Syntactic Structures

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Recommended: Analysis of factors upon second language acquisition

Kiki van Essen
Mr. Bumstead
English 127; 3831
Final research rough article
03/10/2014

Syntactic structures and imitation in acquiring a language

Almost all children learn how to speak a language before the age of five year. The way in which children learn a language is still a guess rather than a proven fact. Different scientist argue different points of view what they have learned from their research. Most scientists do agree that both nature and nurture contribute in learning a language. The most generally accepted method of language acquisition is syntax, a universal grammar structure that is present in the first few years of a child’s life what makes it possible to recognize and use the grammatical structure of a sentence correctly. Another theory is that children learn a language by imitation, repeating what they’ve heard from people around them. Which of these ways is used to acquire language and why?

Summary

E. Kymissis and C. L. Poulson (1990) explain that children learn how to make vocal sounds from their parents. Parents teach their children how to pronounce words a certain way and children repeat it. By rewarding children, such as saying that they did a good job pronouncing something, giving them attention or hugging them, children know that they did something good. They will try to re-do or re-say this sound or word until they know it well. Children hear parents using words and start to understand the meaning of these words. By re-using or imitating these words, children acquire the sounds, words and meanings of the language.
Mänel (2011), who argues that grammatical rules are similar in each language, and children know and understand the basic grammatical structure of each language, stated that:
These studies [don...

... middle of paper ...

...h children read 40.7 correct words. (p. 1-10) The understanding of a language is on an academic level much more important than the right pronunciation and reading speed of the words. This can be a huge disadvantage in studying.
Measuring the advantages against the disadvantages, there are more benefits in getting raised bilingual. Children are more creative, they are better with problem solving, they get two perspectives from two languages or cultures and they have a better memory. Especially when the second language is English, it is really beneficial for a child since our society is getting more based on English speakers. The general understanding from each language is less than native monolingual language speakers, but this can most likely be compensated with the creativity or problem solving skill.

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