CLD 206 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Foxp2, Noam Chomsky, Baby Talk
6 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Two interactionist theories: cognitive interactionist, social interactionist. Focuses on observable and measureable aspects of language behaviour. Avoids discussion of mental, internal processes involved in language acquisition. Does not deny the existence of mental, internal processes. Claims that language is like any other behavior: key phrase, say what i say! , the nature of language, language is just another behavior , language happens due to 3 learning principles. Internal structural are acknowledged but the focus is on. Functionalism or the context and the situation in which utterances occur: performance actual language use. The focus is on the performance: actual language use which is observable and measureable: empiricism environment, external factors. No attention to internal structures to explain language acquisition. The focus is on environmental agents (parents) who train and tutor children to speak: evaluation of the behaviorist theory, supporting evidence. The environment is important in the child"s language learning. Behaviorist training has helped children with limited verbal ability learn language skills.
