Language Acquisition

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Language Acquisition Julien Musolino, Rutgers
University
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General goal
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• Give you a sense of the importance of the study
  of language acquisition and its place within
  cognitive science

• Step 1 Why language acquisition is interesting
  at all

• Step 2 Why language acquisition is central to
  cognitive science

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General outline
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• Part 1 Why LA is interesting

• Focus on the sociological problem faced by
  those who study language acquisition

• Emphasis here will be on simple but powerful
  analogies to highlight the core issues

• Make sure that everybody is on the same page

• This part will be less interactive, but more
  entertaining!

• Break

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General outline
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• Part 2 why LA is central to cognitive science

• Focus on the scientific problem posed by the
  study of language acquisition

• Emphasis here will be on a particular phenomenon
  and its implications for some of the disciplines
  that make up cognitive science (i.e., theoretical
  linguistics, developmental psychology, and
  speech-language pathology)

• This part will be less entertaining, but more
  interactive!

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The sociological problem
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Why study language acquisition?
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• Its a complete waste of time because the issues
  are trivial

• So there is really nothing to explain

• Language is simple, in fact so simple that it
  can be taught to an ape

• Therefore it can easily be taught to children

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The sociological problem
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• Most people vastly underestimate the complexity
  of language

• Most people do not realize that children arent
  taught language

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• Everybody has language (in some form)

• Language comes to us naturally and seemingly
  effortlessly

• You dont even have to be particularly
  intelligent or motivated

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• Not everybody can play chess

• Chess doesnt come to us naturally and
  effortlessly

• Youd better be intelligent and motivated

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Computers beat minds at chess
Kasparov vs. Deep Blue
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Computers are pathetic at language
Child vs. Computer
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A conversation with Eliza
Eliza Hello, I am Eliza. How can I help you?
J Could you tell me what a dog is?
Eliza Oh, I tell you what a dog is.
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A conversation with Eliza
J Yes, please.
Eliza You are sure?
J Yes, Im pretty sure.
Eliza You are sure?
J I said Yes!!!
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A conversation with Eliza
Eliza Could you elaborate on that?
J I just want you to tell me what a dog is.
Eliza Do you wish to just want me?
J Are you going to tell me or not?
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A conversation with Eliza
Eliza Would you prefer if I were not going to
tell you or not?
J You just dont understand a damn thing I say,
do you?
Eliza Oh, I
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Computers and language
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• Computers are terrible at language!

• And its not for lack of trying

- Loebner Prize
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Ulysses, 46 years old
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Julien This Troll has magic powers. Do you know
anybody else who has magic powers?
Ulysses The only two people I know who have
magic powers are God up there and the Power
Rangers on the cartoon channel
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Ulysses, 46 years old
_____________________________
Julien Does your nose grow when you tell lies?
Ulysses I never tell lies!
Julien Well, thats great Ulysses!!!
Ulysses See, I just told you a lie and my nose
didnt grow!
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Sarah, 52
_____________________________
Dr. M I am a Prince. If you marry me, youll
become a Princess
Sarah I dont want to get married!
Dr. M You dont want to get married ever??!!
Sarah Ill get married so that I can have kids.
Then Ill get divorced!
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Why study language acquisition?
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• Language is an extraordinarily complex system
  and children are so good at it.

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Why study language acquisition?
_____________________________

• Language is universal across the species

• Language is a species-specific trait

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A species-specific trait
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99 of our genes in common
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They certainly look like us
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But they dont have language
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Why study language acquisition?
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It is a very remarkable fact that there are none
without even excepting idiots, that cannot
arrange different words together, forming of them
a statement by which they make known their
thoughts while on the other hand, there is no
other animal, however perfect and fortunately
circumstanced it may be, which can do the same.
René Descartes, Discours de la Méthode
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Why study language acquisition?
_____________________________
It is a very remarkable fact that there are none
without even excepting idiots, that cannot
arrange different words together, forming of them
a statement by which they make known their
thoughts while on the other hand, there is no
other animal, however perfect and fortunately
circumstanced it may be, which can do the same.
René Descartes, Discours de la Méthode
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Why study language acquisition?
_____________________________
When we study human language, we are approaching
what some might call the human essence, the
distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as
we know, unique to man.   Noam Chomsky, Language
and Mind
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What makes language such a unique and complex
system?
Its the closest thing that we have to telepathy!
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(No Transcript)
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The power of language
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• Talk about things that happened 2000 years ago,
  that are happening now, or things that will
  happen in 20 years

• Talk about characters who only exist in our
  collective imagination

• Give you specific instructions on how to cook an
  elaborate meal

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Language allows us to convey a potentially
infinite number of thoughts
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Infinity
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Guinness book of Records longest English
sentence, 1,300 from William Faulkner novel
They both bore it as though in deliberate
flagellant exaltation
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Infinity
_____________________________
They both bore it as though in deliberate
flagellant exaltation
Faulkner wrote, They both bore it as though in
deliberate flagellant exaltation
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Infinity
_____________________________
Faulkner wrote, They both bore it as though in
deliberate flagellant exaltation
Musolino wrote that Faulkner wrote, They both
bore it as though in deliberate flagellant
exaltation
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Infinity
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Musolino wrote that Faulkner wrote, They both
bore it as though in deliberate flagellant
exaltation
Who cares that Musolino wrote that Faulkner
wrote, They both bore it as though in deliberate
flagellant exaltation
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Consequences of infinity
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You cant possibly have memorized all the
sentences of your language
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Consequences of infinity
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• 1030 sentences under 20 words

If you memorized 100 of these per minute
It would take you a billion trillion years to
memorize just 1 of this set
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However, you can
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• Understand sentences youve never heard before

• Produce sentences youve never uttered before

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Conclusion
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Then, there must be in your head a finite code or
set of rules that enables you to produce and
understand an infinite number of sentences.
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Analogy
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Back to language
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• The set of mental rules (i.e. the code) that
  enables us to produce and understand an infinite
  number of sentences is what linguists call a
  GRAMMAR.

• What linguists do is try to find out what the
  rules of grammar are.

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Distinction
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• Prescriptive rules of grammar

• Descriptive rules of grammar

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Prescriptive rules of grammar
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• Dont use aint
• Dont use double negatives
• Never end a sentence with a preposition
• Dont split infinitives

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Prescriptive Rules
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An arbitrary set of conventions dictating how
people should talk
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Descriptive Rules
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The rules that enable us to speak and understand
in the first place!
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Descriptive rules of grammar
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(1) John ate a sandwich
(2) John ate
(something)
(3) John grows tomatoes
(4) John grows
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These missionaries are _______ to eat.
(1) eager
(2) ready
(3) easy
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Descriptive rules of grammar
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The interpretation of pronouns
Pronouns he, she, her, him etc.
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Bill thinks that he is intelligent
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Rules
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Bill thinks that he is intelligent

• Pronouns seem to be able to freely refer to
  someone mentioned in the sentence or somebody
  else

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Homer
Bill
Bill promised Homer to pay him
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Homer
Bill
Bill persuaded Homer to pay him
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Analogy the rules of chess
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Analogy the rules of chess
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• You cant wear a hat while playing

• You cant chew gum while playing

• You have to wear a tag with your name on it

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Analogy the rules of chess
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• You move a pawn by

• You move a knight by

• If you want to castle you

• You win the game when

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Implicit (tacit) knowledge
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Why cant him refer to Homer in Bill persuaded
Homer to pay him?
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Why study language acquisition?
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Language acquisition is one of the most
important topics in cognitive science. Every
theory of cognition has tried to explain it It
is not hard to see why. Possessing a language is
the quintessentially human trait all normal
humans speak, no non-human animal does Every
time we speak, we are revealing something about
the nature of language, so the facts of language
structure are easy to come by facts that hint
at a system of extraordinary complexity.
Nonetheless, learning a first language is
something every normal child does successfully,
in a matter of a few years and without the need
for formal lessons
Steven Pinker