Relations between segmental and prosodic structure in first language acquisition

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 117-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvan Rose
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Stages ◽  
First Language ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Phonological Development ◽  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Quebec French

In this paper, I discuss a number of relations that take place between melodic content and higher prosodic structure in first language phonological development. I explore acquisition patterns found in data on the acquisition of Québec French. Starting with the observation that prosodic structure and, more specifically, stressed syllables, play a central role in phonological acquisition, I hypothesize that the inter-relations between prosodic and segmental structure posited by formal models of phonological organisation should be witnessed within and across developmental stages. I support this hypothesis through two findings from the French data. First, complex onsets emerge in stressed syllables before unstressed ones. Second, different types of consonants (placeless versus place-specified) emerge in word-final position at different stages. From these observations, I argue that the phenomena observed in these data are best captured in an analysis based on constituent structure and relationships between feature specification and prosodic constituency, which are governed by universal markedness.

scholarly journals Woordvormingsprocédé's Bij Verwijzing Naar Objecten in Tweede-Taalverwervingsprocessen van Volwassenen

1988 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 105-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Broeder ◽  
Guus Extra
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Semantic Roles ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Nominal Compounds ◽  
Acquisition Processes

The following questions are taken into account: . what types of word formation principles are used by language learners? . what lexemes are combined in nominal compounds (N+N) and nomi-nal circumscriptions (N+prep+N)? . what semantic relations are expressed in nominal compounds? . what binding principles are taken into account? . what suffixes are used in derivational processes? . what semantic roles do these suffixes refer to? Data analysis is based on the use of L2 Dutch by 2 Turkish and 2 Moroccan adult informants in 2 types of activities (film commenting and conversation), at 3 different moments in the course of language learning (Ntotal=4 informants χ 2 activities χ 3 moments = 24 transcribed texts). In accordance with findings on first language acquisition processes, compounds not only precede derivations, but at the same time they compensate for standard derivations, thus resulting in lexical innova-tions. All informants make a creative and innovative use of a variety of compounding principles. In addition, opposite principles in Arabic and Turkish seem to lead to different preferences of our learners: . the Turkish informants make more use of different types of nominal compounds than do the Moroccan informants; . only the Turkish informants make more use of left oriented com-pounds, based on a combination of more than two lexemes; . only the Moroccan informants make use of circumscriptions. Finally, the following preferences of our learners are in accordance with standard language preferences: nominal compounds, in comparison with other types of compounding; . specifier head compounds, in comparison with other nominal com-pounds; . goal relations in specifier head compounds, in comparison with other types of semantic relations; . zero marking as a binding principle within specifier head com-pounds, in comparison with other binding principles.

Input-output effects in the bilingual first language acquisition of English and Polish

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorota Gaskins
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
First Language ◽  
Diary Study ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Closed Class ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Usage Rates ◽  
Social Words

Abstract This diary study looks at the acquisition of early words in two bilingual sisters (0;9–2;03.22 and 0;9–1;09.13) exposed to English and Polish from birth. It examines whether their parents’ input recorded on video can explain the proportions of different types of words learnt. Their bias for social words is explained by these words being heard in isolation; that for nouns by competitive proportions of noun types heard in the input. Contrarily, the late acquisition of closed-class items is explained by their high usage rates as part of constructions. Meanwhile, high numbers of early verbs in both children’s Polish are explained by inflected Polish verbs being heard (a) in isolation and (b) at the beginning and end of utterances more frequently than their uninflected English counterparts. These results are discussed within the context of the usage-based theory, with focus on the impact of word types for the acquisition of word groups.

Internal motivations and formal approaches

2020 ◽  
pp. 188-221
Author(s):  
Anne Breitbarth ◽  
Christopher Lucas ◽  
David Willis
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
First Language ◽  
Negative Polarity ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Creation

This chapter argues that, while the creation of indefinites from generic nouns is grammaticalization in the form of upwards reanalysis from N to R, the quantifier and free-choice cycles do not in fact constitute instances of grammaticalization. Indefinites restricted to stronger negative-polarity contexts are not more functional than indefinites licensed in weaker negative-polarity contexts. Rather, it is argued that implicational semantic features requiring roofing by different types of operators situated in the Q head of indefinites, and in particular the way they are acquired in first language acquisition, are responsible for the diachronic developments. Negative concord items arise through an acquisitional mechanism maximizing the number of agreement relations in the acquired grammar consistent with the primary linguistic data.

The acquisition of a second language phonology: Interaction of transfer and developmental factors

1982 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Frant Hecht ◽  
Randa Mulford
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
Relative Difficulty ◽  
Second Language Phonology ◽  
Developmental Factors ◽  
Phonological Knowledge ◽  
Naturalistic Setting ◽  
Child Learning

ABSTRACTThe acquisition of a second language phonology is examined with reference to two hypotheses: (1) the developmental position that second language phonology acquisition parallels first language acquisition versus (2) the transfer position that the learner’s phonological knowledge in the first language directly influences acquisition of a second language phonology. These two hypotheses are evaluated in light of data from a six-year-old Icelandic child learning English in a naturalistic setting, with particular emphasis on fricatives and affricates. This child’s phonological acquisition is best accounted for as a systematicinteractionbetween transfer from the first language and developmental processes. Transfer best predicts the relative difficulty of particular segments, while the developmental hypothesis best predicts which sounds will be substituted for those difficult segments.

scholarly journals Investigating First Language Acquisition of Indonesian Phonemes for Toddlers

Tamaddun ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-63
Author(s):  
Syahriah Madjid
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
First Language ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Middle Position ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Consonant Sounds

This paper describes the acquisition of Indonesian phones of 2.7-year-old children. Data is obtained through qualitative approaches with the aim of describing the facts of language that occur in language acquisition (phonemes) in children as is. The result obtained is that in children aged 2.7 years, all vocal sounds can be pronounced precisely both in the initial, middle and end positions of the word, while for consonant sounds there are still some that are not perfectly spoken. For example, phoneme /s/ if it is at the beginning and middle of the word is pronounced /c/, and at the end position is pronounced /s/. Same with consonsn /l/. This sound can be pronounced perfectly if it is in the starting and final position of the word, but if in the middle position the phoneme is not visible. The phoneme /r/ cannot be pronounced precisely at either the initial, middle or end position of the word.

scholarly journals The ubiquity of frequency effects in first language acquisition

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
BEN AMBRIDGE ◽  
EVAN KIDD ◽  
CAROLINE F. ROWLAND ◽  
ANNA L. THEAKSTON
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
First Language ◽  
Frequency Effect ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Thematic Role ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Different Types ◽  
As Effects ◽  
Theoretical Standpoint

ABSTRACTThis review article presents evidence for the claim that frequency effects are pervasive in children's first language acquisition, and hence constitute a phenomenon that any successful account must explain. The article is organized around four key domains of research: children's acquisition of single words, inflectional morphology, simple syntactic constructions, and more advanced constructions. In presenting this evidence, we develop five theses. (i) There exist different types of frequency effect, from effects at the level of concrete lexical strings to effects at the level of abstract cues to thematic-role assignment, as well as effects of both token and type, and absolute and relative, frequency. High-frequency forms are (ii) early acquired and (iii) prevent errors in contexts where they are the target, but also (iv) cause errors in contexts in which a competing lower-frequency form is the target. (v) Frequency effects interact with other factors (e.g. serial position, utterance length), and the patterning of these interactions is generally informative with regard to the nature of the learning mechanism. We conclude by arguing that any successful account of language acquisition, from whatever theoretical standpoint, must be frequency sensitive to the extent that it can explain the effects documented in this review, and outline some types of account that do and do not meet this criterion.

Infant-Directed Speech Effects in Adult Artificial Grammar Learning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krisztina Sára Lukics ◽  
Ágnes Lukács
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Artificial Grammar ◽  
Combined Effect ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Grammar Learning ◽  
Learning Rates

First language acquisition is facilitated by several characteristics of infant-directed speech, but we know little about their relative contribution to learning different aspects of language. We investigated infant-directed speech effects on the acquisition of a linear artificial grammar in two experiments. We examined the effect of incremental presentation of strings (starting small) and prosody (comparing monotonous, arbitrary and phrase prosody). Presenting shorter strings before longer ones led to higher learning rates compared to random presentation. Prosody marking phrases had a similar effect, yet, prosody without marking syntactic units did not facilitate learning. These studies were the first to test the starting small effect with a linear artificial grammar, and also the first to investigate the combined effect of starting small and prosody. Our results suggest that starting small and prosody facilitate the extraction of regularities from artificial linguistic stimuli, indicating they may play an important role in natural language acquisition.

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