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Linguistics

First language acquisition, Second language acquisition/learning,

Language and social variationChapters 13, 14, and 19 in Yule

First language acquisition

• Requirements for L1 acquisition: • → the child must be physically able to both

produce and perceive sound signals• → cultural transmission: interaction with

other users of the L1

First language acquisition, discussion (1/2)

• What is language interaction with young infants called, and what characterizes it?

• There is an amazing development in the L1 of a child during its first years in life. Try to account for the various phases the L1 of a young infant goes through and what characterizes them.


• What do you think about the following statement: “a child should reach the one-word stage by the age of 12 months”?

• → individual variation

• Are children being taught to speak their L1? • → imitation is not likely since children can come

up with completely new words

• → corrections made by adult speakers are not accepted

First language acquisition, discussion (2/2)

• What is overgeneralization in child speech and what does it show us? Give some examples.

• What is overextension in child speech? Give an example.

• What can you say about hyponomy in child language?

Second language acquisition/learning, discussion (1/5)

• What is the difference between a “foreign language” and a “second language”?

• What is the difference between acquisitionand learning? Why might it be useful to make a distinction between the two terms in SLA theory (SLA = second language acquisition)?

Second language acquisition/learning

• Acquisition: • → language ability develops as a result of natural

communication with other speakers of that language.• Learning: • → language ability develops as a result of a conscious

process in an institutional setting (e.g. in school)• Why is it good to make a distinction? • → The two are likely to result in

– different kinds of “proficiency areas”– different rates of proficiency increase


• What does 'the Joseph Conrad phenomenon' refer to and what does it suggest?

• Is it a good idea to start teaching a second language to fairly young learners (~nine years old)? Should we wait until the learners are older, more mature, and know their first language better? Argue your case!


• What is meant by interlanguage andfossilization?

• interlanguage:

• → a constantly changing “in-between L1 and L2”language system with highly individual rules.

• fossilization:

• → a learners’ interlanguage has stopped developing towards more accurate forms of the L2


• Positive and negative transfer. • First, give some examples of positive

transfer that Swedish learners of English generally have. Can you think of positive transfer between some other languages and English? Then do the same for negative transfer.


• positive transfer:• → e.g. plural tends to be formed with the help of

a suffix; we’re both SVO languages. • → vocabulary as regards English and other

Germanic languages.• negative transfer:• → the wrong word order in questions (Känner du

henne?); pronunciation: /e/ and /æ/ • → vocabulary, e.g. German bekommen• German tourist in British restaurant: “- Can I

become a bloody steak?”


• What components are included in the concept communicative competence? Explain!

• → grammatical competence

• → sociolinguistic competence • → strategic competence • Your learner strategies:

– Which ones have you used?– Have your strategies changed as you have grown

older? If so, how?


• Performance and competence• Sometimes, in some classrooms and in

certain situations, learners' performance is a poor mirror of their competence. What type of situations could that be?


• What is foreigner talk? What are the advantages of it? Have you ever experienced it yourself? If so, please, give examples!

• What does negotiated input mean? • What is task-based learning?


• Yule mentions three methods used in language learning. Briefly explain the theory behind each of them.

• → the grammar-translation method • → the audio-lingual method • → communicative approaches


• the grammar-translation method • → traditional way of teaching languages: focus

on written language, vocabulary and grammar (and contrastive analysis)

• the audio-lingual method • → behaviorism: habits develop with the help of

drills • communicative approaches • → sociocultural theories: language functions

rather than the form of language (e.g. grammar and phonology) are in focus


• What is applied linguistics? • → Various fields of linguistics which you

apply – for example, the teaching and learning of languages is part of SLA which is a subfield of applied linguistics.

Language and social variation

• to dig away at lingoes / to study languages• What is the difference between a dialect

and a sociolect? • → dialect – geography defines what a

group of people have in common in terms of language

• → sociolect – social class defines what a group of people have in common in terms of language

Language and social variation, discussion (1/3)

• Labov studied the pronunciation of postvocalic r’s among salespersons in New York city stores. What did his research reveal?

• Compare Labov’s findings with Trudgill’sstudy in British Reading.

• What does this tell us about postvocalic r?


• What is a social marker? • When we talk about prestigious forms in a

language, it happens that, whereas some people change their speech to include more of the prestigious forms, some people avoid doing so. Why is that?

Language and social variation, discussion

• What is a social marker? • → A linguistic feature which, if it occurs

frequently in your speech, marks you as a member of a particular social group (and if it occurs seldom or not at all it puts you in a different social group!).

• When we talk about prestigious forms in a language, it happens that, whereas some people change their speech to include more of the prestigious forms, some people avoid doing so. Why is that?

• → Because of overt and covert prestige.


• How can a person either emphasize a social distance to the person he or she is talking to, or to reduce that distance? Exemplify. Also, what are the processes called?

• → Divergence and convergence.


• Speech style is influenced by register and jargon. What is the difference between the two?

• What is the difference between jargon and slang?

• When and why do people use slang?


• What is a taboo term? • It is common in sociolinguistics to study

vernacular language. What is vernacular language?


• What tends to be the general idea about vernaculars such as AAVE (e.g. I ain’tafraid of no ghosts, He don’t never do nothing, You crazy, She bin workin there)?

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