首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Why does the professor mention the expressions "mother tongue" and "motherese"?
Why does the professor mention the expressions "mother tongue" and "motherese"?
admin
2013-04-25
24
问题
Why does the professor mention the expressions "mother tongue" and "motherese"?
Do you think we’re born with the skills to learn a language, or do you believe that we develop language skills through social interaction? You’ve read ... at least I hope you’ve read the reading assignment Language and the Mind by Noam Chomsky. So you’re familiar with his argument that we’re born with a device that helps us acquire a language intuitively. He calls it a language acquisition device, or LAD, for short. But psychologists like Jerome Bruner are highly critical of his theory, so today we’re going to examine both sides of the debate.
In reality, the dispute is connected to the broader debate of nature versus nurture. What do I mean by nature and nurture? Well, let me ask it this way. Is language development controlled by biology, or do we learn from our social environment? Think about these questions and then I’ll ask your opinion again at the end of the lecture, okay? But before examining Chomksy’s theory, I need to clarify one point first. Our discussion today will focus on the acquisition of a child’s first language, or mother tongue, as it is sometimes called. And more about that term later, let’s begin by discussing what Mr. Chomsky has to say about language development.
Well, his language acquisition device or LAD theory is based on three key assumptions about the process. The first assumption is that children have an innate ability for language development. In other words, they’re born with a set of skills that allows them to intuitively comprehend language. In fact, Chomsky claims that their brains are preprogrammed with what he calls a ’universal grammar.’ And that device allows them to understand the =~ structure and grammar of a language just by being exposed to it. Let me elaborate on this point. From Chomsky’s perspective, a child’s brain is like a computer. It has already been wired to process and store different kinds of information. Do you see what I mean? Yes? Good! Now this hypothesis leads us to the second assumption: young children can acquire their first language skills independently. That is to say, they don’t have to rely on parents or the social environment to teach them the grammar and structure of their language; they simply use the LAD to figure it out for themselves. The third assumption is that the LAD makes it easy for young children to learn a language.
However, Chomsky does admit that there’s a small window of opportunity for language development. He thinks, or rather he refers to this short time period as the ’critical period.’ And a recent study of language development in feral children--the children who’ve grown up in extreme isolation from humans--has provided persuasive evidence of the notion of a critical period. For example, when they were found, feral children couldn’t speak at all. In fact, they could only make grunting noises like animals. That’s why they’re called ’feral’. It literally means untamed or wild. In any case, researchers discovered that when these children returned to normal living conditions, they had great difficulty acquiring language unless they were exposed to language before the age of twelve. The argument was that the brains of these abused children hadn’t developed neurologically, so the LAD couldn’t function properly. You can read about the actual feral experiences of a young girl in the book, Genie: A Scientific Tragedy. But getting back to the issue at hand, as you can see from this discussion, Chomksy’s LAD theory leans heavily toward the nature side of the debate. In other words, he and other linguists who support this theory believe that biology predetermines our ability to acquire language. And you’ll notice that the LAD theory focuses on acquiring language, not learning it. But psychologists like Jerome Brunet argue that language development is also a learning process.
So what’s the difference between acquiring a language and learning it? Well, for one thing, learning a language requires ongoing social interaction, and that assumption forms the basis of Bruner’s theory of the ’language acquisition support system’, or LASS, for short. You see, according to Bruner, some type of LAD may exist, but parents and siblings also play a key role in a child’s language development. How? By involving young children in routine behaviors like saying ’hello’ and ’goodbye’ and daily rituals like meal times and bath times. So it’s probably no surprise that the expression ’mother tongue’ evolved. After all, we all remember listening to the familiar sounds and repetitive phrases our mothers used when we were young. In fact, a researcher named Moerk nicknamed this type of language modeling as ’motherese.’ The second assumption of Bruner’s theory is that language learning is developmental. In other words, parents or siblings create a learning environment that supports the child as he or she builds language skills. So in the beginning, they are quite vocal and the child is rather passive. But as children develop the language skills, they become more active. From this perspective, language learning is more a process of discovery, and children learn to construct new ideas by linking it with previous knowledge and experiences. Therefore, it’s evident that Bruner’s theory strongly supports the notion that nurture is as essential as nature in language development. Now based on what you’ve heard today, where do you stand?
P And a recent study of language development in feral children--the children who’ve grown up in extreme isolation from humans--has provided persuasive evidence of the notion of a critical period.
What does the professor imply about the idea of a critical period?
选项
A、To prove that mothers are better language role models than fathers.
B、To illustrate how parents provide a support system for language learning.
C、To compare normal speech patterns with the baby talk that parents use.
D、To argue that second language learning is more difficult for adults.
答案
B
解析
结构题 要正确回答这道题,需要知道mother tongue和motherese这两个单词是在哪个部分出现的。在这两个词出现之前.教授提到,布鲁纳的“语言习得支持体系”里,父母和兄弟姐妹在孩子的语言发展中起了很重要的作用(…but parents and siblings also play a key role in a child’s language development.)。因此B项是正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/9cyO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
AccordingtoMrSingh,onwhichthingdomanypeoplemakesuperficialobservations?Whatisbecomingmorewidelyavailabletop
SECTION3Questions21-30Questions21-24CompletethenotesonthepurposesofalessonplanusingNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSf
SECTION4Questions31-40Questions31-32Completethefollowingsummaryofthelecturer’sintroductionbyusingNOMORETHAN
He/Shethinksanoverheadprojectorisusuallyneeded.He/Shementionsthatthequestionandanswerpartisveryimportant.
Thelecturersaysthatanessayislike______toaspecificquestion.【34】
ChooseTWOletters,A-E.WhatTWOthingsdoBradandHelenagreetosayaboutlisteningingroups?AListeningskillsareoften
ChooseTHREEletters,A-G.WhichTHREEcompulsorycoursesmustbetaken?AMedicalScienceBComputingCMathematicsDLaborator
ChooseTWOletters,A-E.WhichTWOthingsmakethemuseumunusual?AtheguidesBtheeventsCtheanimalsDthebuildingsEthe
ChooseTWOletters,A-E.WhichTWOtopicsdopeoplemostfrequentlyaskabout?Atheidealtemperaturesettingonthethermostat
A、StudypaintingsbyotherartistsB、Gotoherfather’sartexhibitC、ShowtheinstructorhissketchesD、Changethecolorofthe
随机试题
由于U形试样比V形试样更能反映脆断的本质,因此U形缺口冲击试验的应用日益广泛。
安全边际可表示如下
骨纤维肉瘤的特点
身目俱黄,黄色欠鲜明,身热不扬或无热,头身困重,胃脘痞闷,呕恶纳呆,厌食油腻,腹胀便溏,小便短少而黄,口粘,舌苔厚腻微黄,脉弦滑或濡数。治疗的主方是
连接空调室内风机盘管的管道,()必须有不小于0.5%的坡度,且不许有积水部位。
下列说法中不正确的是( )。
一般来说,贷款期限在1年以上的,合同期内遇法定利率调整时,以下做法错误的是()。
经济学家试图从多方面来改进国民收入或国民财富的计量,近来在两个方面取得巨大进展,值得高度重视。首先是在国民财富的计算中考虑贫富差距,1998年获诺贝尔奖的印度经济学家阿马迪亚.森对贫穷问题研究最为深入,并设计了考虑贫富差距的社会经济发展指数,为联合国所采用
《轮台罪己诏》
按照MM公司税模型分析,当财务杠杆增加时,公司的价值会增长,这是由于杠杆作用使ROE增加的缘故。[对外经济贸易大学2016研]
最新回复
(
0
)