Nativist Approaches to Language Acquisition

<p>Knowledge of verbs, auxiliaries, and determiners tends to be lexically specific. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>What children hear influences both the timing and nature of what they learn. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Japanese (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The acquisition of complex grammatical rules (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>They point to the correct picture after hearing a sentence (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Italian (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Children's utterances conform to adult language structure (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>From 2 years (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Tense formation (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Awareness of grammatical rules (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Children have an innate ability specific to language. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Language Acquisition Device (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Children learn language at a fixed developmental pace regardless of experience. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The issue of correlating language input with children's output. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>They explain the rapid acquisition of complex grammatical structures. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>They are creative due to access to innate grammatical rules. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>By using innate rules and generalizations specific to language. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Constructivist theory (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>They fail to account for the complexity of language variation. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>They have access to an abstract rule of Subject-Verb-Object. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The idea that all languages share a common structural basis. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>They gradually learn these patterns from distributional analysis. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Grammar is a symbolic computational system processing abstract relationships. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Children's speech is largely comprised of phrases learned from adults. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The innate grammatical structures present at birth. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>High-frequency lexical frames affect children’s understanding of grammar. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>They resemble adult language in structure. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>They suggest that limitations are due to performance rather than knowledge. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Children's utterances consist primarily of content words. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Around 24 months. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Auxiliary verbs and determiners begin to be used. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>UG matures according to a defined biological timetable. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The distinct stages of language development observed over time. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Function words and grammatical parts. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Children possess innate abstract universal grammar. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>How children use their perceptual understanding of the world to link words to grammatical categories. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The issue of how children associate language they hear with their innate grammatical knowledge. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Maturational accounts (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Children’s improved performance in comprehension tasks compared to production tasks. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Children start out with full grammatical knowledge from the beginning. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Multiple-choice questions and short answer format (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Innate grammar is believed to be present before any exposure to language. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Nativist approaches to language acquisition assume that children are born with innate knowledge of language, often described as a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) or Universal Grammar (UG). This innate machinery simplifies the learning process and helps children acquire language efficiently.

One key assumption of nativist approaches is that children possess an innate understanding of universal grammar principles, common to all human languages. These principles guide children's language acquisition, allowing them to learn the specific rules of their native language more easily.

Nativist theories often emphasize the role of maturation in language development. This means that children's language abilities develop in a predictable sequence, driven by biological factors rather than purely by environmental influences. It's like a natural unfolding of language skills.

The 'linking problem' in language acquisition refers to the challenge of connecting words to their meanings. It's like figuring out how words relate to the real world.

One solution proposed for the linking problem is the idea that children use 'semantic bootstrapping'. This means they use their understanding of word meanings to infer the grammatical structures of their language. Imagine using existing knowledge to figure out new grammar rules.

A framework within the nativist approach that proposes a universal grammar shared by all humans, but with specific parameters that vary across languages. These parameters are determined by the child's linguistic environment.

Children's ability to produce novel, previously unheard sentences is seen as evidence that they are not simply mimicking what they hear, but using an internal grammar system.

The consistent way children learn grammatical rules, like adding plural endings, is interpreted as evidence that they are following an innate rule system.

The idea that language acquisition is driven by the child's interaction with the environment and the feedback they receive from others. They learn language through observation and practice.

This approach suggests that children learn grammatical rules through their exposure to the language around them. They extract patterns from the language they hear and gradually build their own grammar.

The constructivist view suggests that a child's creativity in using language is based on their learning and constructing meaning from the language they encounter, not on innate rules.

The constructivist approach highlights the role of a child's environment in their language development. Exposure to frequent language patterns shapes their grammar.

The order in which words appear in a sentence. Different languages have different word order rules, like Verb-Object (English) or Object-Verb (Japanese).

The part of a sentence that tells who or what performs the action. Some languages require a subject to be present (obligatory), while others allow it to be omitted (optional).

The ability of UG to account for the similarities and differences between languages, offering a unified explanation for language acquisition across diverse cultures.

The initial utterances of children often follow the word order patterns of their native language, supporting the idea that they are setting the relevant parameters of UG.

Children's ability to produce novel sentences from a young age suggests they are applying grammatical rules, rather than simply memorizing phrases.

Studies demonstrating that infants as young as two years old can understand the order of words in sentences, providing support for early parameter setting.

Research using preferential looking techniques to study the development of grammatical understanding in infants.

The debate about whether children's early language abilities primarily reflect their understanding of language or their ability to produce it.

The challenge of understanding how children connect words to their meanings, essentially bridging the gap between language and the real world.

The study of how children acquire two or more languages simultaneously, posing a challenge to the idea of universal grammar.

The idea that children are born with an innate understanding of language, often described as a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) or Universal Grammar (UG).

A model explaining how children set parameters within their UG based on the specific language they are exposed to. These parameters determine the specific variations between languages.

The difficulty in explaining how children connect the words they hear with their innate grammatical knowledge.

A developmental timeline where different aspects of language develop at specific stages. It suggests that language abilities are pre-programmed to emerge at particular times.

The idea that children start with a complete set of grammatical knowledge. This knowledge is not learned, but rather innate.

A linguistic phenomenon where children's production of language is less advanced than their comprehension abilities. This difference in abilities could be interpreted as evidence for innate knowledge.

Children's language development is seen as evidence that they don't start with full innate knowledge of grammar, contradicting continuous accounts. Instead, it suggests a part of Universal Grammar matures over time.

Radford's model suggests children go through stages. At the Lexical Stage (around 20 months), they mainly use content words. At the Functional Stage (around 24 months), their innate grammar develops, enabling them to use more complex grammar like auxiliaries, determiners, and inflections.

In Radford's model, children's early utterances (around 20 months) are characterized by the use of content words like nouns, verbs, adjectives, and prepositions. Other parts of the sentence are omitted.

As children's innate grammar develops, they begin to use more complex grammatical components, like auxiliary verbs, determiners, and inflections. This stage begins around 24 months.

Auxiliary verbs (like 'can,' 'will,' 'might') are used to express modality, certainty, and futurity. They add information about the verb's action.

Determiners like 'a' and 'the' are used to specify the definiteness of a noun phrase. They indicate whether a noun refers to a specific or general item.

Inflections are added to words to change their grammatical function, marking tense (past, present, future) or agreement (subject-verb concord) in a sentence.