PSYC 3506 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Unimodality, Language Acquisition Device, Critical Period

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 3506
• Professor: Deepthi Kamawar

Document Summary

There is a basic design underlying the grammars of all human languages, and this design is innate. Poverty of the stimulus argument (from cook, 1991): Step a: a native speaker of a particular language knows a particular aspect of syntax . Step b: this aspect of syntax could not have been acquired from the language input typically available to children. Step c: we conclude that this aspect of syntax is not learnt from outside. Step d: we deduce that this aspect of syntax is built into the mind. Thus, language acquisition is seen more as maturation than as learning. One possibility: something about language learning is innate (e. g. , timing) Some evidence from l2 studies (e. g. , johnson & newport, There is a significant effect of the age of exposure to spoken language in relation to the degree to which you master the language completely in comparison to a native speaker.