Language Acquisition Quiz

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Questions and Answers

What aspect of language acquisition is described as being species-specific?

All children acquire grammar by age 5

Only humans can fully learn syntax (correct)

Kanzi the bonobo's language skills

Language skills are universal across primates

Which statement best describes early word combinations used by children?

They include abstract syntax rules.

They are primarily composed of complex grammatical sentences.

They exclusively consist of repetitive phrases.

They mainly consist of content words. (correct)

What type of rules are lexical rules based on?

Abstract grammatical categories

Individual words or schemas (correct)

Universal syntactic structures

Complex grammatical phrases

Which of the following is an example of a creative word combination in early language use?

All gone sticky (A) Signup and view all the answers

What do syntactic (grammatical) rules in language acquisition involve?

Organizing principles based on grammatical categories (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which statement about Kanzi the bonobo's communication abilities is true?

He uses a portable keyboard with lexigrams to communicate. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is observed about children's early utterances in relation to adult word order?

They reflect some understanding of adult word order. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What characterizes the limited variety of utterances in young children?

They are unable to generalize between schemas. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is meant by 'X' in the phrase 'X pull Y'?

The entity performing the action (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does the evidence from Matthews & Bannard (2010) suggest about children’s ability to repeat sequences?

Similarity of meaning aids in building flexible constructions. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What does 'distributional learning' refer to?

Learning the co-occurrence characteristics of words. (B) Signup and view all the answers

In the experimental evidence presented, which condition involved only lexical nouns?

Noun Phrase only condition (C) Signup and view all the answers

What type of sentence structure were 2-year-olds exposed to for learning novel verbs?

X is Verb-ing Y (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the result when children are taught a novel verb, according to the experimental evidence?

They can describe actions involving two participants. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What role do lexical pronouns play in the mixed condition of the study?

They serve as placeholders for nouns in sentences. (C) Signup and view all the answers

How did children respond to sequences of higher similarity according to the study?

They made fewer errors. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What was the primary focus of the diary study conducted on the child?

Recording new utterances and changes in speech patterns (D) Signup and view all the answers

What percentage of the child's utterances were identified as novel?

37% (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which operation was identified as the most frequent in the changes from source to target utterances?

Substitution of words (D) Signup and view all the answers

What conclusion can be drawn about the complexity of the child's utterances?

Many complex utterances are based on repetitions with small modifications. (C) Signup and view all the answers

How many utterances required three or more operations to achieve the desired form?

6 (D) Signup and view all the answers

What type of learning is necessary for children to develop general schemas for verbs, according to the conclusions?

Learning a variety of verbs to recognize similarities (B) Signup and view all the answers

What pattern was observed regarding the operations used in the children's utterances?

Changes often consist of simple substitutions or word additions. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is suggested about the child's inventory of utterances based on the findings?

The inventory is rich but relies heavily on previous utterances. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What characterizes children's early multiword utterances according to the constructivist approach?

They are systematic and show learned patterns. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes the constructivist approach to language learning?

Children use cognitive mechanisms to develop their understanding of grammar. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is meant by the 'verb island hypothesis' in language development?

Children learn grammar specifically tied to individual verbs initially. (B) Signup and view all the answers

How do routines support language development in children?

By providing predictable contexts in which language use is repeated. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What kind of early language item do children learn most effectively according to the evidence presented?

Lexically-based linguistic representations with high frequency. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What role does communicative intention play in the constructivist approach?

It helps infants focus on the meaning and purpose behind language. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What process allows children to learn language in context, according to the constructivist view?

Drawing analogies between different language uses. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which statement about the learning of grammar in children is true according to constructivist perspectives?

Children gradually generalize across exemplars to form abstract rules. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main challenge faced by children under 3 years when using novel verbs?

They find it difficult to explain the actions involving who is doing what. (C) Signup and view all the answers

At what age do children begin to effectively order words around unfamiliar verbs?

Around 3 years (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following reflects a method through which children build adult-like grammar?

Structure combining (A) Signup and view all the answers

What type of constructions do children base their early utterances on?

Individual lexical items (C) Signup and view all the answers

How do children's early utterances compare to adult utterances?

They are more restricted than adult utterances. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What do children's constructions reflect according to their linguistic input?

The frequency of particular patterns (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes 'semantic analogy' in the context of language development?

Drawing connections between meanings of different words. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What do high-frequency words in a child's environment primarily contribute to?

The organization of the child's linguistic system. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is more likely to happen when children are exposed to pronouns while learning novel verbs?

They extract more abstract representations of sentence structures. (D) Signup and view all the answers

At what age do children typically begin to combine words together?

18-24 months (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following describes how children learn to combine words according to constructivist theorists?

By interpreting the intentions of their interlocutors. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is indicated by the gradual generalizations seen in children's language production?

They use rules that are less organized than those of adult speakers. (D) Signup and view all the answers

In the study, how did children produce sentences involving the novel verb 'dacking'?

By repeating only the novel word without context. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What operational pattern do children initially follow when combining words?

They begin with limited scope rules. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What effect did the presence of pronouns have on children's language responses?

It increased the number of abstract sentence structures used. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What does the experimental evidence suggest about children's language learning?

They learn language through distributional learning. (A) Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Early Multi-Word Speech: Constructivist Approaches

Multiword speech typically develops between 18 months and 2 years old.
Two main theoretical approaches exist: nativist/generativist accounts and constructivist/usage-based accounts.
This study focuses on constructivist accounts.

Overview

Previous focus has been on learning to communicate using single words.
This lecture explores how children combine words to form multi-word utterances.

Learning Objectives

Describe the features of children's early multiword combinations.
Outline two rule systems used to explain children's multiword speech.
Explain the core ideas behind the constructivist (usage-based) account.
Evaluate constructivist accounts of language acquisition using empirical evidence.

Lecture Structure

Part A: Background (defining syntax, examining what needs explaining in multiword speech, and describing early multiword combinations and potential rules).
Part B: Constructivist approaches – theory and initial evidence.
Part C: Building an adult grammar.
Overall summary and areas for evaluation.

Part A: Background

1. What is Syntax?: Syntax describes how words are combined in a language, enabling communication and creating an infinite number of potential sentences from a finite set of words. Examples are "who did what to whom?"
2. What needs explaining?: Language is a species-specific and universal human trait. Primates do not exhibit similar language acquisition capabilities, while children show advanced language skills by age 5.
3. What are early multiword combinations like?: Early combinations mostly consist of content words reflecting current situations (e.g., "Daddy shirt," "want drink"). Children also start to show some creative use of word order like adults (e.g., "more sing").
4. What kinds of rules could underpin early multiword utterances?: These rules can be lexical (word-based) or syntactic (grammatical).

1. What is Syntax?

Syntax allows words to be combined in specific ways.
Language allows understanding between speakers (e.g., who did what to whom).
A finite set of words produces an infinite number of sentences.

2. What Needs Explaining?

Language is species-specific. Very limited evidence of syntax acquisition in other primates through intensive training.
Language is species-universal. Virtually all children acquire most of their grammar by age 5.

3. What are Early Word Combinations Like?

Primarily content words describing actions/events in the immediate environment
Show replication of adult word order
Demonstrate some creative uses of word combinations

4. Lexical (Word-Based) Rules?

Rules are item-specific, based on individual words or schemas (sets of words).
Limited variety of utterances initially.
Children need to generalize between schemas of words.

Syntactic (Grammatical) Rules?

Rules are abstract, based on grammatical categories.
Examples: Verb+Object, Subject+Verb
Allow all possible utterances in adult language.

Interim Summary

Children's early multi-word utterances are not random, but often based on previous experiences.
Other species do not show comparable language capabilities.
The study further explores how children combine words into sentences, the kind of knowledge needed, and the origins of this ability.

Part B: Constructivist Approaches: Theory & Initial Evidence

1. What is the Constructivist Approach (Usage-Based)? Grammar develops from communication, driven by infants' motivations to convey meaning. It is learned through general cognitive processes like communicative intention-reading, analogies, and distributional learning.
2. What kind of evidence would support the approach?: Evidence that children start with lexically-based linguistic representations. High-frequency words are learned first, followed by gradual generalisation across exemplars.
3. Evidence of Lexically-Based (Word-Based) Learning: The Verb Island Hypothesis: Children initially tie grammar to individual verbs. Generalization between verbs doesn't occur until late.

Experimental Evidence (Verb Island Hypothesis)

Knowledge of grammar linked to specific verbs until 2½ years-old.
Children struggle to apply grammatical rules to unfamiliar verbs.
Children use more familiar verbs to show how actions are performed correctly.

Evidence: Limited (Lexical) Constructions

Initial utterances are based on lexical items (words), not exclusive to verbs.
Children use high-frequency words to create utterances.

Interim Summary (Children's Language Production)

Good evidence that children's early utterances are more constrained than those of adults.
Further investigation into how children 'join' various aspects of language development for sentence structure.

Part C: Building an Adult-Like Grammar

1. Structure Combining: Children build on previously said utterances to create new ones through simple changes like substitutions, additions, and deletions.
2. Semantic Analogy: Children initially learn multiple verbs and then generalize similarities across verbs. This process allows recognition of the actions related to various verbs.
3. Distributional Learning: Children learn cooccurrence patterns: how frequently certain words appear together in sentences (e.g., verb-ing/-ed/-s, plural/singular nouns).

1. Structure Combining (Lieven et al., 2003)

Children build utterances based on preceding utterances.
Studied a single child's utterances over several weeks.
Examined recorded utterances and noted specific changes (substitutions, additions, deletions).
Identified "target" and "source" utterances.

Method (for Structure Combining)

Identify changes needed to transform a similar "source" utterance to a "target" utterance, noting operations needed.
- Example operations: substitution, addition, deletion.

Results (of Structure Combining Study)

High percentage of repetitions identified in the recorded data.
A substantial number of original utterances discovered.

Conclusions (of structure combining)

Many complex utterances are repetitions or small modifications of prior utterances.
Modifications frequently involve simple word substitutions or single word additions/deletions.

2. Semantic Analogy

Children learn various verbs.
They notice similarities across verbs and create broader schemas.
Dissimilar attributes of verbs are often ignored.

Evidence: Repeating Sequences (Matthews & Bannard, 2010)

Tested 2 & 3-year-olds and assessed their ability to repeat 4-word sequences.
Items related to each other in terms of meaning created fewer errors.

3. Distributional Learning

Understanding how frequently words appear together in sentences and contexts.
Identifying the use of Verb-ing/-ed/-s, Nuns-s'/s, plural/singular forms of nouns, and other grammatical patterns.

Experimental Evidence (Distributional Learning)

Exposing children to multiple transitive sentences with familiar/unfamiliar verbs.
Examining children's ability to apply noun/pronoun combinations in sentences.
Testing children's ability to describe actions that involve novel verbs using grammatical structure components.
Child's ability to use pronouns to increase the abstractness of the sentence.

Overall Summary

Children begin combining words at 18-24 months of age.
Constructivists suggest children figure out meaning by interpreting the intentions of others in predictable situations.
Children use more limited rule systems (e.g., lexical rules) initially compared to adults and use general cognitive mechanisms.

Critical Evaluation

Production studies are challenging for children due to memory demands involved in recalling words and planning sentences.
The study raises questions about whether production studies underestimate children's abstraction of sentence structure capabilities.

Reading Guidance

The studied material will be assessed through short-answer and multiple-choice questions.
Understanding the material is crucial for success.
Specific sections of Clark's book (2009/2016) are recommended for further reading concerning early language acquisition stages.

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Description

This quiz explores various aspects of language acquisition, including species-specific elements, early word combinations, and syntactic rules. Questions also cover the communication abilities of children and research findings on language development. Test your knowledge on the fascinating process of how children learn to communicate effectively.