Phenomenon Of Language Acquisition Research Articles

Sociological Implications of the Acquisition of the Fante Language by Northern Ghanaian Immigrants in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis

The phenomenon of language acquisition among immigrant populations carries significant sociological implications, particularly in multicultural societies where linguistic diversity is prevalent. There are lots of northern Ghanaian immigrants living and working in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis. The acquisition of the Fante language by the immigrants presents interesting socio-linguistic ramifications worthy of scholarly attention. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews, which were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data was processed using atlas and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. The study concluded that immigrants who worked in the markets or stayed in Effiakuma acquired the language faster than those who worked in the formal sector where interaction was largely done in English. Also, the paper concluded with the observation that there are acquisition challenges with the Fante language; and that there is some sociological importance of the language to the immigrants which include commercial, security, amorous relationship and liturgical needs. It was recommended that the Sekondi Takoradi Municipality implement language learning programs specifically tailored to northern Ghanaian immigrants in Effiakuma, focusing on teaching them the Fante language. These programs should be easily accessible and provide comprehensive language instruction to enhance social integration, economic opportunities, cultural preservation, and personal security for the immigrants
 
 Received: 19 February 2023 / Accepted: 27 December 2023 / Published: 5 January 2024

Grammatical polysemy and grammaticalization in cognitive and generative perspectives: finding common ground in inter-generational corpora of ancient languages

Cognitive and generative approaches to linguistics have taken a different perspective on grammatical polysemy and grammaticalization. While the former see polysemy as a core characteristic of language and a necessary result of grammaticalization within idiolects, the latter see it as a less interesting phenomenon peripheral to linguistics proper. Grammaticalization is seen as a phenomenon of language acquisition which does not disturb the homogeneity of idiolects. These differing perspectives have generated much debate between the two approaches and are even in large part responsible for the different programmatic focuses of each. While the disagreement over grammatical polysemy between these two approaches to language is rooted in entrenched commitments on each side that are perhaps irreconcilable, at least some common ground does seem to be possible. Specifically, when it comes to intergenerational corpora, it seems that both cognitive and generative approaches to linguistics can agree that the universal phenomenon of grammaticalization would result in polysemy at least at the language community level. This can serve as a common ground on which both generative and cognitive linguists can join efforts in describing and explaining usage profiles of grammatically polysemous forms at the corpus level according to prototypicality, even if disagreement persists on the nature of the idiolect.

Language acquisition is model-based rather than model-free.

Christiansen & Chater (C&C) propose that learning language is learning to process language. However, we believe that the general-purpose prediction mechanism they propose is insufficient to account for many phenomena in language acquisition. We argue from theoretical considerations and empirical evidence that many acquisition tasks are model-based, and that different acquisition tasks require different, specialized models.

Apt to change: The problematic of language awareness and language aptitude in age-related research

Language awareness and language aptitude often crop up in discussion of various second language acquisition phenomena, including age-related phenomena. There is a troublesome and ongoing definitional and theoretical problem in this connection: Different researchers have different perspectives on what is to be included in the respective notions; on how do to measure language awareness, on the one hand, and language aptitude, on the other; and on how or whether to differentiate the two constructs in terms of innateness versus experience. This article begins by addressing the entire problematic of the conceptualization of language awareness and language aptitude. The language awareness/aptitude issue features in the maturational debate in connection with two claims. First, it is discussed in relation to the view that second-language (L2) learning of older individuals is explicit (whereas that of younger individuals is implicit). Second, it is referred to in regard to the notion that there are older L2 learners who appear to be able to “beat” the critical period thanks to high levels of language aptitude. The article critically explores both these propositions and concludes that neither is particularly safe, especially given the uncertain state of the relevant research context.

Modeling the Developmental Patterning of Finiteness Marking in English, Dutch, German, and Spanish Using MOSAIC

In this study, we apply MOSAIC (model of syntax acquisition in children) to the simulation of the developmental patterning of children's optional infinitive (OI) errors in 4 languages: English, Dutch, German, and Spanish. MOSAIC, which has already simulated this phenomenon in Dutch and English, now implements a learning mechanism that better reflects the theoretical assumptions underlying it, as well as a chunking mechanism that results in frequent phrases being treated as 1 unit. Using 1, identical model that learns from child-directed speech, we obtain a close quantitative fit to the data from all 4 languages despite there being considerable cross-linguistic and developmental variation in the OI phenomenon. MOSAIC successfully simulates the difference between Spanish (a pro-drop language in which OI errors are virtually absent) and obligatory subject languages that do display the OI phenomenon. It also highlights differences in the OI phenomenon across German and Dutch, 2 closely related languages whose grammar is virtually identical with respect to the relation between finiteness and verb placement. Taken together, these results suggest that (a) cross-linguistic differences in the rates at which children produce OIs are graded, quantitative differences that closely reflect the statistical properties of the input they are exposed to and (b) theories of syntax acquisition need to consider more closely the role of input characteristics as determinants of quantitative differences in the cross-linguistic patterning of phenomena in language acquisition.

The Acquisition of Verb Placement: Functional Categories and V2 Phenomena in Language Acquisition

Functional categories and verb placement in language development, J.M. Meisel the acquisition of the morphosyntax of finite verbs in English, A. Radford functional categories and early Swedish, C. Platzack accessing functional categories in Sesotho - interactions at the morpho-syntax interface, K. Demuth finiteness and verb placement in early child grammars - evidence from simultaneous acquisition of French and German in bilinguals, J.M. Meisel and N. Mueller language acquisition and competing linguistic representations - the child as arbiter, I. Gawlitzek-Maiwald et al the acquisition of agreement morphology and its syntactic consequences - new evidence on German child language from the Simone-Corpus, H. Clahsen and M. Penke verb movement, agreement, and tense in L2 acquisition, L. Eubank the ban on parameter resetting, default mechanisms, and the acquisition of V2 in Bernese Swiss German, Z. Penner routes to verb placement in early German and French - the independence of finiteness and agreement, M. Verrips, J. Weissenborn from the initial state to V2 - acquisition principles in action, T. Roeper the genesis of clausal structure, N. Hyams categories of first syntax, Be, Be+ing, and nothingness, V. Valian on the acquisition of functional categories - a general commentary, J. De Villiers.

Jurgen M. Meisel (ed.), The Acquisition of Verb Placement: Functional Categories and V2 Phenomena in Language Acquisition, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992, vi+454 pp.

Jurgen M. Meisel (ed.), The Acquisition of Verb Placement: Functional Categories and V2 Phenomena in Language Acquisition, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992, vi+454 pp.

Yes, I don't understand: Yes, no and European-Polynesian miscommunication in New Zealand

Discussions by non-linguists of causes of miscommunication between New Zealanders of European and Polynesian origin have highlighted a number of apparent linguistic causes. The most frequently reiterated claims are that miscommunication arises from differences in the use of yes and no in response to questions of various kinds, especially questions containing negatives. These claims are evaluated with reference to conversational and courtroom data. The specific claims are not confirmed, although related phenomena are found to occur. Yes and no can be ambiguous following questions containing negatives, but the problematic question forms are negative declaratives and mixed-polarity complex forms. Such ambiguous yes's and no's are used by European native English speakers as well as Polynesian second-language speakers of English, and the problem is usually easily repaired. The main problem for Polynesian second-language speakers appearing in court was found to be a general one of difficulty comprehending the lawyer's questions. The main problem with yes and no is that they disguise misinterpretations and failures of comprehension. Whether or not the ‘negative question problem’ is a major cause of miscommunication, it is widely accepted as such in New Zealand, and can be considered to be a stereotype about European-Polynesian communication. Possible reasons for the development of this stereotype are put forward. Consideration is given to the more general question of how instances of European-Polynesian miscommunication can be explained, and it is argued that explanations need to go beyond a focus on systematic differences between first languages or between varieties of English. It is necessary to take into account the social and cultural context of communication, second language acquisition phenomena, performance factors, and psycholinguistic processes, particularly comprehension.

Current Studies in Spanish Linguistics

In this invited volume, experts in Spanish linguistics who subscribe to the thory of Universal Grammar, along with the editors, approach the general applicability of this model from the perspectives of their subdisciplines: language acquisition, syntax, semantics, phonology, and morphology. Their research points to the verification of the Chomskyian linguistic theory as a general framework for explaining phenomena in language acquisition and use - and, more generally, to the possible development of a model of mind based on linguistic theory. Current Studies in Spanish Linguistics will interest all specialists in Spanish and theoretical linguistics, as well as those interested in cognitive science, psychology, philosophy of mind, and artificial intelligence.

Language acquisition: Studies in first language development Edited by Paul Fletcher and Michael Garman (review)

470LANGUAGE, VOLUME 58, NUMBER 2 (1982) guistics.) Wanner & Maratsos also provide processing evidence that fits the notion of WH-movement . Their evidence needs to be reckoned with in whatever theory emerges as best. The notion of a hold mechanism (where one puts who in Who did you see? before knowing what role it plays) is obviously a useful concept. Halle's masterful paper emphasizes the notion of unconscious knowledge revealed by the analysis of phonology. He equates physical mechanisms and phonological principles in his discussion . Things might, of course, be radically different; the knowledge of sounds might be represented in ways that allow more than one physical representation. However, if an isomorphism exists between an abstract system and its putative mechanical realization in phonology, this is an auspicious sign for syntactic research in psycholinguistics. Altogether, the lessons which psycholinguistics can learn from phonology are not given as much emphasis as they deserve in a volume of this kind. A final word: although each of these papers is enmeshed in a particular research program, they nonetheless give us a rich and stimulating sense of the 'state of the art'. REFERENCES Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on binding and government. Dordrecht: Foris. Fodor, Jerry A. 1975. The language of thought. New York: Crowell. Weinberg, A., and R. Berwick. 1981. Parsing efficiency, computational complexity, and the evaluation of grammatical theories. MIT, ms. [Received 4 August 1981.] Language acquisition: Studies in first language development. Edited by Paul Fletcher and Michael Garman. Cambridge: University Press, 1979. Pp. xi, 508. Cloth $49.50, paper $14.95. Reviewed by N. V. Smith, University College London* It is useful to make explicit the distinction between 'language acquisition'— the transition, often idealized to instantaneity, from infantile ignorance to the adult's knowledge of his language—and 'language development', referring to the stages through which the individual passes in his progress from the 'initial state' to the final 'steady state' (in the sense of Chomsky 1980b, e.g. p. 9). The phenomenon of language acquisition has been of fundamental importance in the development of generative grammar because of the complexity of the final steady state: the set (of sets) of rules characterizing a speaker's competence is sufficiently great to warrant interesting innatist speculations on the nature ofthe initial state. Specifically, the subtlety and sophistication of thejudgments of which the adult is capable are too great to be accounted for by any currently available learning theory on the basis of the putative input to the child; one therefore seems to be justified in ascribing to the neonate a rich theory of grammar which determines the growth of his language ability as he matures. Viewed in this way, language acquisition is simply a fact which requires explanation—a fact which lends support to an innatist account to the extent that plausible alternative explanations are lacking. Language development is * I am grateful to Maria Black for her comments on a draft of this review. REVIEWS471 then of interest on any of a number of counts: (a)By showing how children progress to the final steady state, it can provide evidence for the correct characterization ofthat state—and, by extension, the initial state before children's exposure to language. For instance, the co-occurrence of both agentive and agentless passives can be described in a number of different ways; however, the widely-noted development of agentless passives before agentive ones is described more economically as a simple progression from a PS rule of the form A —» XY to one of the form A —» XY(Z) than as, say, the transition to optionality of a previously obligatory transformation. It must, however, be emphasized that both analyses are compatible with the data (as are indefinitely many others): there is no necessary reason to assume a direct relationship between the rules of one's internalized grammar and the utterances which one produces by reference to those rules. In the artificially simplified juxtaposition ofjust these two possibilities, it is clear that one is supported by the developmental facts in a way that the other is not, so the relevance of developmental considerations to the final grammar can be established in principle. (b)It is an open question whether...