7 l{ow do thev do it?

t'hildr:en are born into a world ir-rll oinoises and souuds of all sorts

(r'rrrsic, caL engines, slaurming doors, whistling, coughiug, cryittg,

cr.rr rverszrlion, and so on). Somehow, they have to take the part that is

specch, [rreak it down into its snraller parls (words, prefixes, sulfrxes,

r:lt: ), de(ermine what they rnean, and figure out how to reassemble

llrc:rn in new ways.

l)oing tl-ris involves mastering a system oi sounds, words, slruc-

Irrrc and meaning whose intricacy typically deleats even the mosl

Ilill ccl adu lt lealners. Yet children get the job done beiore they learn

lo lje lheir shoes. How do they do itZ

'['lrcrc's still no real solntiou to this puzzle, although bits and

lriccr-:s ol lhe answer are starting to emerge, And as this happens, it's

br:r'ouring clear tbat certain widely held ideas about how language

Ic;r1-11i11g works arc probably dead-ends.

'l'lre job oI Ll.ris chapter is to try to sort out the differe nce between

l l r c: icleas l"h at r.uake scnse and those th at don' t We' ll star t by lool<in g

irl lhtr popultrr idca ttrat children learn language by imitating tl-reir

ptrrc r-t tl;.

l. Why it's lrot imitation

r\sli lhe averirge person how a child lean-rs language and you'll

prohably be told "by imitating adults," On the face o[it, that makes

rr lol ol sense . The adults in a child's Ii[e speak a particular language,

irrtl ilrc cl-rilcl euds r,rp speaking Lhatlanguage too.

Irnitat.ion oI sorne sorl probably rs involvecl in cerlain aspects

ol larguage acqr-risilion. Take worc'ls, for example. There's only one

t,r,ir\r lor children to lcarn that the word ior "cat" is cat or that the

urrrr rl lcrr' "light" islight.Tliey have to notice what adultssay andthen

1r y 111 ,1,, lhe same tlring themselves - in other words, they have to

i r rr i l rr l c r,rrha t tbey lrear. i lt is certainly no accideut that huutans, the

ortly spccie" with language, have a capacity for vocal imitation that

I6,l

Ilott t[o tlrcy do iL? 16 5

far exceeds anything in nronkeys and apes - coutrar)/ to popular

misconceplion.2

But the itnitatiott explattatiott \\ron't tal(e us ver)I far. That's

because there are maiol paI ts of langtragc that catinol, be inritated

Sentences are tlre nost obrrious exarnple.

Unlil<e rvords, which ale uremorized aL-rd stored in the brain, sen-

teuces are created as the need arises. YoLr've probably uevcr seelt a

single one of tl-rc sentences in tlte preceding trvo paragraphs belorc

iri-youl li[e, and you'll probably uever see an)/ oI thern again. yet

you understood tl-ren.r, and yon conld have produced thenr yourself

it you'd been writing this book.

Apart from greetings atrd other [ormulaic cxpressions, many of

the senlences we utter and hear e\rery day are uovel in this rvay

They simply don't involve the sort of rertrernbering and repentins

associated witlr imitation.

Two facts abolrt langLrage acquisition confilnt tliaI inrita-

tion is r.rot tlte explanation fol hortr children learn to produce

sen tences,

Firs t, children a relt'L verJr Bood at in it ating sente nces co n taiui n g

unfamiliar rvords and structnres. Thel' tl,pically repeat only 11,In1

they can already salr il they've ah'ead1, learned delinite articles,

they'll repeat a definite article, If lhel''ve alreadJ' learne d plr-rlalend-

i n gs, they' ll repea t a plura l end in g If t hey'r'e alleady lc.rrned t he verl:

i.re, thcy'll repeat it. 0therwise, they'll imitate The tlogs nrelntngry as

Dog hturgry.lndeed, it is precisely for this reasoll that experirlentcrs

cornmonly use iLnitatjon tests as a rvay of assessing clrilclren's lan-

guage deve)opment l

SecoL-td, perhaps becarise they linow they're Dot very good at it,

childrer-r don't even try to imitate sentences velJr olten, The prooI of

lhis is straightiorward - sillply lake a typical crouversa[ion betlnreen

a motlrer and her cltild and calculate horv uranl'oithc child's utter,

ances are intitations

The loliorving corrversatior-r tool< place rvhen Adam was t\vo years

and eiglit uronths old. (The symbol # r'nalks a pause.)You cau counl

a sentence as an irniLation if it inclLrdes the sanre "content" words

(nouns, verbs, and adjectives) used in the same order as in tlte utte r-

ance just produced by an adult.

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7 l{ow do thev do it?

t'hildr:en are born into a world ir-rll oinoises and souuds of all sorts

(r'rrrsic, caL engines, slaurming doors, whistling, coughiug, cryittg,

cr.rr rverszrlion, and so on). Somehow, they have to take the part that is

specch, [rreak it down into its snraller parls (words, prefixes, sulfrxes,

r:lt: ), de(ermine what they rnean, and figure out how to reassemble

llrc:rn in new ways.

l)oing tl-ris involves mastering a system oi sounds, words, slruc-

Irrrc and meaning whose intricacy typically deleats even the mosl

Ilill ccl^ adu^ lt^ lealners.^ Yet^ children^ get^ the^ job^ done beiore they learn

lo lje lheir shoes. How do they do itZ

'['lrcrc's still no real solntiou to this puzzle, although bits and

lriccr-:s ol lhe answer^ are^ starting to emerge, And as this happens, it's

br:r'ouring clear tbat certain widely held ideas about how language

Ic;r1-11i11g works arc probably dead-ends.

'l'lre job oI Ll.ris chapter is to try to sort out the differe nce between

irl lhtr popultrr idca ttrat children learn language by imitating tl-reir

r\sli lhe averirge person how a child lean-rs language and you'll

prohably be told "by imitating adults," On the face o[it, that makes

rr lol ol sense. The adults in a child's Ii[e speak a particular language,

irrtl ilrc cl-rilcl euds r,rp speaking Lhatlanguage too.

Irnitat.ion oI sorne sorl probably rs involvecl in cerlain aspects

ol larguage acqr-risilion. Take worc'ls, for example. There's only one

t,r,ir\r lor children to lcarn that the word ior "cat" is cat or that the

urrrr rl lcrr' "light"^ islight.Tliey have to notice what adultssay andthen

i r rr i l rr l c r,rrha t tbey lrear. i^ lt is certainly no accideut that huutans, the

ortly spccie" with language, have a capacity for vocal imitation that

I6,l

Ilott t[o tlrcy do iL? 16 5

But the itnitatiott explattatiott^ \ron't^ tal(e^ us ver)I far.^ That's

because there are maiol^ paI ts of^ langtragc^ that^ catinol,^ be^ inritated

Sentences are^ tlre^ nost^ obrrious^ exarnple.

Unlil<e rvords, which ale uremorized aL-rd stored in the brain, sen-

teuces are created as^ the^ need arises. YoLr've probably uevcr^ seelt^ a

single one of tl-rc sentences in tlte preceding^ trvo paragraphs belorc

iri-youl li[e, and you'll probably uever see an)/ oI thern again. yet

you understood tl-ren.r, and yon conld have produced thenr yourself

it you'd^ been writing this book.

Apart from greetings atrd other [ormulaic cxpressions, many of

the senlences we utter and hear e\rery day are uovel in this rvay

They simply don't involve the sort of rertrernbering and repentins

associated witlr imitation.

Firs t, children a relt'L verJr Bood at in it ating sente nces co n taiui n g

unfamiliar rvords and structnres. Thel' tl,pically repeat only 11,In

they'll repeat a definite article, If lhel''ve alreadJ' learne d plr-rlalend-

i n gs, they' ll repea t a plura l end in g If t hey'r'e alleady lc.rrned t he verl:

i.re, thcy'll repeat it. 0therwise, they'll imitate The tlogs nrelntngry as

Dog hturgry.lndeed, it is precisely for this reasoll that experirlentcrs

cornmonly use iLnitatjon tests as a rvay of assessing clrilclren's lan-

SecoL-td, perhaps^ becarise they linow they're Dot very good at it,

childrer-r don't even try to imitate sentences velJr olten, The prooI of

lhis is straightiorward - sillply lake a typical crouversa[ion betlnreen

a motlrer and her cltild and calculate horv uranl'oithc child's utter,

ances are intitations

The loliorving corrversatior-r tool< place rvhen Adam was t\vo years

and eiglit uronths old. (The symbol # r'nalks a pause.)You cau counl

a sentence as an irniLation if it inclLrdes the sanre "content"^ words

(nouns, verbs, and adjectives) used in the same order as in tlte utte r-

ance just^ produced by an adult.

\JN

stD

ol content lvords as a precedir-tg Lttterance b1, his nrother. In fact, it

auyone seellrs to be illritating, it's r\dam's rnother-on [our occasior-is

(lines 5, 9, 13, and t 5) she repeats wltat r{E has

iust saidl

children \rarJ/ a^ gfeat^ cleal^ in^ terms^ of^ precisely^ how much^ they

iruitate their paients'speech.^ One^ study^ oIthe^ speech of^ six^

children

rvho n'ere^ jttst^ beginning^ to^ produce tnulti-rn'ord scntences found

that the proportion^ of^ imitated utterances ovcr^ several^ tapiug^ ses-

siotrsrangedli.onraround5percerrtirrorrecl-rildtoarounc'|40pel.

cent iu auother.{

If anything, this study^ probably^ overestirnaled the extent^ of^

imi-

tation in chilJren's speech.^ That's^ because^ the^ researchers^ counted

an LrtteraDce^ as^ an^ imitation^ even i[^ it was^ missing^ a^ lot^ o[^