Abstract
It is evident from the contemporary literature that universals of first language acquisition are sensitive to learning environment effects, but how different factors interact remains a complex issue. This volume of work undertakes the formidable task of bringing this issue to the fore, arguing that all variability in the acquisition context must be considered if we are to fully understand the developmental process. Approaching the task from a comparative and multidimensional perspective, with a special focus on cross-linguistic comparisons, particularly French, we are presented with sources of variation distinguished along three lines: Part 1 examines effects of language-specific properties of a target language on universal aspects of language development; Part 2 addresses the effects of variability of input properties in the context of the learning environment; and in Part 3, the variability of learners (typical vs atypical) and different types of acquisition (L1, bilingual, L2 and Sign language) are explored.
Part 1 begins with Vihman and Wauquier (Chapter 1), who argue for the existence of universal learning strategies shaped as language-specific individually-variable schemas (templates), which are used for phonological scaffolding to help with novel or challenging information during phonological and lexical development, ultimately receding when they become redundant. In Chapter 2, using a single longitudinal case study of Dutch acquisition, Rose suggests a finer-grained phonological representation than found in templates, based on segmental and prosodic generalisations made during the development of consonants and consonant clusters. Brusini, de Carvalho, Dautriche, Gutman, Cauvet, Millotte, Amsili and Christophe (Chapter 3) illustrate how phrasal prosody and functors are used for bootstrapping syntactic and lexical acquisition. Providing evidence from a number of experimental methodologies, it is argued that French infants and pre-schoolers use these cues to disambiguate French homophones that differ syntactically. In Chapter 4, Veneziano and Parisse show that the use of bootstrapping cues is gradually mastered by French pre-schoolers, with four-year-olds outperforming two- and three-year-olds, despite individual variation. Choi (Chapter 5) suggests that the semantic density of motion expressions in two Korean learners – compared to similar evidence from French and English learners – indicates that the expression of motion is language-specific rather than based on a binary typology of whether a language is verb- (Korean and French) or satellite-framed (English). Unlike French, Korean employs serial-verb constructions which can encode path and manner in a single clause, which is claimed to lead to more semantically dense productions in young Korean learners. In Chapter 6, Özyürek demonstrates the complex language- and culture-specific interplay between speech and gesture systems. Dependent upon language-specific factors, these two systems can be linked from an early age and impact mutually on their respective developmental trajectories. The language-specific interaction of speech and gesture is also highlighted by Colletta, Nicolas and Guidetti (Chapter 7), in which a qualitative and quantitative difference in the use of gesture accompanying verbal narratives in French and Zulu speakers is shown. Developmental stages of gesture systems are also suggested.
Clark (Chapter 8) begins Part 2 by highlighting the importance of developing world knowledge and the use of common ground in providing scaffolding for the enrichment of language and discourse skills. This is argued to develop gradually through practice, with two-year-olds exhibiting some knowledge of what their interlocutors know, the essential component being the range of interlocutors with whom they interact. Kern and dos Santos (Chapter 9) demonstrate that children are sensitive to general constraints of word frequency and neighbourhood density during their acquisition of first words. The data from 462 French children (aged 1;4 to 2;6) show that although there is individual variation in first words, there is a universal sensitivity to general constraints of word frequency and neighbourhood density. Early words are generally monosyllabic, from dense neighbourhoods, and tend to be more frequent. Bassano and van Geert, in Chapter 10, focus on the effect of child-directed speech (CDS) on the emergence of noun determiners in the spontaneous speech of three monolingual children (French, Austrian-German and Dutch) between one and three years. It is argued that CDS accounts for an ‘explosion’ in determiner use, and provides an important scaffold for the child, while progressively adapting to the developmental level of the child’s speech. Salazar Orvig, Marcos, Heurdier and da Silva (Chapter 11) follow a dialogic theoretical framework and claim that the use of referring expressions (especially 3rd person clitic pronouns) is affected by the interplay of speech genres and types of activity (i.e. everyday activities and interaction with iconic material, such as looking at pictures) in 25 French children (aged 1;10 to 2;04) during the grammatical development of their second year. Data suggest a usage-based development from communicative use to full referential and semantic representation, helped by diversified communicative experiences and their associated cognitive loads. Watorek (Chapter 12) also shows a developmental progression of discourse competence in narrative tasks in 20 French speakers, evolving from deictic and implicit anchoring at age four to coherent discourse established by anaphoric relations by seven, and reaching near adult-like ability by ten. In Chapter 13, Bernicot, Goumi, Bert-Erboul and Volckaert-Legrier expose a novel patterning in the development of spontaneous text messaging abilities in a group of French adolescents over the course of a year and the general development of a first language. It is claimed that frequency of exposure to social interaction – particularly from those socially close – is an essential component in both the natural development of a first language and the evolution of orthographic conventions and dialogic structures in text messaging.
In Chapter 14, MacWhinney begins Part 3 with an introduction to the Unified Competition Model – an enrichment of the Competition Model – which incorporates additional effects from social, neuro-cognitive and developmental forces to address differences in L1 and L2 acquisition. The model attempts to account for individual differences in L2 proficiency. Kail, Kihlstedt and Bonnet (Chapter 15) apply the Competition Model to data from French/Swedish bilinguals between six and eleven years, which suggest a language-specific constraint on proficiency, and a distinct development in bilingual first language acquisition. Morgenstern, Blondel, Beaupoil-Hourdel, Benazzo, Boutet, Kochan and Limousin in Chapter 16 examine negation in five children (monolingual French, English and French-Sign language (LSF) and bilingual French/LSF and French/Italian) in their early communicative development. Data from online sentence processing show an effect of modality (sign vs spoken) and type of acquisition (mono- or bilingual), which is claimed to interact with attentional control during language processing. In Chapter 17, Sallandre, Schoder and Hickmann turn to the early use of iconic gestures in the expression of motion in LSF acquisition, argued to account for the early expression of path and manner (compared to spoken French). Variation is observed in structure type and usage depending upon event type and age. In Chapter 18, Tager-Flusberg provides a review of the literature on early behavioural and neural predictors of language development in those with familial risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and toddlers and pre-schoolers with ASD. It is argued that language outcomes in ASD correspond with variation in behavioural and neural responses to speech in the first year and in atypical voice productions, with language performance seen as a signal of ASD severity. In Chapter 19, Reilly, Bernicot, Polse, Olive, Uze, Wulfeck, Broc, Favart and Appelbaum observe a language-specific difference in the acquisition of morphological knowledge between French and English children with Specific Language Impairment. Both groups are argued to use pragmatic and rhetorical conventions of their respective language from school age, as do typically developing speakers, but with a deficit in the complexity of written syntax compared to typically developing children. Finally, in Chapter 20, Dardier and Champagne-Lavau focus on individuals with right-hemispheric damage and traumatic brain injury, showing that they have a deficit in their inferential reasoning ability, which impacts upon their understanding of non-literal meanings and indirect requests. The authors argue for a dissociation between pragmatic and meta-pragmatic skills as individuals can comment on the appropriateness of a construction but cannot give reasons for their judgements.
In summary, this is an illuminating collection of works that brings a much needed multidimensional perspective in understanding the constraints and effects placed on first language acquisition. The book will appeal to academics, clinicians, researchers and postgraduate students as it adopts and promotes an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together theories and methodologies from a wide range of linguistic and psychological fields, and integrating the data in a clear and non-convoluted way.