The Bilingual Advantage NYTimes

Here's an interesting interview with a rewnowned researcher in the area. Worth reading if you are into bilingualism.

Interview

Bilingualism and Language Acquisition

Getting acquainted with bilingualism and language acquisition

1) Book recommendation: The language instinct: how the mind creates language by Steven Pinker. There's a site about the book.

2) Article: Bilinguismo no Brasil: significado e expectativas by Marcello Marcelino.

notes from "Language Acquisition sessions"

The Critical Period Hypothesis

The facts of adult second language acquisition (L2A) contrast sharply with those of first language acquisition (L1A). Whereas the attainment of full linguistic competence is the birthright of all normal children, adults vary widely in their ultimate level of attainment, and linguistic competence comparable to that of native speakers is seldom attested. A reasonable explanation for the facts of L1A and L2A is given by the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH).

In its most succinct and theory-neutral formulation, the CPH states that there is a limited developmental period during which it is possible to acquire a language, be it L1 or L2, to normal, nativelike levels. Once this window of opportunity is passed, however, the ability to learn language declines.

Consistent with the CPH are the morphological and syntactic deficits of Genie, who was largely deprived of linguistic input and interaction until age 13 (Curtiss, 1977), as well as the desultory linguistic achievements of most adult L2 learners.
(Birdsong, 1999)

The Fundamental Difference Hypothesis

The difference in process and product of child, as opposed to adult, acquisition, is a topic that has been widely discussed and continuously debated, often in terms of the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis (Bley-Vroman 1989, 1990). This proposal claims that child L1A and adult L2A are essentially distinct in terms of initial state, process and outcome, and it suggests that the reason for this is the availability of UG for the former but not for the latter.

The adult/child difference is closely linked to a second hypothesis, that of the Critical Period (lenneberg 1967) proposing that first language acquisition is biologically determined to be inevitable, inexorable and chronologically delimited to a sensitive period (multiple critical ages) during the childhood years.

The proposal has spawned ample investigation and controversy between those claiming adult L2A to be abject failure and those pointing to adults who gain native-like proficiency.

(Herschensohn, 2000)

O Aprendizado de um segundo idioma (Natura)

"O aprendizado de um segundo idioma" é o título de uma entrevista que eu dei à Natura há algumas semanas. Segue o link para quem quiser ouvir.

http://www.sustentabilidade.natura.net/2010/09/23/o-aprendizado-de-um-segundo-idioma/

Notes from the course Bilingualism and Language Acquisition

Principles and Parameters - A linguistic Theory of Language Acquisition

Principles: apply to all languages and do not vary from one language to another. They reflect the nature of our minds.

Parameters: vary from one language to another, but only within certain limits

Principle:
“Every sentence has a subject”
x FALL
x KISS y
x PUT y, z
Parameter:
The subject may/may not be NULL.

Principle:
“Every head (nucleus) is responsible for selecting the participants in a grammatical relation”
Preposition, verb, tense, inflection
Parameter:
HEAD+complement or complement+HEAD?

Language Acquisition
When the child learns that (N N)/(N N N) is possible in the language, the followng structures follow:
Phrasal verbs
Preposition stranding
Double objects
Resultative structures

Language Acquisition and Bilingualism

THE CHOMSKYAN PERSPECTIVE ON LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Marcello Marcelino

1. The Modularity Hypothesis
. The modules and interfaces.
. the modules that are connected to language.
. The sensorimotor and the perceptual articulatory.

2. Breaking down the Chomskyan perspective on language acquisition.
. Language as an organ.
. the role of the environment.
. analogy with walking and vision.

3. Language Acquisition
. The Principles and Parameters Theory (PPT)
. descriptive adequacy
. explanatory adequacy

Suggested reading:

CHOMSKY, N. (1997) Chomsky no Brasil. D.E.L.T.A. Edição Bilingüe. Vol.13 – No. Especial. EDUC.

CRAIN, S. & LILLO-MARTIN, D. (1999) An Introduction to Linguistic Theory and Language Acquisition. Blackwell.

FIGUEIREDO, M.C. (1996) A Posição Sujeito no Português Brasileiro – Frases Finitas e Infinitivas. Editora da UNICAMP

KATO, M. & ROBERTS, I. (orgs.) (1996) Português Brasileiro – Uma Viagem Diacrônica. 2ª Edição. Editora da UNICAMP.

MARCELINO, M. (2007) O Parâmetro de Composição e a Aquisição/Aprendizagem de L2. Tese de doutorado. UNICAMP.

PINKER, S. (1995) The Language Instict: How the Mind Creates Language. Harper Perenial, New York.

Language Acquisition and Bilingualism - notes from day 1

For the students that are taking this course, here are some of the slides I presented you with. Note that some of the sentences are not meant to be correct and definite, some are simply topics that we discussed in class. For example, where it reads "a native speaker is someone who understands 100% of the message," one should know that this is not true, it is just an assumption that people make and that we can dispute.


Nativeness
— What is a native speaker?
— How do you know somebody is not a native speaker?
— Do you know of anyone in your linguistic community that hasn’t become a native speaker?
— Do we learn our native language through imitation?
— Where do you stand when you learn a foreign language?

Native speaker
— Someone who “knows” the grammar of a language as it is shared by their community.
— Someone who understands 100% of the message given in their language.
— Someone who is usually able to predict parts of the message even before it is finished.


— Everybody seems to learn a first language, independently of their level of intelligence.
— A foreign speaker is someone who has a foreign accent, has “flaws” speaking an L2, and doesn’t “know” the grammar rules of an L2.
— Do we think in a particular language?


Idiosyncratic knowledge
— All is fair in love and war
— Speak now or forever hold you peace
— I will love you forever and a day
— She’s blind as a bat
— He’s strong as an ox
— He drinks like a fish
— She’s stubborn as a mule
— He’s happy like a dog with two tails
— She’s ugly as (homemade sin)
— He’s thin as a rail
— You take the horse to the water but you can’t make it drink
— (comment about unwanted guests)
— My guests are eating me out of house and home
— She’s quiet as a mouse
— She’s flat as a pancake
— I’ve got to pee like a race horse
— It is plain as the nose on your face
— It is serious as a heart attack
— It’s clear as a bell

In your native language you can predict, reconstruct, understand, retell and interpret with relative ease.

Language Acquisition
— The child develops a native language by extracting from the environment information to construct a grammar of his/her language:
— SVO – I ate the cake (English W.O.)
— SOV – I the cake ate (Japanese W.O.)

2nd Language Acquisition
— - Reconstruction does not follow naturally.
— - Predicting vocabulary and expressions is much more limited.