Heads, shoulders, knees and toes
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Katherine E. Twomey
Abstract
Decades of research have brought us a long way in understanding the many factors that affect language acquisition. However, while a wealth of empirical studies have characterised children’s language learning behaviours, from pre-speech to syntax, until relatively recently researchers have been unable to explicitly test developmental mechanisms. However, advances in computational modelling and in particular in developmental robotics have allowed researchers to implement and test developmental theories, specifying explicitly the knowledge and cognitive computations assumed to be at play during language development. The current chapter reviews a series of developmental robotics models of the early stages of language development, illustrating (a) the importance for future theory development of cross-disciplinary collaboration and (b) an emerging new view of language acquisition in which nonlinguistic – as well as linguistic – input drives language development.
Abstract
Decades of research have brought us a long way in understanding the many factors that affect language acquisition. However, while a wealth of empirical studies have characterised children’s language learning behaviours, from pre-speech to syntax, until relatively recently researchers have been unable to explicitly test developmental mechanisms. However, advances in computational modelling and in particular in developmental robotics have allowed researchers to implement and test developmental theories, specifying explicitly the knowledge and cognitive computations assumed to be at play during language development. The current chapter reviews a series of developmental robotics models of the early stages of language development, illustrating (a) the importance for future theory development of cross-disciplinary collaboration and (b) an emerging new view of language acquisition in which nonlinguistic – as well as linguistic – input drives language development.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Levels of acquisition
- Learning how to communicate in infancy 11
- Heads, shoulders, knees and toes 39
- Insights from studying statistical learning 65
- From grammatical categories to processes of categorization 91
- The retreat from transitive-causative overgeneralization errors 113
- Where form meets meaning in the acquisition of grammatical constructions 131
- Social cognitive and later language acquisition 155
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Part 2. Levels of variation
- The emergence of gesture during prelinguistic interaction 173
- Individual differences in first language acquisition and their theoretical implications 189
- Understanding the cross-linguistic pattern of verb-marking error in typically developing children and children with Developmental Language Disorder 221
- Sampling linguistic diversity to understand language development 247
- Lessons from studying language development in bilingual children 263
- Language disorders and autism 287
- Index 323
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Levels of acquisition
- Learning how to communicate in infancy 11
- Heads, shoulders, knees and toes 39
- Insights from studying statistical learning 65
- From grammatical categories to processes of categorization 91
- The retreat from transitive-causative overgeneralization errors 113
- Where form meets meaning in the acquisition of grammatical constructions 131
- Social cognitive and later language acquisition 155
-
Part 2. Levels of variation
- The emergence of gesture during prelinguistic interaction 173
- Individual differences in first language acquisition and their theoretical implications 189
- Understanding the cross-linguistic pattern of verb-marking error in typically developing children and children with Developmental Language Disorder 221
- Sampling linguistic diversity to understand language development 247
- Lessons from studying language development in bilingual children 263
- Language disorders and autism 287
- Index 323
