Dig deep into your understanding of the world to answer. 1. Pinker proposes a pr

Question

Dig deep into your understanding of the world to answer.

1. Pinker proposes a provocative way to look at the linguistic critical period. First, define the “critical period” and explain why this window closes earlier in life rather than staying open throughout one’s life. You will have to understand the cost-benefit analysis of evolution to be able to answer this question in a meaningful way.

2. “If children could count on ….. the world would never tell them they were wrong” This concept is called “lack of negative feedback,” one of the backbone’s of Chomsky's assertion that language is innate. Please explain how he used this to support his theory of language acquisition that turned the behaviorist model upside down.

3. “Indeed, if children are blinkered to look for only a small number of phrase types, they automatically gain the ability to produce an infinite number of sentences.” How so? Explain this mechanism as plainly as possible, using examples when needed.

4. Explain fossilization in the second language acquisition and provide examples from your own observations. Why do you believe this phenomenon occurs?

Explanation / Answer

1) Pinker analyzed the linguistic capabilities of children during their critical periods of life. It analyzes that the language learning capacity of children is limited and it can be measured. The learning period is a crucial sensitive period which is not based on adaptation. The learning process is adaptive and is based on the theory of natural selection with various genetic, phylogenetic and environmental factors controlling the learning process of languages. The critical learning periods of language end around puberty in life.Lenneberg described the evolutionary learning process of children who have faced a trauma and have a defect in the speech areas of the brain and take time in learning languages due to this deficit. Pinker explained the importance of grammer in learning exercises. The cost-benefit analysis of linguistic theory inlcudes the adaptation model which helps in the analysis of the evolution of languages during the stages of life. It defines and balances the perspectives of life.Some attributes of language learning are adaptive during the crucial stages of life whereas the other stages of life are not adaptive.It involves the selection pressure process in life.

2)Chomsky model states that it is the inherent capacity of a small child to learn the words and language during the stages of growth in the early years.Individuals have a mental capacity and faculty to learn languages in life. It involves the primary data and understanding of the normal languages in life. The language faculty reaches a final state with starting from the initial phase of life which depends upon the competence of a person in life. It is an inherent capacity of a child to learn a language.

3) Sentence learning involves the syntactic and semantic rules which govern the complex process of learning the ability to make complex sentences in life. It is a capacity of a person to use words in sentences even if the meaning of the word is not known. It depends upon the mental state and the ability to grasp the usage of words in life. The use of words like car becomes important when a child repeatedly hears them and learns to use this word in various sentences.

4)Fossilization and learning of the second language learning starts after puberty. The innate knowledge base of learning becomes ineffective when the use of second language learning becomes effective in the growth and development of an individual. The research of Johnson claimed that children coming to USA before puberty learned english language faster as compared to children who came after puberty and english learning ability was not as effective as in the previous age groups covering life before puberty. Second language learning depends upon the ability of child to understand and compare the similarity with the first learning language, region of immigration, level of educational attainment and the grammatical similarities in the two languages as percepted by the brain. This phenomenon occurs during situations of changing the original land of birth and immigrating to some other country for business, educational or work perspectives in life.

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