Module 1.2

A first hypothesis ; Children do it by themselves

In some societies and social groups, children are not spoken to by adults at all. This is the case in the community studied by Shirley Brice Heath

Although they are rarely engaged directly in conversation with others, the babies of Trackton grow up to be competent speakers of their language - a variety of American English. How is it that they learn to speak? After all, most French parents believe that they should speak to their children from a very early age, and many even adopt a special way of talking, especially adapted to what they believe their infants will understand. This type of speech is simple, sentences are short, and the voice is unusually high-pitched. Linguists call it 'motherese'. Many people seem to use it instinctively when they speak to young children. Think about your own practice. Draw up a list of the qualities of 'motherese' and try and decide how they might help a child learn. Now read what Jean Aitchison says about the role of parents.

No-one is teaching the Trackton children, but they are hearing a rich variety of language, and they are hearing a lot of it. It seems that this is sufficient. Or is it? After all, when these children get older and go to school, they do not succeed very well. Perhaps it is because they have not learned to manipulate language as skillfully as have the children of parents who have taken greater care over how they spoke to their children. For while it is true that simplifying language will not help a child learn, and while it is true that repetition and correction do not help, it may be that when people use 'motherese' they do something which contributes to easier and more efficient acquisition. What do you think? Look at the list you made above.

Aitchison says that children are 'set' to extract a grammar for themselves. What does she mean by this? Those of us who have studied a foreign language have often found the grammar of that language difficult and confusing. You know from your lessons in linguistics that the underlying structures of English are difficult to grasp - and yet Aitchison appears to be saying that a child can grasp them with no help at all from parents or teachers. Children are better linguists than you or me. Read Noam Chomsky's argument as to why there must be a built-in grammar processor.

Chomsky maintains that much - if not most - of the talk that children hear and participate in is grammatically inaccurate. Not only that, but no child hears any more than a minute sample of all the possible sentences of the language. Nevertheless, from this 'degenerate sample', the child constructs a 'theory of language' which allows her to understand and produce - every day - a multiplicity of sentences that she has never heard. She can only do this, says Chomsky, because - like all normal children - she possesses an inborn programme which enables her to construct the grammar. This programme can be referred to as the LAD - the Language Acquisition Device.

Recap 1

One line of thinking about First Language Acquisition (FLA) is that children construct the language themselves. They have a built-in grammar machine that processes what they hear, and that creates a fully functioning language from that - despite the fact that what they hear is rarely well-constructed or grammatically accurate. There is no need for parents or other adults to intervene - in fact, their intervention is useless.

Can you think of any objections to this position? Did your parents - or anyone else - do anything special to teach you French? If you have children, do you do anything to help them acquire language? Why, and how do you think it helps them?

Now go on to the next section

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