First Language Acquisition: Inherent Difficulty of Language - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Course Readings

The following readings have been posted to the Moodle course site:

◮ Contemporary Linguistics: Chapter 10 (pp. 378-385) ◮ Language Instinct: Chapter 9

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

The Big Picture, Once Again

The Fundamental Question: What are the rules and mental representations that underlie our ability to speak and understand a language?

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

The Big Picture, Once Again

The Fundamental Question: What are the rules and mental representations that underlie our ability to speak and understand a language? Another Fundamental Question: How does a child learn this system of rules and mental representations? A Key Insight (Noam Chomsky; 1950s): This is a deep mystery of human biological development

◮ How does a brain go from not having language

(newborn) to having one (six year old)?

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Language Acquisition and ‘Imitation’

A ‘Common Sense’ Answer:

Kids learn language by imitating the people around them (duh)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Language Acquisition and ‘Imitation’

A ‘Common Sense’ Answer:

Kids learn language by imitating the people around them (duh)

The Truth:

◮ Although ‘imitation’ is involved in language acquisition... ◮ There is a lot more to it than just imitation...

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Language Acquisition is Not Just ‘Imitation’

First Key Fact:

Children say things that they’ve never heard before.

◮ Children make ‘mistakes’ all the time:

‘goed’

[gowd] ‘leafes’ [lif1z]

◮ These ‘mistakes’ are not random ‘sloppiness’.

Rather, kids are over-applying a rule of the language:

◮ /-d/ as past-tense on ‘go’ (instead of ‘went’) ◮ /-z/ → [-1z] / Cfricative

(instead of ‘stridents’)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Language Acquisition is Not Just ‘Imitation’

First Key Fact:

Children say things that they’ve never heard before.

◮ Children make ‘mistakes’ all the time:

‘goed’

[gowd] ‘leafes’ [lif1z]

◮ These ‘mistakes’ are not random ‘sloppiness’.

Rather, kids are over-applying a rule of the language:

◮ /-d/ as past-tense on ‘go’ (instead of ‘went’) ◮ /-z/ → [-1z] / Cfricative

(instead of ‘stridents’)

Conclusion:

◮ Kids aren’t just ‘imitating’ / ‘copying’ what they hear. ◮ Instead, they are hypothesizing rules

◮ Like linguists, they make a guess (sometimes wrong) ◮ They adjust their hypothesized rules until they’re right.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Language Acquisition is Not Just ‘Imitation’

Second Key Fact:

‘Competence (knowledge) Precedes Performance’

◮ Kids understand things long before they can say them.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Language Acquisition is Not Just ‘Imitation’

Second Key Fact:

‘Competence (knowledge) Precedes Performance’

◮ Kids understand things long before they can say them.

An Example from Phonology:

Kids hear phonemic distinctions they can’t actually produce.

◮ Kids hear the difference b/t [S] and [s] before they can say it:

◮ Kid: Gimme fis! [fIs] ◮ Dad: Is this your fis? [fIs] ◮ Kid: No! It’s my FIS! [fIs]

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Language Acquisition is Not Just ‘Imitation’

Second Key Fact:

‘Competence (knowledge) Precedes Performance’

◮ Kids understand things long before they can say them.

An Example from Phonology:

Kids hear phonemic distinctions they can’t actually produce.

◮ Kids hear the difference b/t [S] and [s] before they can say it:

◮ Kid: Gimme fis! [fIs] ◮ Dad: Is this your fis? [fIs] ◮ Kid: No! It’s my FIS! [fIs]

An Example from Syntax and Morphology:

◮ Some children can’t speak due to physical diability ◮ When tested, these mute kids show (essentially) normal levels of

comprehension (Stromswold 1994).

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Language Acquisition and Rules

Major Conclusion:

Language acquisition is a lot more than just ‘imitation’.

◮ Acquiring a first language involves the creation of rules

◮ Children hypothesize rules ◮ Over time, they adjust them to match adults.

◮ Kids acquire rules without actually using/practicing them.

◮ Kids’ linguistic knowledge outpaces their speaking ability ◮ Mute children learn first language without ever using it

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition

Complexity of Rules No Teaching or Correction No Word Boundaries Completion in Six Years

Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Factors Complicating Language Acquisition

◮ If it weren’t already amazing that kids below 4 do all this... ◮ Various factors make language acquisition really hard.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition

Complexity of Rules No Teaching or Correction No Word Boundaries Completion in Six Years

Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Factor One: Rules are Complex

First Complicating Factor:

The rule system they’re trying to learn is incredibly complex.

◮ Just some of the English rules we’ve seen...

◮ Syllabification Algorithm ◮ Allophonic Rules (e.g. Aspiration, V-length) ◮ Morphophonemic Rules (e.g. /d/ → [t], etc.) ◮ Morphological Rules

(Right Hand Head Rule; ‘Freakin’-Infixation)

◮ Syntax Phrase Structure Rules

◮ But, these rules barely scratch the surface... ◮ And, somehow, kids below 6 reliably figure out all the rules.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition

Complexity of Rules No Teaching or Correction No Word Boundaries Completion in Six Years

Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Factors 2 & 3: No Teaching or Correction

Second Complicating Factor:

Kids have to learn the rule system passively.

◮ Kids don’t get explicit, easily-digestible grammar lessons ◮ Instead, they have to figure it out entirely on their own.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition

Complexity of Rules No Teaching or Correction No Word Boundaries Completion in Six Years

Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Factors 2 & 3: No Teaching or Correction

Second Complicating Factor:

Kids have to learn the rule system passively.

◮ Kids don’t get explicit, easily-digestible grammar lessons ◮ Instead, they have to figure it out entirely on their own.

Third Complicating Factor:

Children don’t get reliable ‘negative feedback’

◮ Children’s errors aren’t reliably corrected (Lecture 2) ◮ And, when they are, they ignore it anyway (Lecture 2) ◮ So how do they know when their hypothesis is wrong?

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition

Complexity of Rules No Teaching or Correction No Word Boundaries Completion in Six Years

Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Factor Four: No Word Boundaries

Fourth Complicating Factor:

Natural speech does not have word boundaries.

◮ We perceive our language as broken up into words ◮ But there are no real phonetic breaks between words

◮ “Do you want a cookie” = [dujuwAnt@kUki]

◮ But, to figure out the rules of morphology and syntax, you first

have to know what the words are

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition

Complexity of Rules No Teaching or Correction No Word Boundaries Completion in Six Years

Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Factor Four: No Word Boundaries

Fourth Complicating Factor:

Natural speech does not have word boundaries.

◮ We perceive our language as broken up into words ◮ But there are no real phonetic breaks between words

◮ “Do you want a cookie” = [dujuwAnt@kUki]

◮ But, to figure out the rules of morphology and syntax, you first

have to know what the words are

Fun Fact:

◮ Kids do make mistakes about word boundaries (Pinker 1995):

◮ Parent: We’re going to Miami

Kid: I don’t want to go you your ami [æmi].

◮ Parent: Behave!

Kid: I am have [hejv]

◮ But it’s a miracle how few such mistakes they make...

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition

Complexity of Rules No Teaching or Correction No Word Boundaries Completion in Six Years

Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Factor Five: Finished by Age 4-6

Fifth Complicating Factor:

This whole process must be complete by age 4-6

◮ Kids essentially have their 1st language down by 4-6 ◮ So, however they’re doing it, it’s gotta be all wrapped up by then

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Language Acquisition and Language Instinct

The Burning Question:

How does a child below 4 figure out all the rules of their 1st language all by themselves (with no help or correction)?

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Language Acquisition and Language Instinct

The Burning Question:

How does a child below 4 figure out all the rules of their 1st language all by themselves (with no help or correction)?

Key Idea from the First Week:

Human beings have an instinct to learn a first language.

◮ Learning a 1st language is ‘hard-wired’ into our DNA.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Language Acquisition and Language Instinct

The Burning Question:

How does a child below 4 figure out all the rules of their 1st language all by themselves (with no help or correction)?

Key Idea from the First Week:

Human beings have an instinct to learn a first language.

◮ Learning a 1st language is ‘hard-wired’ into our DNA.

Key Consequence of This Idea: If we have an instinct to learn language, then...

◮ We must have some in-born knowledge about what (human)

language is like...

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Language Acquisition and Language Instinct

The Burning Question:

How does a child below 4 figure out all the rules of their 1st language all by themselves (with no help or correction)?

Key Idea from the First Week:

Human beings have an instinct to learn a first language.

◮ Learning a 1st language is ‘hard-wired’ into our DNA.

Key Consequence of This Idea: If we have an instinct to learn language, then...

◮ We must have some in-born knowledge about what (human)

language is like...

◮ And, since language is a system of rules and

representations...

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Language Acquisition and Language Instinct

The Burning Question:

How does a child below 4 figure out all the rules of their 1st language all by themselves (with no help or correction)?

Key Idea from the First Week:

Human beings have an instinct to learn a first language.

◮ Learning a 1st language is ‘hard-wired’ into our DNA.

Key Consequence of This Idea: If we have an instinct to learn language, then...

◮ We must have some in-born knowledge about what (human)

language is like...

◮ And, since language is a system of rules and

representations...

◮ What we know = the rules and representations a

language can have!

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Language Instinct Aids Acquisition

The Burning Question:

How does a child below 4 figure out all the rules of their 1st language all by themselves (with no help or correction)?

An Exciting Answer:

Children are born knowing what linguistic rules and representations (generally) look like.

◮ Our brains come preloaded with a kind of ‘template’ for linguistic

rules and representations

◮ To acquire language, kids just need to fill in these ‘templates’

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Language Instinct Aids Acquisition

The Burning Question:

How does a child below 4 figure out all the rules of their 1st language all by themselves (with no help or correction)?

An Exciting Answer:

Children are born knowing what linguistic rules and representations (generally) look like.

◮ Our brains come preloaded with a kind of ‘template’ for linguistic

rules and representations

◮ To acquire language, kids just need to fill in these ‘templates’

Some support for this also comes from Computer Science...

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Learning Rules Without Assumptions

Gold’s Theorem:

No system can reliably learn a (human-like) language without any starting assumptions (‘priors’) about what the rules are like

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Learning Rules Without Assumptions

Gold’s Theorem:

No system can reliably learn a (human-like) language without any starting assumptions (‘priors’) about what the rules are like

◮ Without such starting assumptions, there are infinite ‘dead ends’

to fall into:

◮ Stating syntactic rules about specific words:

(S → the + dog + ran)

◮ Stating syntactic rules without using phrases:

(‘Nouns can come before Vs’, ‘Vs can come before Ns’...)

◮ Listing the exact number of As an NP can have:

(NP → (D) (A) (A) (A) (A) ... N ...)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

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Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Learning Rules Without Assumptions

Main Conclusion:

Given how fast and accurate first language acquisition is:

◮ Kids must have some innate assumptions about how linguistic

rules look

◮ These assumptions serve as a guide, leading kids to the right

rules very quickly

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Universal Grammar

Vocabulary:

Universal Grammar (UG) is the assumptions (knowledge) about linguistic rules that humans are born with.

(Noam Chomsky; 1960s)

◮ It’s universal to all human beings ◮ It’s about the grammar (linguistic rules) of human languages

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Universal Grammar

Vocabulary:

Universal Grammar (UG) is the assumptions (knowledge) about linguistic rules that humans are born with.

(Noam Chomsky; 1960s)

◮ It’s universal to all human beings ◮ It’s about the grammar (linguistic rules) of human languages

Evidence for Universal Grammar:

◮ It helps explain how language acquisition is possible. ◮ There are limits to the kinds of mistakes kids make. ◮ There are limits to the kinds of rules languages can have.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes, Example 1

Morpheme Ordering Constraint (MOC):

◮ Derivational affixes can’t go on words that have inflectional ones

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes, Example 1

Morpheme Ordering Constraint (MOC):

◮ Derivational affixes can’t go on words that have inflectional ones ◮ The first word in a compound can’t have inflectional affixes

◮ cookie-eater, *cookies-eater ◮ mouse-eater, mice-eater (‘mice’ does not have plural suffix)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes, Example 1

Morpheme Ordering Constraint (MOC):

◮ Derivational affixes can’t go on words that have inflectional ones ◮ The first word in a compound can’t have inflectional affixes

◮ cookie-eater, *cookies-eater ◮ mouse-eater, mice-eater (‘mice’ does not have plural suffix)

Fun Fact: Kids below 3 never violate the MOC (Pinker 1995).

◮ Experimenter’s Question:

‘What do you call a monster that eats mice?’

◮ Kid’s Answer 1: ‘Mouse-eater’. ◮ Kid’s Answer 2: ‘Mice-eater’

◮ Experimenter’s Question:

‘What do you call a monster that eats cookies?’

◮ Kid’s Only Answer: ‘Cookie-eater’ ◮ Kids Never Answer: *Cookies-eater

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes, Example 2

Stromswold 1990:

Many imaginable syntactic errors are never made by kids.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes, Example 2

Stromswold 1990:

Many imaginable syntactic errors are never made by kids.

◮ Linguists drew up several dozen ‘plausible’ mistakes kids could

make with English auxiliary verbs. Adult Pattern Imaginable Mistake Does he seem happy? *Does he be smiling? He did go / He didn’t go He did it / *He didn’t it He likes going *He cans go. He is not happy *He ate not something. Is he happy? * Ate he something?

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes, Example 2

Stromswold 1990:

Many imaginable syntactic errors are never made by kids.

◮ Linguists drew up several dozen ‘plausible’ mistakes kids could

make with English auxiliary verbs. Adult Pattern Imaginable Mistake Does he seem happy? *Does he be smiling? He did go / He didn’t go He did it / *He didn’t it He likes going *He cans go. He is not happy *He ate not something. Is he happy? * Ate he something?

◮ Examined 66,000 sentences of recorded child speech where

these mistakes could happen.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes, Example 2

Stromswold 1990:

Many imaginable syntactic errors are never made by kids.

◮ Linguists drew up several dozen ‘plausible’ mistakes kids could

make with English auxiliary verbs. Adult Pattern Imaginable Mistake Does he seem happy? *Does he be smiling? He did go / He didn’t go He did it / *He didn’t it He likes going *He cans go. He is not happy *He ate not something. Is he happy? * Ate he something?

◮ Examined 66,000 sentences of recorded child speech where

these mistakes could happen.

◮ Virtually none of these mistakes occurred anywhere.

◮ Kids do make mistakes with auxiliary verbs. ◮ But, they don’t make these kinds of mistakes.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes

Conclusion:

◮ There are certain kinds of linguistic errors kids never make.

◮ Morpheme Ordering Constraint ◮ Stromswold’s Imaginable (but Unattested) Errors

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes

Conclusion:

◮ There are certain kinds of linguistic errors kids never make.

◮ Morpheme Ordering Constraint ◮ Stromswold’s Imaginable (but Unattested) Errors

◮ So, kids never hypothesize rules that would lead to these errors.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes

Conclusion:

◮ There are certain kinds of linguistic errors kids never make.

◮ Morpheme Ordering Constraint ◮ Stromswold’s Imaginable (but Unattested) Errors

◮ So, kids never hypothesize rules that would lead to these errors. ◮ So, kids somehow know that such rules would be wrong.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes

Conclusion:

◮ There are certain kinds of linguistic errors kids never make.

◮ Morpheme Ordering Constraint ◮ Stromswold’s Imaginable (but Unattested) Errors

◮ So, kids never hypothesize rules that would lead to these errors. ◮ So, kids somehow know that such rules would be wrong. ◮ So, kids seem to be born knowing how their rules should look...

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Kids’ Mistakes

Conclusion:

◮ There are certain kinds of linguistic errors kids never make.

◮ Morpheme Ordering Constraint ◮ Stromswold’s Imaginable (but Unattested) Errors

◮ So, kids never hypothesize rules that would lead to these errors. ◮ So, kids somehow know that such rules would be wrong. ◮ So, kids seem to be born knowing how their rules should look... ◮ And so, it seems that there is a ‘universal grammar’.

(assumptions about linguistic rules that humans are born with)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

UG Predicts Limits to Language Variation

Another Exciting Prediction:

◮ If we’re born with a ‘template’ for linguistic rules (UG),

then all human languages must conform to it.

◮ So, all languages should show similarities in rules. ◮ So, there are some rules that no languages will have.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

UG Predicts Limits to Language Variation

Another Exciting Prediction:

◮ If we’re born with a ‘template’ for linguistic rules (UG),

then all human languages must conform to it.

◮ So, all languages should show similarities in rules. ◮ So, there are some rules that no languages will have.

The Prediction is Accurate: Human languages can be very different from one another, but...

◮ There are some logically possible things you never find. ◮ There are certain things that all human languages share.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Language Variation, Example 1

Some Things No Language Does:

◮ Many languages mark questions by altering word order

◮ Example From English:

(“Dave is a nice guy” → “Is Dave a nice guy?”)

◮ However, no language marks a question by:

◮ Reversing the word-order of a sentence

(“Dave is a nice guy.” → “Guy nice a is Dave?”)

◮ Switching the first and last word of the sentence

(“Dave is a nice guy.” → “Guy is a nice Dave?”)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Limits to Language Variation, Example 2

Some Features Common to All Human Languages:

◮ Lexical Categories

(All have Vs and Ns, though many lack As)

◮ The Morpheme Ordering Constraint

(Some seem to violate the MOC, but it’s complicated)

◮ Word Order Universals

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Word Order Universals in Human Language

Fun Fact:

All languages obey certain rules about the ordering of:

◮ Subjects (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Verbs (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Objects (“Dave likes John”)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Word Order Universals in Human Language

Fun Fact:

All languages obey certain rules about the ordering of:

◮ Subjects (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Verbs (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Objects (“Dave likes John”)

The Rules, In Order of Importance:

• 1. Subject (S) precedes object (O)
• 2. O is next to the verb (V)
• 3. O is not first in the sentence.

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Word Order Universals in Human Language

Fun Fact:

All languages obey certain rules about the ordering of:

◮ Subjects (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Verbs (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Objects (“Dave likes John”)

The Rules, In Order of Importance:

• 1. Subject (S) precedes object (O)
• 2. O is next to the verb (V)
• 3. O is not first in the sentence.

Accurate Prediction:

Frequency of word-orders in the world’s languages:

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Word Order Universals in Human Language

Fun Fact:

All languages obey certain rules about the ordering of:

◮ Subjects (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Verbs (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Objects (“Dave likes John”)

The Rules, In Order of Importance:

• 1. Subject (S) precedes object (O)
• 2. O is next to the verb (V)
• 3. O is not first in the sentence.

Accurate Prediction:

Frequency of word-orders in the world’s languages:

◮ Most Common: SVO, SOV (satisfy all three rules)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Word Order Universals in Human Language

Fun Fact:

All languages obey certain rules about the ordering of:

◮ Subjects (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Verbs (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Objects (“Dave likes John”)

The Rules, In Order of Importance:

• 1. Subject (S) precedes object (O)
• 2. O is next to the verb (V)
• 3. O is not first in the sentence.

Accurate Prediction:

Frequency of word-orders in the world’s languages:

◮ Most Common: SVO, SOV (satisfy all three rules) ◮ 2nd Most Common: VSO (satisfies 2 rules, including #1)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Word Order Universals in Human Language

Fun Fact:

All languages obey certain rules about the ordering of:

◮ Subjects (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Verbs (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Objects (“Dave likes John”)

The Rules, In Order of Importance:

• 1. Subject (S) precedes object (O)
• 2. O is next to the verb (V)
• 3. O is not first in the sentence.

Accurate Prediction:

Frequency of word-orders in the world’s languages:

◮ Most Common: SVO, SOV (satisfy all three rules) ◮ 2nd Most Common: VSO (satisfies 2 rules, including #1) ◮ 3rd Most Common: VOS (satisfies 2 rules, but not #1)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Word Order Universals in Human Language

Fun Fact:

All languages obey certain rules about the ordering of:

◮ Subjects (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Verbs (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Objects (“Dave likes John”)

The Rules, In Order of Importance:

• 1. Subject (S) precedes object (O)
• 2. O is next to the verb (V)
• 3. O is not first in the sentence.

Accurate Prediction:

Frequency of word-orders in the world’s languages:

◮ Most Common: SVO, SOV (satisfy all three rules) ◮ 2nd Most Common: VSO (satisfies 2 rules, including #1) ◮ 3rd Most Common: VOS (satisfies 2 rules, but not #1) ◮ 4th Most Common: OVS (satisfies only 1 rule, #2)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

‘The Language Instinct’ Universal Grammar Evidence: Limits to Kids’ Mistakes Evidence: Limits to Language Variation

Summary

Word Order Universals in Human Language

Fun Fact:

All languages obey certain rules about the ordering of:

◮ Subjects (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Verbs (“Dave likes John”) ◮ Objects (“Dave likes John”)

The Rules, In Order of Importance:

• 1. Subject (S) precedes object (O)
• 2. O is next to the verb (V)
• 3. O is not first in the sentence.

Accurate Prediction:

Frequency of word-orders in the world’s languages:

◮ Most Common: SVO, SOV (satisfy all three rules) ◮ 2nd Most Common: VSO (satisfies 2 rules, including #1) ◮ 3rd Most Common: VOS (satisfies 2 rules, but not #1) ◮ 4th Most Common: OVS (satisfies only 1 rule, #2) ◮ 5th Most Common: OSV (satisfies no rules)

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Summary

Another Fundamental Question: How does a child learn this system of rules and mental representations?

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Summary

Another Fundamental Question: How does a child learn this system of rules and mental representations? The Centrality of Rules

◮ Kids don’t just ‘imitate’ the speech they hear ◮ They actively hypothesize rules ◮ Gradually, they adjust the rules, to match the language they hear

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Summary

Another Fundamental Question: How does a child learn this system of rules and mental representations? The Centrality of Rules

◮ Kids don’t just ‘imitate’ the speech they hear ◮ They actively hypothesize rules ◮ Gradually, they adjust the rules, to match the language they hear

The Difficulty of the Task:

A number of factors make learning linguistic rules very difficult:

◮ The rules are extremely complex ◮ Kids don’t get explicit instruction or correction ◮ No word-boundaries in fluent speech ◮ Learning must be complete in 4-6 years! ◮ If nothing is known about how the rules look, it’s impossible

to find the right ones...

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Summary

Another Fundamental Question: How does a child learn this system of rules and mental representations? One Key Hypothesis: Universal Grammar

Language acquisition happens so quickly and accurately because we’re born knowing how linguistic rules look:

◮ This knowledge of how the rules look is universal grammar. ◮ With universal grammar, most of the work of figuring out the

rules is done for us!

First Language Acquisition: Theories and Evidence Course Readings Imitation vs. Rule Creation Inherent Difficulty

• f Language

Acquisition Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition Summary

Summary

Another Fundamental Question: How does a child learn this system of rules and mental representations? One Key Hypothesis: Universal Grammar

Language acquisition happens so quickly and accurately because we’re born knowing how linguistic rules look:

◮ This knowledge of how the rules look is universal grammar. ◮ With universal grammar, most of the work of figuring out the

rules is done for us!

Some Evidence for Universal Grammar:

◮ There are certain kinds of errors kids never make.

(This suggests they know not to try those rules.)

◮ There are certain kinds of rules languages never follow.

(This suggests we can’t learn those kinds of rules.)