Professor: Ann Senghas
Office: 415G Milbank
Phone: 854-0115
Email: asenghas@barnard.edu
Office hours: TBA

Textbook and readings

Erika Hoff, Language Development, 2^nd Ed.  Brooks/Cole, 2001
(Available at Labyrinth bookstore, 526 West 112th Street)

Selected articles from the research literature (On reserve in the library)

Full Description of the Course

Language is central to the human experience.  It arises in all cultures, and can be learned effortlessly by any child.  In fact, children can't resist it  -- deprive them of language, and they will invent their own.  Oddly, we lose this ability to learn language as we age, even though other mental skills improve.  The structure of languages, and the way they are learned, reflect the intricate organizational power of the mind of the human child.

This is a seminar on the acquisition of a first language by children.  We will discuss the acquisition of the sounds of language, the meaning of language, and the structure of phrases and sentences.  Although much of the literature on language development involves the acquisition of English, we will also examine, wherever possible, the acquisition of other spoken languages, as well as the acquisition of sign languages.  We will discuss both the process of acquisition and the competing theoretical explanations of that process.  Particular emphasis will be placed on discovering the mechanisms children possess that enable them to learn language, and the resulting impact of those mechanisms on languages themselves.

Course format and expectations

Discussions: The first three classes will provide a foundation in linguistic structure, and will consist of an explanatory session led by the instructor followed by group exercises. During the six weeks that follow, we will discuss the topics listed below.  All members of the seminar will read the chapter and articles listed, and will post a proposed discussion question or reaction to the class bulletin board by the Friday preceding class.  Each meeting will be led by two or three members of the seminar, who will begin with a brief summary of the articles assigned, and then present to the group a set of questions (drawn from the postings to the bulletin board) designed to facilitate a discussion of the central issues in the readings.  They will then post a summary of the class discussion to the bulletin board before the next class meeting. Each member is expected to take at least one turn as discussion leader.

Presentations:  During the final four weeks of class, we will turn to current controversies in the field of language development.  At each meeting, we will hear presentations on two of the controversial topics listed below.  Note that each topic in the list is followed by an article from the primary research literature.  The article presents either an early perspective of the topic, or one view in a polarized debate.  For each topic, two co-presenters are responsible for seeking out other readings from the current literature that complement the assigned reading.  They will then give a presentation of the controversy to the group, and take questions from the group.  Each member is expected to take a turn as a co-presenter.  Copies of the additional readings should be given to the instructor BEFORE the class meeting that is a week prior to the relevant meeting, so they can be made available to the rest of the group.  Student-initiated topics will be enthusiastically considered in lieu of the suggested topics; a few additional alternatives are suggested at the bottom of the syllabus.

Papers:  Individual research papers will provide students with an opportunity to discuss their chosen controversial topic in more detail. Abstracts and proposed bibliographies will be due early in the semester.  The reference articles should be selected from primary published scientific sources.  First drafts are due a week before the in-class presentation.  You will then have an opportunity to revise your papers before turning in the final draft by the last week of class.  The format of the papers should follow the guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.  Note that while the in-class presentations are collaborative, research papers should be written independently.

Grading:  Grades will be based on the facilitation of the group discussion (20%), the presentation of a current controversial topic (20%), weekly class participation and preparation (20%), the abstract and first draft (10%) and the final version of the paper (30%).

Course Schedule

Week 1

Introduction, course overview

Foundations in Morphology

Hoff, Chapter 1.

Distributed notes.

Foundations in Syntax

Fromkin, V. & Rodman, R. (1998) An Introduction to Language, sixth edition.  New York: Harcourt Brace. 105-156.

Pinker, S. (1994) The Language Instinct. New York: Morrow. 262-296.

SELECTION OF CLASS DISCUSSION LEADERS FOR WEEKS 5-9

Foundations in Phonology

Fromkin, V. & Rodman, R. (1998) An Introduction to Language, sixth edition.  New York: Harcourt Brace. 253-314.

Distributed notes.

Learning the sounds of language

Hoff, Chapter 3

Eimas, P. D., Siqueland, E. R., Jusczyk, P., Vigorito, J. (1971) Speech perception in infants. Science, 171, 303-306.

Petitto, L. A., Marentette, P. F. (1991) Babbling in the manual mode: evidence for the ontogeny of language. Science, 251, 1493-6.

Werker, J. F., and Polka, L. (1993). Developmental changes in speech perception: New challenges and new directions. Journal of Phonetics, 21, 83-101.

Week 6

Lexical Development: Learning Words

Hoff, Chapter 4
Markman, E., (1990) Constraints children place on word meanings.  Cognitive Science, 14.
Gleitman, L. R., & Gleitman, H. (1992) A picture is worth a thousand words, but that’s the problem: The role of syntax in vocabulary acquisition.  Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1,1, 31-35.
Saffran, J. R., Aslin, R.N., & Newport, E. L. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month old infants. Science, 274, 1926-1928.

PAPER & PRESENTATION TOPICS DUE

Week 7

Complex words and phrases: Learning structure

Hoff, Chapter 5
Bloom, L. (1973) Why not pivot grammar? In Ferguson, C. A. and Slobin, D. I. (eds.) Studies of Child Language Development, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Slobin, D. (1973) Cognitive prerequisites for the development of grammar. In Ferguson, C. A. and Slobin, D. I. (eds.) Studies of Child Language Development, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Crain, S. (1991) Language acquisition in the absence of experience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 14.

Week 8

Later structural acquisition: The case of derivational morphology

Hoff, Chapter 5
Gordon, P. (1985)  Level-ordering in lexical development.  Cognition, 21.
Pinker, S. (1991) Rules of Language. Science, 253, 530-535.
Pinker, S. (1999) Words and Rules, 189-210.

PAPER ABSTRACTS DUE

Week 9

Critical periods in acquisition

Hoff, Chapter 2
Newport, E. L. (1990) Maturational constraints on language learning.  Cognitive Science, 14.
Curtiss, S. (1977) Genie: A psycholinguistic study of a modern day “wild child.”  New York: Academic Press.
Marler, P. (1991) The instinct to learn.  In S. Carey & R. Gelman (Eds.), The Epigenesis of Mind: Essays on Biology and Cognition, Erlbaum.

Week 10

The development of communicative competence: Learning to use language

Hoff, Chapter 6
Clancy, P. (1986) The acquisition of communicative style in Japanese.  In B. B. Schieffelin & E. Ochs (Eds.), Language socialization across cultures.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 213-250.
Ochs, E. (1988)  Talking to children in Western Samoa. Language in Society,  11, 77-104.

Weeks 11-14: Student Research Presentations (2 topics per week)

FIRST DRAFTS OF PAPERS DUE ONE WEEK BEFORE PRESENTATION

Language development and deafness

Supalla, S. J. (1991) Manually coded English: The modality question in signed language development. In P. Siple & S. D. Fischer (Eds.), Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research, Volume 2: Psychology.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 85-109.

Goldin-Meadow, S., & Mylander, C. (1990)  Beyond the input given: The child's role in the acquisition of language.  Language, 66:2.

Language origins and language change

Bickerton, D. (1984)  The language bioprogram hypothesis. Behavioral and Brian Sciences, 7, 173.

Animal communication and the implications for human language

Marler, P., & Tenaza, R. (1977). Signalling behavior of apes with special reference to vocalization.  In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.) How Animals Communicate, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 965-1033.

The learning of language by artificial devices

Rumelhart, D. E., & McClelland, J. L. (1986) On learning the past tenses of English verbs.  In Parallel Distributed Processing, volume 2, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Child-directed speech

Newport, E. L., Gleitman, H., and Gleitman, L. (1977) Mother, I’d rather do it myself: Some effects and non-effects of maternal speech style.  In C. E. Snow & C. A. Ferguson (Eds.), Talking to children: Language input and acquisition.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 109-150.

Negative evidence

Brown, R., & Hanlon, C. (1970) Derivational complexity and order of acquisition in child speech.  In J. Hayes (Ed.),  Cognition and the development of language, New York: Wiley, 11-54.

Williams Syndrome

Bellugi, U., Marks, S., Bihrle, A., & Sabo, H. (1993)  Dissociation between language and cognitive functions in Williams Syndrome  In D. Bishop and K. Mogford (Eds.) Language Development in Exceptional Children. Hove, England: Erlbaum.

Specific Language Impairment

Gopnik, M., & Crago, M. B. (1991) Familial aggregation of a developmental language disorder. Cognition, 39, 1-50.

Language learnability

Skinner, B. F. (1959) Verbal Learning.

Chomsky, N. (1959)  Review of B. F. Skinner, Verbal learning.  Language,  35: 26-58.

The effect of language on thought

Whorf, B. (1956) Language, Thought, and Reality.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

FINAL VERSION OF PAPERS  DUE BY THE LAST WEEK OF CLASS

Alternative presentation topics:

• Gesture and early reference

• Natural selection and linguistic form

• Second language learning and bilingualism

• The language of education and the Ebonics debate

• Syntactic and semantic bootstrapping

• Mental verbs and theory of mind

• Statistical learning and parsing

• Prelinguistic “language” in infants

• Learning language with a cochlear implant

• Language acquisition among other special populations:  (autism, blindness, dyslexia, mental retardation, Down Syndrome, etc.)

If class is scheduled a on a day  on which you will be unable to attend because of a religious observance, please speak to the instructor, preferably early in the semester, so we can make alternative arrangements.  Also, if anyone requires accommodation for a specific disability, please notify the Office for Disability Services, and speak to the instructor at the close of the first class meeting.