Nativist linguistic theories hold that children learn through their natural ability to organize the laws of language, but cannot fully utilize this talent without the presence of other humans. This does not mean, however, that the child requires formal teaching of any sort. Chomsky claims that children are born with a hard-wired language acquisition device (LAD) in their brains. They are born with the major principles of language in place, but with many parameters to set (such as whether sentences in the language(s) they are to acquir ...

See also:

Language acquisition, Language acquisition - Nativist theories, Language acquisition - Non-nativist Theories, Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis, Language acquisition - Additional arguments for nativism, Language acquisition - Bibliography

Read more here: » Language acquisition: Encyclopedia II - Language acquisition - Nativist theories

See also:

Language acquisition, Language acquisition - Nativist theories, Language acquisition - Non-nativist theories, Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis, Language acquisition - Additional arguments for nativism, Language acquisition - Bibliography

Read more here: » Language acquisition: Encyclopedia II - Language acquisition - Nativist theories

Linguist Eric Lenneberg (1964) stated that the crucial period of language acquisition ends around the age of 12 years. He claimed that if no language is learned before then, it could never be learned in a normal and fully functional sense. This was called as the "Critical period Hypothesis." An interesting example of this is the case of Genie, also known as "The Wild Child". A thirteen-year-old victim of lifelong child abuse, Genie was discovered in her home on November 4th, 1970, strapped to a potty chair and wearing diapers. She app ...

See also:

Language acquisition, Language acquisition - Nativist theories, Language acquisition - Non-nativist Theories, Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis, Language acquisition - Additional arguments for nativism, Language acquisition - Bibliography

Read more here: » Language acquisition: Encyclopedia II - Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis

Linguist Eric Lenneberg (1964) stated that the crucial period of language acquisition ends around the age of 12 years. He claimed that if no language is learned before then, it could never be learned in a normal and fully functional sense. This was called as the "Critical period Hypothesis." An interesting example of this is the case of Genie, also known as "The Wild Child". A thirteen-year-old victim of lifelong child abuse, Genie was discovered in her home on November 4th, 1970, strapped to a potty chair and wearing diapers. She app ...

See also:

Language acquisition, Language acquisition - Nativist theories, Language acquisition - Non-nativist theories, Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis, Language acquisition - Additional arguments for nativism, Language acquisition - Bibliography

Read more here: » Language acquisition: Encyclopedia II - Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis

Non-nativist theories include the Competition model and Social interactionism. Social-interactionists, like Snow, theorize that adults play an important part in children's language acquisition. However, some researchers claim that the empirical data on which theories of social interactionism are based have often been over-representative of middle class American and European parent-child interactions. Various anthropological studies of other human cultures, as well as anecdotal evidence from western families, suggests rather that many, if not ...

See also:

Language acquisition, Language acquisition - Nativist theories, Language acquisition - Non-nativist Theories, Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis, Language acquisition - Additional arguments for nativism, Language acquisition - Bibliography

Read more here: » Language acquisition: Encyclopedia II - Language acquisition - Non-nativist Theories

Non-nativist theories include the Competition model and Social interactionism. Social-interactionists, like Snow, theorize that adults play an important part in children's language acquisition. However, some researchers claim that the empirical data on which theories of social interactionism are based have often been over-representative of middle class American and European parent-child interactions. Various anthropological studies of other human cultures, as well as anecdotal evidence from western families, suggests rather that many, if not ...

See also:

Language acquisition, Language acquisition - Nativist theories, Language acquisition - Non-nativist theories, Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis, Language acquisition - Additional arguments for nativism, Language acquisition - Bibliography

Read more here: » Language acquisition: Encyclopedia II - Language acquisition - Non-nativist theories

Conceptual metaphor: In cognitive linguistics, metaphor is defined as understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain, e.g. one person's life experience versus another's. A conceptual domain is any coherent organization of experience. This idea (and a detailed examination of the underlying processes) was first extensively explored by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in Metaphors We Live By. Cognitive scientists often study subjects very close to conceptual metaphor under the label of "analogy".

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However, there exists emerging evidence of both innateness of language and the "Critical Period Hypothesis" from the deaf population of Nicaragua. Until approximately 1986, Nicaragua had neither education nor a formalized sign language for the deaf. As Nicaraguans attempted to rectify the situation, they discovered that children past a certain age had difficulty learning any language. Additionally, the adults observed that the younger children were using gestures unknown to them to communicate with each other. They invited Judy Kegl, an Amer ...

See also:

Language acquisition, Language acquisition - Nativist theories, Language acquisition - Non-nativist Theories, Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis, Language acquisition - Additional arguments for nativism, Language acquisition - Bibliography

Read more here: » Language acquisition: Encyclopedia II - Language acquisition - Additional arguments for nativism

Applied linguistics is the branch of linguistics concerned with using linguistic theory to address real-world problems. It has been traditionally dominated by the fields of language education and second language acquisition. There is a recurrent tension between those who regard the field as limited to the study of language learning, and those who see it as encompassing all applications of linguistic theory. Both definitions are widely used. The field of applied linguistics first concerned itself with second language acquisition ...

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The Bantu refer to over 400 different ethnic groups in Africa, from Cameroon to South Africa, united by a common language family, the Bantu languages, and in many cases common customs. Black South Africans were at times officially called "Bantus" by the apartheid regime. Nowadays in South Africa, the term "Bantu" is no longer used to refer to a people. The more common and polite term is "Black" and in fact legislation and documents from the South African government replaced "Bantu" with "Black". In South African contexts, the t ...

Including:

Bantu - History Bantu - Bantu in South Africa
Bantu - History Bantu - Social organization Bantu - Ethnic partitioning Bantu - Culture Bantu - Food acquisition Bantu - House types Bantu - Faith
Bantu - Literature

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Kamala and Amala were two young girls discovered living with wolves in 1920 near Midnapore, India. They are two of the better-documented cases of Feral children. While the girls' ages at the time of their discovery is ultimately unknown, Kamala appears to have been about seven or eight years old, while Amala was just an infant at around one and a half years. The girls were probably not sisters, having presumably been abducted by the wolves at different times. The two were first observed by Joseph Singh, a missionary who worked at an o ...

Including:

Amala and Kamala - Sources

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A feral child is a child who has lived isolated from human contact starting from a very young age and who has remained unaware of human behavior and unexposed to language. A feral child is an extremely rare phenomenon, and there are only just over a hundred known cases [1], of which - apart from cases of confined children - all but three are disputed. Feral children may be separated from society by being lost or abandoned into the wild. The c ...

Including:

Feral child - Real-life cases Feral child - Notes and references Feral child - Bibliography

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This article is a physical description of hearing impairment. See deaf culture for deafness as a cultural view. A hearing impairment is a decrease in one's ability to hear (i.e. perceive auditory information). While some cases of hearing loss are reversible with medical treatment, many lead to a permanent disability (often called deafness). If the hearing loss occurs at a young age, it may interfere with the acquisition of spoken language and social developme ...

Including:

Hearing impairment - Causes
Hearing impairment - Genetic Hearing impairment - Disease or illness Hearing impairment - Medications Hearing impairment - Physical trauma
Hearing impairment - Categories of hearing impairment
Hearing impairment - Types Hearing impairment - Quantification of hearing loss Hearing impairment - Pre- or postlingual Hearing impairment - Hard-of-hearing Hearing impairment - Unilateral hearing loss
Hearing impairment - Social impact
Hearing impairment - Pre-lingual Impairment Hearing impairment - Post-Lingual Impairment
Hearing impairment - Medical treatments
Hearing impairment - Approaches Hearing impairment - Views of treatments
Hearing impairment - Adaptations to hearing impairment Hearing impairment - Resources Hearing impairment - How to communicate Hearing impairment - Quotations

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Universal grammar is a theory of linguistics postulating principles of grammar shared by all languages, thought to be innate to humans. It attempts to explain language acquisition in general, not describe specific languages. It was developed after issues of the Argument from poverty of the stimulus arose from the constructivist approach to linguistic theory. This theory does not claim that all human languages have the same grammar, or that all humans are "programmed" with a structure that underlies all surface expressions of hu ...

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However, there exists emerging evidence of both innateness of language and the "Critical Period Hypothesis" from the deaf population of Nicaragua. Until approximately 1986, Nicaragua had neither education nor a formalized sign language for the deaf. As Nicaraguans attempted to rectify the situation, they discovered that children past a certain age had difficulty learning any language. Additionally, the adults observed that the younger children were using gestures unknown to them to communicate with each other. They invited Judy Kegl, an Amer ...

See also:

Language acquisition, Language acquisition - Nativist theories, Language acquisition - Non-nativist theories, Language acquisition - The Critical Period Hypothesis, Language acquisition - Additional arguments for nativism, Language acquisition - Bibliography

Read more here: » Language acquisition: Encyclopedia II - Language acquisition - Additional arguments for nativism

Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is the Institute Professor Emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chomsky is credited with the creation of the theory of generative grammar, often considered the most significant contribution to the field of theoretical linguistics of the 20th century. He also helped spark the cognitive revolution in psychology through his review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior, which challenged the behaviorist approach to the study of mind and language dominant in the ...

Including:

Noam Chomsky - Biography
Noam Chomsky - Chomsky's name
Noam Chomsky - Contributions to linguistics
Noam Chomsky - Generative grammar Noam Chomsky - Chomsky hierarchy
Noam Chomsky - Contributions to psychology Noam Chomsky - Opinion on criticism of science culture Noam Chomsky - Chomsky's influence in other fields Noam Chomsky - Political views
Noam Chomsky - Chomsky on terrorism Noam Chomsky - Criticism of United States government Noam Chomsky - Views on globalization Noam Chomsky - Views on socialism Noam Chomsky - Mass media analysis Noam Chomsky - Chomsky and the Middle East Noam Chomsky - Criticism of intellectual communities
Noam Chomsky - Chomsky's influence as a political activist
Noam Chomsky - Opposition to the Vietnam War Noam Chomsky - Alleged marginalization in the mainstream media Noam Chomsky - Worldwide audience
Noam Chomsky - Criticisms Noam Chomsky - Academic Achievements Awards and Honors Noam Chomsky - Bibliography
Noam Chomsky - Linguistics Noam Chomsky - Political works Noam Chomsky - About Chomsky
Noam Chomsky - Filmography Noam Chomsky - Political contemporaries

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Through the descriptive study of learner language, SLA researchers seek to better understand language learning without recourse to factors outside learner language. Researchers may adopt an interlanguage perspective, exploring learner language as a linguistic system, or they may study how learner language compares to the target language. Research is centered on the question: What are the unique characteristics of learner language? ...

See also:

Second language acquisition, Second language acquisition - Describing learner language, Second language acquisition - Error analysis, Second language acquisition - Interlanguage, Second language acquisition - Developmental patterns, Second language acquisition - Variability, Second language acquisition - Learner-external factors, Second language acquisition - Social effects, Second language acquisition - Input and intake, Second language acquisition - Interaction, Second language acquisition - Pedagogical effects, Second language acquisition - Learner-internal factors, Second language acquisition - Summary of Critical Period Research to date, Second language acquisition - Other Directions of Research, Second language acquisition - Cognitive approaches, Second language acquisition - Language transfer, Second language acquisition - Linguistic universals, Second language acquisition - Individual variation, Second language acquisition - Language aptitude, Second language acquisition - Age, Second language acquisition - Strategy use, Second language acquisition - Affective factors, Second language acquisition - Understanding SLA, Second language acquisition - Concepts of ability, Second language acquisition - References and further reading

Read more here: » Second language acquisition: Encyclopedia II - Second language acquisition - Describing learner language

How children acquire native language (L1) and the relevance of this to foreign language (L2) learning has long been debated. Although evidence for L2 learning ability declining with age is controversial, a common notion is that children learn L2s easily, whilst older learners rarely achieve fluency. This assumption stems from ‘critical period’ (CP) ideas. A CP was originally postulated by Lenneberg in 1967 for L1 acquisition, but considerable interest now surrounds age effects on second language acquisition (SLA). SLA theories explain le ...

See also:

Second language acquisition, Second language acquisition - Describing learner language, Second language acquisition - Error analysis, Second language acquisition - Interlanguage, Second language acquisition - Developmental patterns, Second language acquisition - Variability, Second language acquisition - Learner-external factors, Second language acquisition - Social effects, Second language acquisition - Input and intake, Second language acquisition - Interaction, Second language acquisition - Pedagogical effects, Second language acquisition - Learner-internal factors, Second language acquisition - Summary of Critical Period Research to date, Second language acquisition - Other Directions of Research, Second language acquisition - Cognitive approaches, Second language acquisition - Language transfer, Second language acquisition - Linguistic universals, Second language acquisition - Individual variation, Second language acquisition - Language aptitude, Second language acquisition - Age, Second language acquisition - Strategy use, Second language acquisition - Affective factors, Second language acquisition - Understanding SLA, Second language acquisition - Concepts of ability, Second language acquisition - References and further reading

Read more here: » Second language acquisition: Encyclopedia II - Second language acquisition - Summary of Critical Period Research to date

Critical period - First language acquisition. See also: Language acquisition#The Critical Period Hypothesis The Critical Period Hypothesis states that the first few years of life is the crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language if presented with adequate stimuli. If language input doesn't occur until after this time, the individual will never acheive a full command ...

See also:

Critical period, Critical period - Linguistics, Critical period - First language acquisition, Critical period - Second language acquisition

Read more here: » Critical period: Encyclopedia II - Critical period - Linguistics

There many types of language death including the following: gradual language death bottom-to-top language death radical language death linguicide (a.k.a. sudden language death, language death by genocide, physical language death, biological language death) The most common process leading to language death is one in which a community of speakers of one language becomes bilingual in another language, and gradually shift allegiance to the second language until they cease to use their origina ...

See also:

Language death, Language death - Types of language death, Language death - Linguicide, Language death - Language attrition, Language death - Causes: Sociolinguistics, Language death - Consequences on grammar, Language death - Language revival, Language death - Language loss & language acquisition, Language death - Historical language change & dead languages, Language death - Bibliography

Read more here: » Language death: Encyclopedia II - Language death - Types of language death