The Innateness Question: Arguments for Nativism in Language Acquisition - Prof. Escutia Ló, Apuntes de Psicolingüística

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L1 ACQUISITION: THE

INNATENESS QUESTION

NATIVISM

• (^) Language one of most amazing things people know because it is biologically hardwired into the human brain.
• (^) Children not born with a particular language, not equipped with rules or sounds of any Language.
• (^) Babies come knowing what kind of words we can have, what types of sentences, what sorts of interpretations we’re allowed, principles that define what’s possible and what’s not, which will never be expected (= UG).

Arguments for Nativism II

• (^) 8 month babies can distinguish between any pair of sounds used in any language. They come prepared to pick up any language. Children are tested with: high amplitude sucking rate; head turn preference procedure; preferential looking paradigm reacting differently to their L1, or known sounds.
• (^) https://youtu.be/EFlxiflDk_o
• (^) When they understand what they hear, they stay looking longer when it corresponds to what they heard, showing they know word order, questions (Look at Tom kissing Mary; what hit the keys? after a book that skid onto them).

Arguments for Nativism III

• (^) They all pick up words at the same rate and go

through same stages regardless of how the L1 works

and of being or not exposed to motherese, the L

having tone or not, or if the V comes at beginning or

end of sentence.

• (^) All babies start at 10-12 months old and by 18

months they have about 80 words and then they

have a vocabulary spurt in the next few months and

around 2 ys they have about 500 words. Then faster,

about 10 wds a day.

Arguments for Nativism V

• (^) All kids get very good at language and so quickly: 2&1/2 years old know what sound combinations are possible for language; OGs (regularities without constraints: zibbing , zibber , it noises (on it buzzes ), she unlocked it open (on the basis of she pulled it open ); what a possible word sounds like, the WO for their L1, how to make questions, what questions are grammatically correct to ask, they use modifiers.

Arguments for Nativism VI

• (^) Compare with other areas (like adding up, tie their

shoes, use a bathroom). How can they do all that

when computer models fail? Without all of it being

explicitly taught to them.

• (^) Deep in their brains, children’s genes have the

abstract rules that tell them what’s possible and

what’s not. They start all the same with the same

innate abilities, then they apply what they hear in

the environment to the UG in their heads (f. ex.

knowledge about categories).

Construction Grammar II

• (^) Innate cognitive abilities: joint attention (kid and caretaker focusing on object produced frequently in that situation and that bootstraps sound and object); intention reading (theory of mind with imitation of goal directed actions, not accidental ones); schematization (ability to see pivot schemas like let’s X , where’s X ); role reversal (put oneself in the position of the other in terms of their knowledge) and pattern recognition (8 month kids accustomed to bidaku more attentive to dabiku : infants can learn which syllables pair together and which ones do rarely, so they may be parts of two different units)