Language Acquisition Critical Period Quiz

Critical Period Hypothesis

• Defines a biologically optimal window for language development from birth to puberty.
• During this period, the brain is primed for acquiring language naturally.

Innateness Argument for Language

• Language acquisition differs from learning other complex skills.
• Language is not merely learned or taught, highlighting an innate ability.
• Observations of biologically-constrained behaviors in animals support critical period effects.

Evidence for Critical Period Effects

• Case studies of feral children like Genie, Isabelle, and Chelsea demonstrate challenges in language acquisition outside the critical period.
• Research into second language acquisition shows significant age-related differences (Johnson & Newport, 1989).
• Studies of deaf adults acquiring American Sign Language (Newport, 1990) provide additional support for the hypothesis.
• Nicaraguan Sign Language illustrates how younger signers outperform older learners.

Genie Case Study

• Demonstrated ability to acquire some linguistic features like plurals and basic vocabulary.
• Struggled with syntax and complex language structures, indicating limitations of language acquisition beyond the critical period.

Deaf Adults and ASL

• Research categorized learners (Native, Early, Late) revealing that Late Learners performed poorly compared to Native and Early Learners in ASL proficiency.

Language Acquisition After Critical Period

• Can acquire: vocabulary and basic word order.
• Cannot acquire: verbal inflections, function words, and transformational grammar structures.

Stages of Language Development

• Babbling: Around 4 months, infants produce nonsensical sounds.
• Holophrastic Stage: 12-18 months, single-word utterances conveying complex meanings.
• Two-word Stage: Beginning at age 2, children form two-word combinations.
• Telegraphic Stage: 24-36 months, characterized by essential nouns and verbs while omitting auxiliary words.

Universal Listeners

• Infants possess the ability to discriminate a range of language sounds until about 8-10 months, with loss of this skill by one year.

Universal Grammar

• Chomsky's theory posits all humans are inherently capable of learning any language without formal instruction, implying no language is inherently superior.

Poverty of the Stimulus

• Suggests that the limited language input children receive is insufficient for them to learn complex grammar entirely.

Overgeneralization

• Children often incorrectly apply grammatical rules, such as using "writed" or "goed," demonstrating the learning process in morphology.

Phases of Morphological Acquisition

• Morphology acquisition progresses through distinct phases, though specifics were not detailed.

Overextension vs. Underextension

• Overextension: Broad application of labels (e.g., calling all four-legged animals "dogs").
• Underextension: Narrow application (e.g., using "dog" only for a specific pet).

Whole Object Principle

• Assumes that names refer to entire objects instead of parts, guiding early language learners.

Mutual Exclusivity Principle

• Belief that each object has a unique name, aiding vocabulary development in young children.