Chapter4
1. Is it easy for the child to acquire his mother tongue? Why (not)? No, it is not easy for the child to acquire his mother tongue.
First of all, he must segment the sound stream into meaningful units (words or phrases). This requires his ability to analyze. Then, he must combine them to arrive at the intended underlying propositions. This requires his ability to synthesize.
2. What questions must theories of L1 acquisition answer? Why?
Psycholinguists who study child language are confronted with a more complex task than theoretical linguists whose major concern is competence (i.e. the system of language) and sociolinguists whose major concern is performance (i.e. the use of language). Psycholinguists have to be concerned with both competence and performance.
Because they look at language from different angles, and because their purposes in the study of language are different.
3. Sketch out Skinner’s behavioristic theory of L1 acquisition.
Skinner’s behavioristic model is embodied in his classic Verbal Behavior. His theory of verbal behavior is in fact an extension of his general theory of learning by operant conditioning. According to Skinner, verbal behavior, like other human behavior, is controlled by its consequences. When consequences are rewarding the behavior is reinforced and maintained, and even increased in strength and frequency. When consequences are punishing or when there is no reinforcement, the behavior is weakened and eventually extinguished. Therefore, effective language is the production of correct responses to external stimuli. The L1 acquisition process is one in which the child’s correct responses are repeatedly reinforced and finally a habit is formed. 4. What are the main points of mediation theories? Why are they called mediation theories?
Mediation theories are represented by O. H. Mowrer and C. E. Osgood. Their goal is to fill the “black box” with postulated internal psychological structures and processes in order to account for the observed behavior of organisms. They have developed a principle of mediated association, according to which two things associated with a third thing tend to be in association with each other. Once the association is established, an internal link is built up even when the third thing is not present.
They need media. The internal mediating response is considered to be an internal replication of a “real” response. From a behavioristic point of view, meaning is an internal replica of an external response.
5. How do the nativist theories account for L1 acquisition?
Nativist theories are represented by N. Chomsky, E. H. Lenneberg, and D. McNeill. According to these theories, human babies are somehow predisposed to acquire a language. Lenneberg contends that language is a species-specific behavior which is biologically determined. The child is born with the biological basis for the acquisition of language. Chomsky claims the existence of a little black box which he calls the language acquisition device (LAD). He regards it as “the genetically determined language faculty”, “an innate component of the human mind that yields a particular language through interaction with presented experience.” McNeill describes four innate linguistic properties of the LAD and suggests that infants are born with a hierarchy of linguistic categories and the basic grammatical relations.
6. What are the main arguments of the cognitive theories?
Cognitive theories are represented by D. I. Slobin, J. Piaget and L. Bloom, who attempt to account for the linguistic knowledge of the child by a more general theory of cognitive development. Slobin suggests that the conceptual development of all human children is the same with regard to the order of attainment of conceptual categories and that a number of cognitive prerequisites lie behind the emergence of communicative speech. Slobin characterizes this development as new functions first expressed in old forms. Piaget outlines four major stages of intellectual development in the child, and claims that intelligence actually develops well before language. Stage One, the sensory-motor stage(ages 0-2). Stage Two, the preoperational stage(ages 2-7). In the first stage(ages 2 to 4 or 5) the child’s language is egocentric speech. In the second stage(by ages 6-7), the child’s language has become socialized speech, which is characterized by intercommunication and exchange of ideas. Stage Three, the concrete operational stage (ages 7-11). Stage Four, the formal operational stage(ages 11-16). Bloom concludes that the development of perception and cognition are keys to the understanding of the process of child language acquisition.
7. What do you think of the different L1 acquisition theories?
There is one common problem with all of the theories. They all ignore the social aspect of L1 acquisition. Just as Armstrong et al point out”…language acquisition studies show that language does not develop through an individual’s interaction with the natural environment. It emerges only out of social interaction, but social interaction within constrained limits…Without the introduction to words and seminal idea that words symbolize—without the initial acquisition process which is social—we would have no equipment with which to make linguistic inferences.”
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