What is Language Acquisition?

• The process of attaining a specific variant of human language.

• The process of learning a native or a second language.

What is Cognitive Science?

• The multi-disciplinary approach to the study of the mind, including– Adult and developmental psychology– Philosophy– Linguistics– Anthropology– Neuropsychology– Artificial intelligence– Psycholinguisics

What is Language?

• a system of symbols and rules that enable us to communicate

• a symbolic code used in communication

• the systematic, meaningful arrangement of symbols

Language Acquisition, Representation, &

Processing• Language acquisition

– How is language acquired or learned?

• Language representation– How are the symbols of language

represented in memory?

• Language processing– What factors influence the processing of

language?

How are Language Acquisition, Representation, & Processing

Related?

How are Language Acquisition, Representation, & Processing

Related?

Language is acquired

How are Language Acquisition, Representation, & Processing

Related?

Language is acquired

Acquisition leads to a set of representations

How are Language Acquisition, Representation, & Processing

Related?

Language is acquired

Acquisition leads to a set of representations

Language use is the processing of these representations

Language AcquisitionMajor Issues

First language acquisition

• How does our general intelligence interact with our biological predispositions?

• How do we learn our native language? What are the stages this process follows?

• How do failures in this process occur?

Language Acquisition

Language Development

• Phonological development

• Semantic development

• Syntactic development and syntactic categories

Language Acquisition

Second language acquisition

• Factors that affect our chances of learning L2:– Individual differences– Age of acquisition effects– Environment of learning– Style of instruction--conejo is “rabbit” or

• Stages of second language acquisition

Language Processing

Language Comprehension

• Lexical ambiguity resolution– “spade”

• Syntactic ambiguity resolution– “fly”

• Imageability and other word-specific factors– “table” versus “freedom”

• Context effects--autonomous or interactive?

Spoken Word Recognition Models

• Initial contact, selection of a lexical entry, word recognition/lexical access, integration

• Cohort model (Marslen-Wilson, 1973, 1975)

Access stage--> cohort of items

Selection stage--> one item chosen

Integration stage--> syntax, semantics

Spoken word recognition: An example

• /d/dog, dirt, dry, dries, drive, drip, dumb, desk

• /dr/dry, dries, drive, drip

• /dry/dry, dries, drive, driving, driver

• /drive/drive, driving, driver

• /drivi-/DRIVING!!!

Visual Word Recognition Methods/Findings

• Semantic priming

NurseDoctor

--respond “yes”

ButterDoctor

--respond “yes”, but more slowly

Visual Word Recognition Methods/Findings

• Word frequency effects

– “year” versus “permutation”

– “rain” versus “puddle”

related effects: familiarity

Visual Word Recognition Models

• Logogen Model

– Logogens for each word– Accumulate evidence passively until

threshold– Perceptual & contextual evidence raise

activation– Lower thresholds for more frequent

words

Visual Word Recognition Models

• Interactive-Activation Model

– Accounts for the “word superiority effect”

– Visual features, letters, words– Facilitatory and inhibitory connections

• “T” excites “take” but inhibits “cake”

– Lateral inhibition– Parallel activation of all links

Language Processing

Language Production

• Lexicalization--stages of processing– Lemma selection– Word form (lexeme) retrieval

• Phonological specification

• Speech errors– Syntactic planning--how far ahead?

• Aphasias

Models of Language Production

• Dual-route model (revised)– Non-lexical route (G-P)

– Non-semantic route (O-P)

– Lexical-semantic route (G-L-S-P)

• Connectionist model– Similar to IA model of word recognition

– Learns by associating phonology and orthography

– Patterns of activation

Individual Differences

• Do individual differences determine the activation of multiple meanings of ambiguous words (especially the irrelevant ones)?

• What is the influence of verbal ability and working memory on syntactic processing?

Language Representation

• What is a concept?

• Is there any such thing?

Things I Haven’t Covered

• Language and thought

• Structure of the language system

• Speech perception

• Language disorders

• Discourse processing

• Reading

• Orthographic (e.g., neighborhood) effects

Bilingualism Defined

• Bilingualism is the ability to master the use of two languages, and multilingualism is the ability to master the use of more than two languages. Although bilingualism is relatively rare among native speakers of English, in many parts of the world it is the standard rather than the exception. For example, more than half the population of Papua New Guinea is functionally competent in both an indigenous language and Tok Pisin. People in many parts of the country have mastered two or more indigenous languages. Bilingualism and multilingualism often involve different degrees of competence in the languages involved. A person may control one language better than another, or a person might have mastered the different languages better for different purposes, using one language for speaking, for example, and another for writing.

Consequences of Bilingualism

• Interrelation among the two languages—RHM– Language dominance issue

• Selectivity of activation in the two languages—BIA model

• Relative activation of the two languages—BIMOLA and IC models

My Own Work

• Bilingualism– Concept representation

• Concept types, learning environments

– Ambiguity resolution• Number of translations, number of meanings

– Structure of the memory representations• To what extent are the two languages connected?

My Own Work

• Second Language Acquisition– Stages at which distinctions are learned

– Is the L1 grammar always active?

– How are the semantics differentiated?

Interrelation among the two languages, especially at the

conceptual level

• Are concepts shared by the bilingual’s two languages?

• Is there an easy answer??? Fully versus partially shared semantics

Word Association Model(Potter et al., 1984)

L1 L2IMAGES

CONCEPTS L1=First Language L2=Second Language

Concept Mediation Model(Potter et al., 1984)

L1 L2IMAGES

CONCEPTSL1=First Language L2=Second Language

Revised Hierarchical Model(Kroll & Stewart, 1994)

L1 L2

concepts

lexical

links

conceptuallinks

conceptuallinks

L1=First Language L2=Second Language

Distributed Feature Model(De Groot, 1992)

L1 lexical level

conceptual level

lexical level

conceptual level

Concrete Words

Abstract WordsL1 L2

L2

L1 = First Language L2 = Second Language

Distributed Representation Model (Van Hell, 1998)

.... ........ ....

.... ........ ....

.... ........ ....

.... ........ ....

.... ........ ....

.... ........ ....

.... ........ ....

.... ........ ....

revenge

anger

boosheid

lexical conceptual

lexical conceptual

skirt

dress

jurk

rok

wraak

.... ........ ....

.... ........ ....

.... ........ ....

.... ........ ....

apple

pear

peer

lexical conceptual

appel

Number of Translations

Dutch word English word

One Translation voordeel advantage

Synonym translation 1

herfst

autumn

Synonym translation 2 fall

Meaning translation 1

boodschap

message

Meaning translation 2 errand

Relative activation of the two languages and selectivity of

activation• Can one language ever be fully

turned off?• Is L1 grammar always active?• Can L2 become the more dominant

language?• What factors influence the relative

activation of the two languages (individual and contextual)?