account for more or less universal properties of language in
this general cognitive perspective.
Language and Thought:
Different languages contribute in different in developing thoughts.
Many point out the seemingly common-sense realization that upon introspection we seem
to think in the language we speak. A number of writers and theorists have extrapolated
upon this idea.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis:
There are two versions of this theory.
 linguistic determinism
This insists that thought is completely depends on
language.
 linguistic relativity
This insists that language only gives the direction of how we
have to think, in which direction we should go. It only assists in thinking.

The major difference between these two are is the creativity, as in

the first case it all depends on language so it close the door of creativity, while the
second one encourages the new ideas.

The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis in linguistics states that the

grammatical structure of a mother language influences the way it perceive the world.
The hypothesis has been largely abandoned by linguists as it has found at best very
limited experimental support, at least in its strong form. For instance, a study showing
that speakers of languages lacking a subjunctive mood such as Chinese experience
difficulty with hypothetical problems has been discredited. Another study did show that
subjects in memory tests are more likely to remember a given colour if their mother
language includes a word for that colour; however, these findings do not necessarily
support this hypothesis specifically.

Examples:

 Culture effects language deeply. Different cultures uses numbers in different way.
For some cultures numbers are only up to 5 and that 5 is due to 4 fingers and 1
thumb, the people of these culture use two to count for ten.
 Similarly there are cultures who when try to explain space or orientation they try to
use terms like right , left , forward , back and there are people from other countries
belonging to different culture who use north , south, east , west on order to explain
directions.
 Language may influence colour processing. Having more names for different colours,
or different shades of colours, makes it easier both for children and for adults to
recognize them.
 FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Nothing is more important to a child’s development than the acquisition of language. Most
children acquire language quickly and effortlessly, giving the impression that the entire
process is simple and straightforward. However, the true extent of children’s achievement
becomes evident when we compare their success with the difficulties encountered by adults
who try to learn a second language. Understanding how children the world over are able to
master the complexities of human language in the space of a few short years has become
one of the major goals of contemporary linguistic research.

Acquisition Cycle:

Theories Of Language Acquisition:

Noam Chomsky believes that children are born with an inherited
ability to learn any human language. He claims that certain linguistic structures which
children use so accurately must be already imprinted on the child’s mind.
Chomsky believes that every child has a ‘language acquisition device’
or LAD which encodes the major principles of a language and its grammatical structures into
the child’s brain. Children have then only to learn new vocabulary and apply the syntactic
structures from the LAD to form sentences. Chomsky’s theory applies to all languages as
they all contain nouns, verbs, consonants and vowels.
 Every language is extremely complex, often with subtle distinctions
which even native speakers are unaware of. However, all children, regardless of their
intellectual ability, become fluent in their native language within five or six years.

Evidence to support Chomsky’s theory

 As the children is learning to speak so chances of error in verbs, nouns , spelling is
reduces.
 If any adult or older person says incorrect sentence children can notice that mistake
 There are certain mistakes that prove that children are not learnig through imitation
alone like ‘I drawed’ instead of ‘I drew’ show they are not learning through imitation
alone.
 Chomsky used the sentence ‘colourless green ideas sleep furiously’, which is
grammatical although it doesn’t make sense, to prove his theory: he said it shows that
sentences can be grammatical without having any meaning, that we can tell the
difference between a grammatical and an ungrammatical sentence without ever having
heard the sentence before, and that we can produce and understand brand new
sentences that no one has ever said before.

Critics Made on Chomsky’s Theory:

Most people argue that although it is clear that children does
not learn through innate leaning but it does not mean that children must have a
language acquisition device, learning may comes through general leaning ,
understanding abilities and through interaction.

Dialogue Between Parent and children explains that Theory :

 Parent and Child (3 years old)

Parent: What did you do today?
 Child: Me drawed a cat. (applies –ed suffix rule but gets wrong)
Parent: You drew a cat?
 Child: Yeah. (understands correction)
Parent: Who did you play with at break time?
 Child: Me played with Sarah and Helen. (wrong pronoun – not learnt passively)
Parent: That sound fun. Now what do you want for tea?
 Child: Dunno. What you having?
Parent: Daddy and I are having fish.
 Child: You having fishes? (incorrect use of plural noun but shows child applying rules)
Parent: Yes. I’ll do you some fish fingers and if you’re a good girl and eat them all you can
have a sweetie. (applying plural noun rule)
 Child: Me want two sweeties.
Parent: Alright then. Now go and watch Postman Pat while I start the tea.

David Crystal’s Theory

Professor Crystal is best known for his two encyclopaedias The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of
Language and The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language. So what does this
have to do with child language acquisition?
David Crystal has the theory that children learn language in five stages, which aren’t clearly
defined and some tie in with each other.

Stage One:
In these stage children have 3 things in their mind these are:

1. To get something they want

2. To get someone’s attention

3. To draw attention to something

During this stage children begin naming things with single words and then
move on to relating objects with other things, places and people, for example, “there
mummy”. They also relate objects with events, for example, “bird gone”.

At this early stage they don’t have much vocabulary so they use intonation
to ask a question. Children use words like: “there, want and all gone” to express a full
sentence. This could be said that part of this stage is holophrastic.

Stage Two:

This is when children usually ask questions, “where” questions come first. Their
questions often begin with interrogative pronouns (what, where) followed by a noun or
verb such as “where gone?”
Children become concerned with naming and classifying things by frequently
asking “Wassat (what is it)?” They may also begin to talk about the characteristics of things
for example: big/small. Children are taught to learn things in opposite pairs such as
up/down and hot/cold.
Stage Three:

By now children would be asking lots of different questions but often

signalling that they are questions with intonation alone, for example: “Sall play in garden
mummy?” This is made into a question by varying the tone of voice.
 Children soon begin to express more complex wants by using more
grammatically correct language, for example: “I want mummy to take it work” meaning “I
want mummy to take it to work”

Verbs such as “listen” and “know” are also used. Children refer to events in
the past and less often in the future. They usually talk about continuing action for examples:
“she still in bed” and ask about the state of actions .

Stage Four:

At these stage children starts using increasingly complex sentence structures and begin to:

 Explain things

 Ask for explanations using the word: “why?”

 Making a wide range of requests: “shall I do it?”

Now they are able to use complex sentence structures they have
flexible language tools for expressing a wide range of meanings. Probably the most
remarkable development is their comprehension of language and use of abstract verbs for
example “know” to express mental operations. They begin to communicate meaning
indirectly by replacing imperatives such as “give me” with questions; “can I have?”

As well as saying what they mean they now have pragmatic

understanding and suit their utterances to context or situation. Children also use negation
for example: “he doesn’t want one!” They don’t rely on intonation and signals anymore as
they explain more fully.

They are now able to use auxiliary verbs and may duplicate modal
verbs “please, can I, may I” This could be showing that “may” is required for courtesy whilst
“can” indicates being able to do something.

Stage Five:
By this stage children regularly use language to do all the things that they need it
for. They give information, asking and answering questions, requesting directly and
indirectly, suggesting, offering, stating and expressing.
 Children are now able to talk about things hypothetically and conditionally for
example “If I were you, I would…”

They are now able to explain conditions required for something to happen;
“You’ve got turn the tap on first in order to wash your hands” .As well as making general
references to past and future, children now talk about particular times such as: “after tea”
and “before bedtime”

By this stage children are very comfortable with all questions beginning with
words like: “What?” and “When?” where the subject and verb are reversed such as “what
does that mean?”

Dialogue between mother and child is given at different stages that will make picture
more clear that how learning improves at different stages.

Stage 1:
 Child: All gone!
Mother: Yes, the milk is all gone.
 Child: Mummy, here.
Mother: Mummy’s here.
 Child: Want more!
Mother: That’s enough milk now.
 Child: No, more.
Mother: Look at dolly, she’s sleeping.
 Child: Dolly, there?
Mother: Yes, dolly is in the bed.
 Child: Dolly bye-bye.

Stage 2:
 Child: Where’s Daddy?
Mother: Outside, look?
 Child: Outside hot.
Mother: Yes it’s sunny.
 Child: Wassat?
Mother: It’s a book.
 Child: Big book.
Mother: Good girl.

Stage 3:
 Child: Daddy is sleeping?
Mother: Uhuh Daddy’s sleeping on the couch isn’t he?
 Child: Him wake up!
Mother: No because he is sleeping. That wouldn’t be very nice would it?
 Child: I want Daddy.

Stage 4:
Mother: What would you like for lunch? Sandwiches? Pasta?
 Child: Please, may, can I have ham?
Mother: On sandwiches?
 Child: *nods*
Mother: What’s the magic word?
 Child: Please!
Mother: Do you want a cup of orange juice?
 Child: *shakes head* Not that one. Can I have apple juice?

Stage 5:
Mother: Did you have a good day at school today?
 Child: Yeah, I played aeroplanes with Jake. I want to be an aeroplane driver when I’m
older.
Mother: A pilot?
 Child: Yeah and fly to the moon.
Mother: No that’s an astronaut. Do you want to be a pilot or an astronaut?
 Child: I would like to be an astronaut.

Development of Grammar:
The learning of grammar is an unnoticeable process and it happens
very quickly. Over three or four years, children master the grammar of the language.

Stages of Grammatical Growth:

1. 12 -18 Months:
At this stage most of children uses only one word to explain a
complete whole sentence. The earliest stage is hardly like grammar at all, as
it consists of utterances of only one word long, for example ‘dada’ or ‘hi’.
2. 18months-2 Years
At this stage child uses combination of two words in
order to explain sentence or anything else. So we conclude that at this
stage child has learned something of English language.
3. Stage No. 3:
This next stage is filling simple sentence patterns by adding
extra elements of clause structure and making the elements more
complex. 3 elements for example ‘Daddy got car’ and then 4 elements
‘you go bed now’, show this progress. Or the children start to ask
questions like ‘where Daddy put car?’

4. At year 3:
As the times goes on learning of child goes on increasing. Now
at this stage he become able to use terminologies like and , or but linking
words are used to explain what he want to say .

5. At year 4:
At 4 years, the children are ‘sorting out’ their grammar. For
example most children at the age of 3 ½ might say ‘him give the cheese to
the mousses’. However at 4 ½ years they would say ‘he gave the cheese
to the mice’. This explains that they have learnt the forms of the irregular
noun ‘mice’ and the verb ‘gave’, and the pronoun ‘he’.

6. After Year 5:
After 5 years, there are still features of grammar to be used
such as sentence-connecting features. This process will continue until
early teens when the learning of grammar becomes more
indistinguishable.
 Active with Passive

Crystal carried out an experiment testing whether children at certain ages

used active or passive sentences. His study shows that at around 3 years old, none of the
children produced a passive sentence. However as he tested older children they were
beginning to use more passive sentences. At 7 years, the ability to use passives dramatically
increased.

Foundation Year

Crystal believes that language acquisition is not just about producing

sounds, but also about being able to perceive sounds and understand the meaning of
utterances that people make.
He says that:
 Babies respond to different types of sounds by being able to distinguish between
different voices. Before the babies are 1 day old they can tell which is their mother’s
voice to someone else’s voice.
 The babies also show signs of comprehension between 2 and 4 months. They do this
by responding to different adult tones of voice such as angry or happy.

Between 6 and 9 months, the child learns to recognise different utterances in situations
for example ‘clap hands’ or ‘say bye-bye’.
Towards the end of the first years, the children show a sign of verbal learning whether it
is names of people or objects. Therefore knowing the meaning of at least 20 words by
the end of the first year before even uttering a word.

Jean Aitchison Theory

He gives the Idea that “language has a biologically organized schedule”.

Children everywhere follow a similar pattern. In their first few weeks,

babies mostly cry. As Ronald Knox once said: ‘A loud noise at one end, and no sense of
responsibility at the other.’ Crying exercises the lungs and vocal cords. But crying may once
have had a further evolutionary purpose.

In 1987, she identified three stages that occur during a child’s acquisition of
vocabulary: labelling, packaging and network building.
 Labelling – The first stage and involves making the link between the sounds of
particular words and the objects to which they refer e.g. understanding that
“mummy” refers to the child’s mother.

Packaging – This entails understanding a word’s range of meaning. This is when over
extension and under extension become a hurdle in the development of the
language.

Network Building – This involves grasping the connections between words;

understanding that some words are opposite in meaning. Aitchison argued that
there are no EXACT dates to which a child reaches a certain stage of learning
language – some children learn faster than others. She believed that the speed of
learning is influenced by both innate abilities and environment. Language is partly
learned by imitation, so parents and brothers/sisters play a role in the acceleration
of learning the language.

Piaget Theory

1. Sensori-motor Stage (0 – 2 years)

Baby can differentiate from self and objects
Parent: Where’s the ball?
Child: points to ball Ball!
Parent: Yes! And now where’s Tommy?
Child: points to self
Parent: Yes!

2. Pre-operational Stage (2 – 7 years)

Can classify objects as a single feature
Parent: Tommy, can you make a pile of all the yellow bricks?
Child: Yes mummy look!
Parent: Well done!

3. Concrete operational Stage (7 – 11 years)

Can think logically about objects and events and achieve conservation of number
Child : Tomorrow I start ballet, and then I will go every week
Teacher: Oooh! That’s lovely! How old are you now?
Child: 7!
Teacher: Now please can you put these in order for me?
Child: Yes gets it right
 4. Formal operational Stage (11 years +)
Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological problems
Child: When I grow up I want to be a doctor
Parents: And how will you achieve that?
Child: I’m going to work really, really hard at school and then get lots and lots of
money and then get married, and have children, and live happily ever after!

Language Development Overview of All Theories:

There is a close connection between the development of

thought and the development of language. Language also develops within a social context
and depends on social development (Bates, 1976). Various theorists attribute importance to
different factors in the development of language. The nativist view (Chomsky, 1976) stresses
that children are pre programmed and have an innate ability to acquire language. The
behaviourists focus on the importance of the language environment.

The infant and young child need appropriate language models and
constant feedback as they attempt to communicate. Other theorists (Piaget, 1952;
Vygotsky, 1962) viewed the development of language as a complex interaction between the
child and the environment, which is influenced by both social and cognitive development.
Both Piaget and Vygotsky believed that as children develop language, they actively build a
symbol system, which helps them to understand the world. They differed in the way in
which they viewed how language and thought interact with one another. Piaget believed
that cognitive development led to the growth of language whereas Vygotsky viewed
language as developing thought.

A child's external speech is the first step in the development of

thinking. Vygotsky's theory stresses the importance of communication with others as a
major factor in the development of a child's language, which stimulates the development of
thought. Vygotsky's theory views the important effect that an adult has on the development
of language. His theory describes the importance of the zone of proximal development,
which is present in interactions children have with adults. This zone is described as the
"distance between the child's actual developmental level determined by independent
problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem
solving under adult guidance." This adult guidance is referred to as scaffolding.

In order for the scaffolding to be effective, it must match the

child's developmental level so the child is comfortable enough to use the guidance, which
may present enough of a challenge to reach the next level in a particular area. For example,
an adult whose goal is to provide an appropriate amount of scaffolding may engage in a
conversation with a young child using various strategies. If the child asks a question about a
particular topic, the adult may first ask a child, "Well, what do you think about that?" Once
the adult knows what the child thinks, he can decide which ideas to confirm and which ones
to extend and determine just how much information the child can assimilate during one
conversation.

Adults who do not typically provide scaffolding will not ask the child's
thoughts on the matter, but will answer the question directly. In doing this, they have not
figured out exactly what the child is asking, nor do they know what the child already knows
about the particular topic. Even though the child in this situation may be satisfied with the
answer, he has not had the opportunity to actively discuss and manipulate ideas in order to
construct knowledge. Sometimes adults can ask young children open-ended questions. The
children's responses are often filled with information, which adults in the scaffolding role
can extend. Consider the various answers these 3- and 4-year-old children gave to a
teacher's question, "What do you know about leaves?"

"The leaves fall from the trees and they always roll away."

"They do their jobs. They grow."

"They fall on the ground."

"The wind comes and blows them very fast and they roll across the grass. I can catch one of
the leaves."

"Sometimes the leaves get into beautiful colours like a rainbow. They fall to the ground and
I catch them, and when they stay up in the tree and they do their jobs and keep growing and
growing and growing."

Clearly, these children already have a vast knowledge about leaves. The teacher can then
take this information, which is meaningful to the children, and weave it into discussions
about seasons, the life cycle of plants, weather, and an appreciation of the beauty of nature.
A teacher can say, "You were talking about how the leaves get into beautiful colours like a
rainbow. Let's find a book about leaves and find out how they do this."
References:

1. http://www.sk.com.br/sk-vygot.html

2. http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

3. http://eflwritingreview.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/a-summary-of-first-language-
acquisition-theory/

4. http://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Fall_2003/ling001/acquisition.html

5. http://aggslanguage.wordpress.com/chomsky/

6. http://languagedevelopment.tripod.com/id2.html

7. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-double-articulation.htm

8. http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/syntax.htm

9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_acquisition