What is Language

Acquisition?
The process of attaining a specific
variant of human language.
The process of learning a native or a
second language.

WhatisCognitiveScience?
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?

HowareLanguageAcquisition,
Representation,&Processing
Related?

HowareLanguageAcquisition,
Representation,&Processing
Related?
Language is acquired

HowareLanguageAcquisition,
Representation,&Processing
Related?
Language is acquired

Acquisition
leads to a set of
representations

HowareLanguageAcquisition,
Representation,&Processing
Related?
Language is acquired

Acquisition
leads to a set of
representations

Language use is the

processing of these
representations

Language Acquisition
Major 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
Initialcontact,selectionofalexicalentry,
wordrecognition/lexicalaccess,integration
Cohortmodel(MarslenWilson,1973,1975)
Accessstage>cohortofitems
Selectionstage>oneitemchosen
Integrationstage>syntax,semantics

Spokenwordrecognition:
Anexample
/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!!!

VisualWordRecognition
Methods/Findings
Semanticpriming
Nurse
Doctor
respondyes
Butter
Doctor
respondyes,butmoreslowly

VisualWordRecognition
Methods/Findings
Wordfrequencyeffects
yearversuspermutation
rainversuspuddle
relatedeffects: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

ModelsofLanguageProduction
Dualroutemodel(revised)
Nonlexicalroute(GP)
Nonsemanticroute(OP)
Lexicalsemanticroute(GLSP)

Connectionistmodel
SimilartoIAmodelofwordrecognition
Learnsbyassociatingphonologyandorthography
Patternsofactivation

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
Whatisaconcept?
Isthereanysuchthing?

Things I Havent Covered

Languageandthought
Structureofthelanguagesystem
Speechperception
Languagedisorders
Discourseprocessing
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

languagesBIA model
Relative activation of the two languages
BIMOLA and IC models

My Own Work
Bilingualism
Conceptrepresentation
Concepttypes,learningenvironments

Ambiguityresolution
Numberoftranslations,numberofmeanings

Structureofthememoryrepresentations
Towhatextentarethetwolanguagesconnected?

My Own Work
SecondLanguageAcquisition
Stagesatwhichdistinctionsarelearned
IstheL1grammaralwaysactive?
Howarethesemanticsdifferentiated?

Interrelation among the two

languages, especially at the
conceptual level
Are concepts shared by the bilinguals
two languages?
Is there an easy answer??? Fully versus
partially shared semantics

WordAssociationModel
(Potteretal.,1984)
IMAGES
L1

L2

CONCEPTS

L1=First Language
L2=Second Language

ConceptMediationModel
(Potteretal.,1984)

IMAGES
L1

L2

CONCEPTS

L1=First Language
L2=Second Language

RevisedHierarchicalModel
(Kroll&Stewart,1994)
lexical
links

L2

L1
conceptual
links

conceptual
links

concepts

L1=First Language
L2=Second Language

DistributedFeatureModel
(DeGroot,1992)

Concrete Words

L1

lexical
level

L2

conceptual
level

L1

Abstract Words

lexical
level

L2

conceptual
level
L1 = First Language
L2 = Second Language

DistributedRepresentationModel
(VanHell,1998)
lexical

conceptual

wraak

....

....

....

....

revenge

....

....

....

....

boosheid

....

....

....

....

anger

....

....

....

....

lexical

conceptual

rok

....

....

....

....

skirt

....

....

....

....

jurk

....

....

....

....

dress

....

....

....

....

lexical

conceptual

appel

....

....

....

....

apple

....

....

....

....

peer

....

....

....

pear

....

....

....

....
....

Number of Translations
Dutch word

English
word

One Translation
voordeel
Synonym translation 1
herfst

advantage
autumn

Synonym translation 2

fall

Meaning translation 1

message
boodschap

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)?