glog-836

Child Language Acquisition Study

Refrences DeKeyser, Robert & Goldschneider, Jennifer M. 2005. Explaining the “Natural Order of L2 Morpheme Acquisition” in English: A Meta-Analysis if Multiple Determinants. Language Learning 55 (1). 27-77. Demuth, Katherine. 2003. “The Acquisition of Bantu Languages.” Brown University. 209-222. < www.cog.brown.edu/People/demuth/articles/2003%20Demuth%20Bantu.pdf> Fleta, M. Teresa. 2003. Is-Insertion in L2 Grammars of English: A step forward between developmental stages. Proceedings of the 6th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. <www.lingref.com/cpp/gasla/6/paper1032.pdf>

Chart from Prof Fallon- HW 4 Morphology

Methods -Three 30min. sessions -Everyday speech of an ESL child was recorded on tape recorder & computer & transcribed. -Chose a subject that fit our age and education level requirements for the study.

Introduction Our child language acquisition study focused on the child's grammar, use of the liquids /R/ & /L/ , glide /W/, and English pronunciations with a Burundi accent .We also looked for other verbal and non-verbal features.

Details of Observation Child's Age: 6 years Gender: Female Setting: In her house Participants: Three

Jessica VanBrocklin & Jennifer Beville December 4, 2008

Linguistic features we discovered in our observations: -No past tense marker, which is common for Bantu languages: possibly L1 system of grammar - Her errors using the past morpheme isn't uncommon for even native speakers in her age group She says: I live.... 12 xs when she talks about living in Africa Ex:: Line 18--> I live in Kirundo. Expresses past as present. - /r/ vowelized to –ah in one syllable words, or when there's a VCC in the same syllable Ex: Lines 17: An....ana hohse She has the /r/ phoneme because of words like: Burundi (line 10), because Burundi follows the VCV pattern.

Findings that complemented our topic One acquisition hypothesis is called the contrastive analysis hypothesis, which believes that the learning of a second language references the first language during the acquisition period (DeKeyser). In addition, Wade found that speakers of Bantu origin sometimes exhibit different ideas of the past. He states, “The progressive also tends to be used in past references in place of the simple, perfect and ‘used to’ habitual forms” (Wade). Suzman reported that most children’s errors in interlanguage learning are, “characteristic of Black South African English: omission of articles, simplification of agreement, past tenses not always marked, reasumptive pronouns overused” (Fleta).

- A lot of repetition in her utterances: : function of her L1 ?or her being nervous? In Bantu languages, repetition is used for intensity, etc. Ex: haraka haraka (hurray, hurray). When she speaks of where she used to live (Kirundo, Burundi) she says I live 12 times and repeats whole phrases: Lines 5-6: Africa. An, an I live Africa. An I live Africa. Afri- I live. Overall: She seems to be developling according to normal patterns of ESL children: the phonemes that she has trouble with, like -th she will soon develop. Because she hasn't reach the critical period, she will probably speak without an accent and develop a mastery of English.

Methods -Recorded in a bedroom, quiet place away from sisters and friends -Asked questions related to what she had been doing in school (academic setting) and where she lived before she moved to the U.S.