Word learning is a fundamental building block for early language acquisition. One controversial phenomenon associated with vocabulary growth is vocabulary spurt, usually characterised as a rapid increase in productive vocabulary in early child language. Despite that fact that initially, the word production starts slowly, it has been argued that after few months, children undergo a transition to a subsequent stage of faster vocabulary growth (Goldfield & Reznick, 1990). Several theories have attempted to account for this phenomenon. For instance, Plunkett (1993, as cited in Ganger & Brent, 2004) suggests that the acceleration results from linguistic advances such as word segmentation which allows children to pick up more words from speech stream; however, there is now a growing disagreement on its existence in all children (Goldfield & Reznick, 1990; Ganger & Brent, 2004). The aim of the present essay is to evaluate the ability of two theories, namely the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Dynamical Systems theory (DST), to explain the issues underlying the lexical development and vocabulary spurt. This essay provides an overview of both theories and compares their strengths and weaknesses in their explanation of lexical development supported by empirical evidence. Both ANN and DST were formed in opposition to the symbol system view of cognition (Smith & Samuelson, 2003). Despite acknowledging that some of underlying mechanisms may be innate, they see lexical development as an emergent process resulting from early social interaction and exposure to linguistic input (Poveda & Vellido, 2006). The main aim of ANN is to construct computational models of various cognitive processes based on biological details of n... ... middle of paper ... ... Vellido, A. (2006). Neural network models for language acquisition: A brief survey. In Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning–IDEAL 2006 (pp. 1346-1357). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Robinson, B. F., & Mervis, C. B. (1998). Disentangling early language development: Modeling lexical and grammatical acquisition using and extension of case-study methodology. Developmental psychology, 34, 363-375. Smith, L. B., & Samuelson, L. K. (2003). Different is good: connectionism and dynamic systems theory are complementary emergentist approaches to development. Developmental Science, 6, 434-439. Van Geert, P. (1991). A dynamic systems model of cognitive and language growth. Psychological review, 98, 3-53. Van Geert, P. (2008). The dynamic systems approach in the study of L1 and L2 acquisition: An introduction. The Modern Language Journal, 92, 179-199.
From the moment an infant is born, it is bombarded with sounds that the brain attempts to categorize. Within the first year of life alone, infants already show preferences for phonologically legal structures in their native language when compared to illegal consonant structures (Friederici et al., 1993). While a personal lexicon is not developed until later in childhood, the early stages, primarily the recognition of word segmentation, begins within the first year of life. The topic of what the important factors are in babies perceiving speech and building a preference to their own language, however, is shrouded in mystery. For instance, Friedrici et al.’s study on phonotactic knowledge of word boundaries gave results that indicate the combination of simple context cues as well as the use of infant directed speech (IDS) allows babies to recognize phonotactically legal structures by nine months. However, McMurray et al.’s results directly contrast those findings by arguing that IDS simply causes a slower rate of speech but does not highlight contrasts between segmented sounds, nor does it enhance phonetic cues. Infant directed speech is a “speech register characterized by simpler sentences, a slower rate, and more variable prosody” (McMurray et al., 2012). While there is controversy regarding the beneficial factors of infant directed speech, most studies indicate that this register is extremely beneficial for infant speech perception in the first year of life.
Swingley, D. (2008). The roots of the early vocabulary in infants' learning form speech. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(5), 308-311.
The words and grammatical structures of a language have a profound effect on how speakers think, even when they are not talking and listening. The essence of thinking consists of real words and phrases, so people do not have to conceive a concept which does not exist in their language. Also, if two people speak languages that differ in the concepts that they are able to express, their beliefs are irreconcilable and communication between them is impossible. The Semantics proposes that the meanings of words are mentally represented in the form of expressions. The meanings of words can vary between languages because children adjust and organise them from the most elementary concepts.
The notion that there is empirical evidence to prove that humans have a critical period to acquire a language is, indeed, an ample fulfillment. This remarkable phenomena in which language acquisition takes part in is known as the critical period hypothesis. From the earliest incoherent babble to the utterance of a child’s first word, scientists have been able to unravel the mystery of understanding language acquisition. The critical period hypothesis originally came from linguist and neurologist, Eric Heinz Lenneberg. Linguists believe that language, in itself, has a critical component for learning. There is substantial proof for a critical period in language which stems from studies on bilinguals, deaf children who use sign language, and extreme cases of feral children like Victor and Genie that has shed light upon language acquisition.
The wide world relevance of this study is that Roy alleges to have uncovered innovative methods when it comes to thinking about language development. Roy also alleges that he has found a way to set apart a direct verbal learning curve when his son learned how to say the word “water”. This causes the audience to applause when the word “water” is heard from Roy’s son. The applause is an enthusiastically rewarding moment that persuaded the audience to buy into the notion that a great scientific discovery was on the horizon.
The biological theoretical perspective comes from a man named Noam Chomsky. He believed that all children have a language acquisition device. This is defined in the book as “a biological endowment enabling the child to detect the features and rules of language, including phonology, syntax, and semantics”. The evidence found was that throughout cultures, children tend to have the same language milestones. Most begin at age two to four months by cooing and develop at 13 months with their first words.
...e and learned do imaginably counterpart each other equally and provide a piece of a greater picture, which neither would be able to provide by itself. This so-called bootstrap process between innate abilities and acquiring general knowledge is a different perspective in psycholinguistics, which can perhaps help us explain children development of not only language, but also other cognitive abilities. It will open up for the understanding of mentally disordered individuals if achieving information of what happens in the brain when you lose this bootstrap process. With today’s improvement of technology, it is possible to study this activity by examining what happens in the brain when e.g. looking at linguistic problem solving and general knowledge obtainment. If this bootstrap process exists, we should be able to see that one affects the other, in a developing “ladder”.
Amorsen, A., McBurnie, K., & Wilson, D. (2017). Oral language development in the early years-
Chomsky argued that the human brain contains a limited set of rules for organizing language. Since all human brains have these same sets, the assumption is that all languages have a shared underlying, universal grammar. “I think, yet the world thinks in me” is one of C...
Fernald, A., Marchman, V. A., & Weisleder, A. (2013). SES differences in language processing skill and vocabulary are evident at 18 months.Developmental science, 16(2), 234-248.
that create words. It is first important to note that language displays a critical period in which the ability to acquire a second language declines after age seven. Furthermore, a study that tested American infants and Japanese infants on their ability to discriminate between the English /ra-la/ phonetic contrast showed that before the critical period both groups of infants performed similarly, but after the critical period American infants performed much better than Japanese infants. This provides evidence that infants are able to detect which phonemes, which can alter the meaning of words, are meaningful for their own language. Infants also execute phonetic learning using statistical learning; they become sensitive to the distribution of frequencies of the sounds in their everyday language between the ages of six to twelve months. Social interaction is another mechanism that aids in language acquisitio...
With regards to the knowledge the researchers have acquired throughout the study of developmental psychology is that, development of an individual happens gradually and that from the time a baby is born up until they can distinguish between different life processes in their surroundings and the feelings of those around them (especially the mother). They tend to acquire communication skills which go hand in hand with emotions they would be experiencing at that particular time, and in this way, they already know which emotion or action corresponds with which word they utter. At this stage, the child can distinguish between productive language acquisition and just saying things repeatedly.
There are four aspects of language development: phonology, semantics, grammar, and pragmatics. During the first two years of a child’s life, great strides in language development are made. Infants between birth and six months begin making sounds that start with reflexive verbalizations like crying because of distress and transitioning to cooing during social interactions. After the cooing stage, vocalizations to transition into babbling. Babbling is the repetitive vocalizations of consonants and vowels, like “dada.” Babbling lasts through the twelfth month, and jargon begins to take its place. Jargon, per Bjorklund and Hernandez Blasi, is “strings of sound filled with a variety of intonations and rhythms to sound like meaningful speech” (Bjorklund & Hernandez Blasi, 2012). During the nineteen to twenty-four-month stage, children can learn many new words and possess the knowledge of anywhere between ten and twenty
Typically, the first year of a child’s life focuses on motor skills. It is not until the second year, that language development begins to take the main focus on the child’s life. Language is an innate feature that we are all born with, however if a child’s environment is not a loving, positive, safe or happy environment, the development of language may become flawed or disrupted (Shiver, 2016). For this reason, it is essential to provide children with an environment they can trust, and feel safe and secure. This process can be referred to as the nature nurture theory. Research shows us that there are windows of opportunity throughout one’s life to be able to acquire and develop language. The development of syntax and grammar takes place during the preschool years and can end at ages five to six (Shiver, 2016). However, in saying this, the ability to learn new words is always possible and for this reason, new words can be learnt all throughout life. Piaget, the Swiss psychologist, has been extremely influential in the studies of child development. Piaget claimed that there are four stages where children can cognitively function. His studies show that children are born into the Sensorimotor Stage. This stage lasts until the child is around two years old. It is towards the end of this stage that the development of language starts becoming the focus of the child’s life, and up until the age of two, the acquired language is basically cooing or other sounds made by the mouth, until the age of two where language can consist of basic words or sentences. The child’s acquired language is mimicked and copied from their parents and those around them, learning the sound patterns of words and conversations and also the skill of taking turns, which is essential for conversation (Shiver, 2016). The next stage of development defined by Piaget is the Preoperational Stage. This stage lasts
In our everyday lives, the origin of our ability to communicate is usually not often taken into consideration. One doesn't think about how every person has, or rather had at one time, an innate ability to learn a language to total fluency without a conscious effort – a feat that is seen by the scientific community "as one of the many utterly unexplainable mysteries that beset us in our daily lives" (3).. Other such mysteries include our body's ability to pump blood and take in oxygen constantly seemingly without thought, and a new mother's ability to unconsciously raise her body temperature when her infant is placed on her chest. But a child's first language acquisition is different from these phenomena; different because it cannot be repeated. No matter how many languages are learned later in life, the rapidity and accuracy of the first acquisition can simply not be repeated. This mystery is most definitely why first language acquisition, and subsequently second language acquisition, is such a highly researched topic.