APPLICATION OF LINGUISTICS WEEK 5, 6, 7 and 8- Second Language Aquisition. Course Notes: (173 Pages)

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SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION INTRODUCTION: INTERLANGUAGE • While second language speakers may not have a native speakerlike grammar, their languages still have grammar NATIVE PROFICIENCY VS. COMM ... UNICATIVE COMPETENCE NATIVE PROFICIENCY VS. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE Textual Competence: Sociolinguistic Competence Sociolinguistic Competence VARIATION IN PERFORMANCE Linguistic performance is in many ways the result of controlled and automatic processing INTERLANGUAGE GRAMMARS: PHONOLOGY Differences in phonological inventories result in accents MARKEDNESS DIFFERENTIAL HYPOTHESIS SIMILARITY DIFFERENTIAL RATE HYPOTHESIS L2 SYNTAX • Just like with phonology, L2 speakers need to adapt their syntactic structures to fit the L2 they are learning NULL SUBJECT PARAMETER Null Subject Parameter Null Subject Parameter Negative Evidence – absence of a particular structure in speech • E.g. a Spanish speaker will never encounter subject-less sentences DIRECT VS INDIRECT NEGATIVE EVIDENCE MORPHOLOGY • Recall the developmental order of morphemes in L1 acquisition: MORPHOLOGY • Recall the developmental order of morphemes in L1 acquisition: E.g. A speaker needs to consider both the subject and the verb in order to correctly mark the subject-verb agreement (hard) SOCIOLINGUISTICS What is Sociolinguistics? he study of language in society, more specifically the study of variation in language Variation in Language How do we define ‘language’? For many linguists (but not sociolinguists)… Actual use isn’t helpful, because it’s full of “noise” (false starts, etc.) The sociolinguistic perspective… • Empiricist How do we get “real language”? • Record people – Often, in sociolinguistic interviews “Language” often means the standard language – Language of school, formal writing – Often seen (by non-linguists) as more “correct Different language varieties or features are evaluated as “good” or “bad” by members of the society Do you recall the definition of what a dialect is? Differences between a language spoken in different areas are referred to as regional dialects In China, Mandarin is spoken in the northern province, and Cantonese in the southern province of Guangdong. Even though in spoken form, these language varieties are NOT mutually intelligible Dialects: varieties of language Characteristics of groups of speakers Pronunciation Variation Geographic variation: carbonated beverage Have you ever been in a situation where you were speaking to somebody with a different dialect or accent, and you just couldn’t understand each other? How did you deal with the situation? Features of women’s speech (according to Lakoff) g) Intensifiers like so (“It was soooo good!”) (h) Increased use of standard language forms (i) Super-polite forms (indirect requests, euphemisms) (j) Avoidance of strong swear words (k) Avoidance of interruptions g) Intensifiers like so (“It was soooo good!”) (h) Increased use of standard language forms (i) Super-polite forms (indirect requests, euphemisms) (j) Avoidance of strong swear words (k) Avoidance of interruptions TO ACQUIRE A LANGUAGE A CHILD NEEDS TO: TO ACQUIRE A LANGUAGE A CHILD NEEDS TO: “We are designed to walk…. That we are taught to walk is impossible. And pretty much the same is true of language. Nobody is taught language. In fact you can’t prevent the child from learning it.” -- Noam Chomsky Humans are genetically programmed with the capacity to acquire language. The ability to learn language is biologically linked to age. There is an ideal time window to acquire language in linguistically rich environment. After this period, language acquisition becomes difficult. The first few years of life is the crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language. LANGUAGE AND THE BRAIN Neurolinguistics: the field of study that looks at how language is represented and processed in the human brain arietal lobe: located behind central sulcus. Responsible for reading and sensation such as pain, temperature BROCA’S AND WERNICKE’S AREAS IMAGING THE LIVING BRAIN Computerized axial tomography (CT scanning): narrow beams of X-rays are used to take cross-sectional static images of the brain. This is useful for detecting lesions/tumors, but can’t detect dynamic activity. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): About 65 percent of the iron in the body is found in the blood, in the hemoglobin of red blood cells. Using magnetic fields, the fMRI maps the iron and blood flow within the brain. Magnetoencephalography (MEG): This technique is able to record even the smallest changes in the magnetic fields that the brain generates. These brain imaging techniques have given us detailed information about language processing in the brain HEMISPHERIC CONNECTIONS AND DISCONNECTIONS DICHOTIC LISTENING STUDIES SPLIT BRAIN STUDIES In order to study the role of the corpus callosum in the normal brain, studies examine patients who have had this connection Split brain experiments • These experiments show that language processing in the right hemisphere is mute for these patients SPLIT BRAIN STUDIES – NAMING OBJECTS Proudfoot, M., Woolrich, M. W., Nobre, A. C., & Turner, M. R. (2014). Magnetoencephalography. Practical neurology, 14(5), 336-343. Sedivy, J. (2014). Language in mind: An introduction to psycholinguistics. Sinauer Associates, Incorporated. Aphasia: loss of language ability due to brain damage • An aphasia can be caused by a stroke, brain infection, tumors in the brain, brain hemorrhage or blows to the head NON-FLUENT APHASIA Global aphasia is the most severe type of non-fluent aphasia, where the patient is completely unable to speak BROCA’S APHASIA VIDEO EXAMPLE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWC-cVQmEmY BROCA’S APHASIA A SYNTACTIC DISORDER? Fluent aphasia: brain damage to areas of the left hemisphere behind the central sulcus JARGON APHASIA • In more severe cases, known as jargon aphasia, Wernicke’s aphasics randomly select phonemes that follow the phonotactics of their language ACQUIRED DYSLEXIA AND DYSGRAPHIA Patients with phonological dyslexia can only read words that already exist in their vocabulary In surface dyslexia, patients cannot identify a word as a whole • The patient then has to use spelling-to-sound rules to process words LINGUISTIC THEORY AND APHASIA In the area of semantics, it has been shown that when patients read, they may swap words for other semantically related words • For example, if a text presents mother, the patient might produce father instead REFERENCES Videos courtesy of Tactus Therapy (https://tactustherapy.com/; https://www.youtube.com/tactustherapy) Aphasiac speech examples from: Lecture 18 - Brain and Language. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Fall_2000/ling001/neurology .html RECALL: SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Is there an optimal period for second language acquisition? • We will address these questions with help from the Critical Period Hypothesis CRITICAL PERIOD HYPOTHESIS REVISITED Instrumental Motivation: acquisition of L2 is done in pursuit of a specific goal or purpose • Integrative Motivation: acquisition of L2 is done in pursuit of knowledge about a specific culture Focus on Form: entails two distinctive practices - receiving instruction about the target language and explicit feedback when mistakes are made Reactive Focus on Form: the instructor comments on an error in speech production with constructive criticism MINORITY-LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM FRENCH IMMERSION PROGRAMS • In simplest terms, French Immersion focuses on speakers of a majority language (English) taking courses in French – the minority language DUAL LANGUAGE PROGRAMS • Dual Language programs are a type of hybrid between French immersion and minority language maintenance programs DUAL LANGUAGE PROGRAMS • Dual Language programs are a type of hybrid between French immersion and minority language maintenance programs [Show More]

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