Early Language Acquisition

3  Child Language Development  

Contents

1  Introduction  3

2  The Emergence of Language  4

3  Child Language Development  8

4  Conclusion  14

5  References  15

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1 Introduction

Throughout the past century many philosophers and great thinkers have become aware of the complex and fundamental role of the human language for our thinking and understanding of the world. Yet, many linguists have successfully scrutinised the complexity of the human language according to its structure and function. However, we still face unsolved questions when it comes to the acquisition of this complex system of signs. We can neither say why a member of the species of man begins to speak at a certain point in his development, nor what exact mental processes are involved in doing so. The two opposed views of innateness vs. imitation seem both to contribute in parts to a sensible explanation of how we acquire language. Yet, both views alone lack evidence. An isolated human being will not be able to learn a language. And young infants are in the possession of the ability to form all sounds appearing in human languages. The former example disproves the theory of sole innateness, the latter shows that at least something must be innate (Clark 1977:297f.).

The first section of this paper will outline the discussion of innateness vs. imitation briefly (nature vs. nurture) and approach the question of the origin of language. The second part will discuss the different stages of human language acquisition. What stages do humans go through until they have the full capacity of language?

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2 The Emergence of Language

In this chapter we will discuss what different arguments must be considered if we want to evaluate the role of nature and nurture in language acquisition. This can be seen as the emergence of language in every single individual. Above that, the question will be approached where language comes from historically.

2.1 Nature vs. Nurture

If we regard the fundamental debate of why and how one starts to learn a language, the two terms nature and nurture must be considered. Nature refers to the inborn genetic and biological abilities affecting our development. Nurture originates from a term referring to care and influence of the mother on the child. Scientifically, it can be seen as the environmental influence on personal development, either pre- or postnatal. Obviously, both notions are of importance. Children do not learn a language unless they are exposed to one and they do not learn it whether there is an inherent basis they can build upon or not (Clark 1977:297f.). The question is how these two notions interact and to what extend.

Nativists suspect humans to posses a Universal Grammar (UG), which is a system that explains conclusively the way all languages are organized. According to this theory all humans have an inborn grammar which is adjusted by the specific language the child is exposed to. It proposes a number of rules that explain how children come up with a certain language ([INT 1]).

Different arguments support the Nativist position (Yang 2006):

1. At a very young age children show high competency in their native grammars

2. Children make mistakes only in a certain way

3. Infants are born able to distinguish between phonemes in minimal pairs

4. Children do not adapt quickly to adult corrections

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The non-nativist approach gives favour to the so-called concept of socialinteractionism. Harley emphasises the ideas of the social interactionists’ approach (Harley 2001:78). According to Harley, the social interactionists stress the importance of the interrelation between the child and his parents. Only by turn taking, which implies the constant feedback (positive and negative), the child is able to learn the complexity of language underlying principles. Among them are the meaning of words, the correct interpretation of intonation and semantic roles. With the attention the child receives he is able to learn the parent’s language. This aim is achieved in referring to the environment and the child’s reaction. The feedback plays the major role in encouraging the child’s exponential language development: In the early stages of development, parents tend to give a positive feedback primarily to little reactions of the child. It might be a change in facial expression or a hand movement. Later on, parents will usually only be satisfied by an utterance of a sound and even later by an utterance of a word and will most often not react on hand movement at all. This kind of feedback and the child’s inborn will for appreciation trigger the child’s ability to speak. Therefore, it is not enough to expose the child to language alone.

We can see that the term operant conditioning, which can be traced back to Skinner, has some relevance in language acquisition (Skinner in Aitchison 1989:6ff.). The ´positive feedback` can be compared a ´reward` in the Behaviourist theory. Without feedback language development would hardly be possible. However, Skinners claim of “the human being a blank sheet” can be proved wrong by the above arguments.

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