Acquisition of Language in Children Essay - 2167 Words

Possessing a language is a quintessentially human trait, yet the acquisition of language in children is not perfectly understood. Most explanations involve the observation that children mimic what they hear and the assumption that human beings have a natural ability to understand grammar. Behaviorist B.F. Skinner originally proposed that language must be learned and cannot be a module. The mind consisted of sensorimotor abilities as well as laws of learning that govern gradual changes in an organism’s behavior (Skinner, B.F., 1957). Noam Chomsky’s review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (Chomsky, 1959) challenged this belief by arguing that children learn languages that are governed by highly subtle and abstract principles,†¦show more content†¦In every childs Universal Grammar there exists a finite amount of linguistic rules. These rules are hierarchical. Syntactic rules for example, have deep structures, which are then converted into the surface representa tion as directed by these rules (Chomsky, 1965). Through exposure to any particular linguistic environment, rules are learned and a grammar for that particular language is built. The Universal Grammar acts as a menu, giving potential for all the differing rules observed throughout the worlds languages. Any particular linguistic environment acts as a switch for selecting which rules apply to the language a child is exposed to and then builds a grammar of rules specific to that language (or languages if the child is in a multi-lingual environment) (Carroll, 2006). This point is easily illustrated in two stages noted as cooing and babbling. At the stage of cooing, a baby produces many different phonetic articulations despite what sounds may or may not be in the phonetic inventory of the surrounding linguistic environment, meaning sounds, which are not represented in the linguistic environment, may very well be made by the baby. The second stage, babbling is distinguishable in that the baby picks up on the phonetic units present in his or her particular linguistic environment. More support for the hypothesis of a UG considers Chomskys proposal of generative grammar.Show MoreRelatedThe Language Acquisition Of Children1524 Words   |  7 PageswillCompare the language used by three different children who are all different ages, they are all staggered in age at two years a part. Their ages are: Rhys: Age 8, Archie: Age 6, Poppy: Age 4 The development of language in children changes as a child gets older. â€Å" The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a hypothetical brain mechanism that Noam Chomsky postulated to explain human acquisition of the syntactic structure of language.† I will be investigating the change in language used by a fourRead MoreThe Language Acquisition Of Children2684 Words   |  11 PagesIt is a well-known fact that all children acquire language the same way, regardless of what the language in question is. For example, we can create an analogy by comparing the process of acquiring a language to learning how to play a new game. If one wishes to play a new game he must first go over some basic rules, which in our case would be: understanding sounds, words and sentences and how they can be combined into meaningful structures. Since language can be considered a highly complex game thereRead More Language Acquisition in Children Essay1626 Words   |  7 PagesLanguage Acquisition in Child ren Introduction The study of language development, one of the most fascinating human achievements, has a long and rich history, extending over thousands of years (Chomsky, 2000). As the nature-versus-nurture argument is inevitable to arise whenever human behaviors are discussed, it is not surprising that language experts have debated the relative influences of genetics and the environment on language development (Hulit Howard, 2002). Among the various proposalsRead MoreSecond Language Acquisition on Children2565 Words   |  11 PagesSecond Language Acquisition and Age Impact on its Acquisition Ika Ulil M 20111111042 Abstract Children acquire language since they were born. They communicate with their parents. Furthermore, children and parents interact with each other using a language that we often call the first language or mother tongue. At an early age, children are only learning one language that is the mother tongue. By age and speech development, children improve to acquire a second language from the school or the environmentRead MoreThe Acquisition of Spoken Language in Deaf Children1839 Words   |  7 Pagesability to use language to communicate with the world around us. The capability to produce novel and complex sentences is a skill that every child learns if the conditions allow him or her to do so. What is most amazing about this is that children gain this capability in such a short amount of time. Within 5 years of life humans use the linguistic input of the world around them to produce novel ideas and thoughts. Regardless of where or how one lives, the process of acquiring language is often predictableRead MoreEssay about Children Language Acquisition694 Words   |  3 Pagesstages of language knowledge develop by stages, and it is suggested, each successive stage approach more approximates the grammar of the adult usage. This essay is going to illustrate the different stages in language acquisition that children pass through and elicit the theories in accordance. In the stage of the first sounds, the noises produced by infants are simply responses to stimuli, for instance crying as a reaction to hunger. These noises sound the same in all language communitiesRead MoreTeaching Language Acquisition For English As Additional Language Children Essay1437 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Language empowers a child to express his thoughts and desires, achieve his goals, and form relationships with others. It plays a crucial role in the cognitive, social and emotional development of the child (Berk, 2009). This report will discuss a range of pedagogical practices to support language acquisition for English as Additional Language children in context of early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand. Languages in Aotearoa. According to Statistics New Zealand 2013, 25Read MoreThe Acquisition of Spoken Language in Deaf Children3098 Words   |  12 PagesGovernment Intervention 5 4.0 Human Capital Investment 6 4.1 Human Capital 6 4.2 Endogenous Growth Theory 7 5.0 The effect of child marriage in Nigeria 8 6.0 Rebuttal 9 7.0 Conclusion 9 References 10 1.0 Introduction The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) defines child marriage as â€Å"a formal marriage or informal union before age 18.† This is before the child is psychologically, physically and physiologically prepared for marriage and child bearing (Walker, 2013). Child marriage is a commonRead MoreThe Effects Of Normal Language On Children s Language Acquisition3003 Words   |  13 Pages Other neurological conditions to prominently affect children’s language acquisition also include disorders like as cerebral palsy which may also prompt a language acquisition disorder for children through difficulties in voice production. Cerebral Palsy is an umbrella term for a group of persistent disorders of posture and movement caused by damage to the immature brain; it very rarely occurs during childbirth unless the baby is premature, underweight, or suffers from intraventricular haemorrhagesRead MoreFeral Children, Critical Period And First Language Acquisition2820 Words   |  12 Pages Feral Children, Critical Period and First Language Acquisition Hunter Palmentiero Pasadena City College LING16 Professor Lott 11/21/14 Table of Contents I. Introduction 3 II. Feral Children: Scientific Fact or Mythology 3 III. Critical Period and Language Acquisition 5 IV. Conclusion 7 Feral Children, Critical Period and First Language Acquisition Introduction Physical environments and social interactions significantly impact human