LSci 51/Psych 56L

This is our wonderful schedule. We usually keep to it, but it is subject to modification.

Date	Topic	Notices & Assignments	Reference Material
9/27/19	Introduction to Language Acquisition I (pdf) Podcasts (1) What you know when you know a language (2) Why simple imitation won't work (3) Prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar rules	Review questions available for intro HW1 available	The Linguistic Genius of Babies, up through 10:07 The amount of information stored during language acquisition LingSpace: Grammatical conservatism Sedivy 2014: pp.105-107 (acquisition intro) Prescriptive & descriptive grammar LingSpace: Prescriptive & descriptive grammar (youtube) Common prescriptive grammar myths Pragmatics: Language & Thought, 10:34-11:38, 14:14-15:22 Pragmatics: Lingspace (youtube)
9/30/19	FLIPPED CLASS Introduction to Language Acquisition II (pdf) Podcasts (1) Learning by explicit correction (2) Recasts (3) Motherese intro (4) Motherese prosody (5) Fatherese (6) Motherese properties (7) Screen time interactions (8) More motherese properties (9) How motherese helps (10) Cross-linguistic and cross-cultural research (11) Diary studies (12) CHILDES database (13) MLU & CDIs (14) Tests of comprehension (15) Tests of production (16) Computational modeling in more detail	Be working on intro review questions up through #18 & hw questions up through #2 in class	LingSpace: Explicit corrections, recasts, & imitation (especially 1:33-4:33, 4:33-5:31, 5:31-6:27) Motherese quality Schwab & Lew-Williams 2016: Child-directed speech section Motherese timbre shift irrespective of language Fatherese Social contingency & responsiveness Screen time learning in infants at 9 months with other infant Learning other things too Input importance, where a training study to use more motherese yields better outcomes A modern diary study (Deb Roy), up through 4:20 Braunwald corpus example from CHILDES Sedivy 2014, p.224: CHILDES Database Ambridge & Rowland 2013: spontaneous naturalistic speech, diary, & parental report data, elicited production, comprehension methods Act-out task demo Pearl 2018: computational modeling
10/2/19	Introduction to Language Acquisition III (pdf) Podcasts (1) The Language Acquisition Device (2) Poverty of the stimulus & induction problems (3) Statistical learning (4) Theoretical viewpoint comparison		Nativist perspective & motivation, especially 0:24-1:35 Statistical learning & language development Aslin 2017: Statistical learning Segmenting speech in 3-day-olds (statistics) Statistical learning is domain-general Nativism & Universal Grammar, (youtube): through 2:38 (intro), 7:37-8:34 (summary) Pearl 2019 ms, section 1.4: Nativists: linguistic vs. non-linguistic Sedivy 2014, pp.28-31: "Are we programmed for language structure?" (UG) Sedivy 2014, pp.229-231: domain-general vs. domain-specific learning Sedivy 2014, pp.222-225: learning mechanisms
10/4/19	Biological Bases of Language Acquisition I (pdf) Podcasts (1) APICS demo (2) Nicaraguan Sign Language: age differences (3) The Language Bioprogram Hypothesis	HW1 due HW2 available Review questions available for biological bases of language acquisition	Pidgins Hawaiian pidgin example Creoles Pidgins & creoles (youtube): through 5:10 (pidgin formation & structure), 5:11-8:09 (creole formation), 8:10-9:26 (Nicaraguan sign language) From pidgin to creole: Suriname Atlas of pidgin & creole structures: summary article Atlas of pidgin & creole structures Sedivy 2014, pp.517-519: Pidgin & creole complexity Brentari & Coppola 2012: Sign language creation Sedivy 2014, pp.37-39: homesign Sedivy 2014, pp.39-42: Nicaraguan sign language Nicaraguan sign language Language bioprogram hypothesis
10/7/19	Biological Bases of Language Acquisition II (pdf) Podcasts (1) Late acquisition of sign language (2) Henner et al. 2016 (3) Investigating the critical vs. sensitive period using second language learning (4) Hartshorne et al. 2018 (5) Critical vs. sensitive period (6) The "Less is More" hypothesis (7) Finn et al. 2014 & the "Less is More" hypothesis (8) Mimicking children's acquisition experience		Wild children Dichotic listening tasks & right-ear advantage Child neural plasticity for language centers of brain Sedivy 2014, pp.42-44: sensitive period critical/sensitive period up to 17 + English grammaticality judgments Thiessen et al. 2016: evidence for sensitive over critical period, relationship to statistical learning abilities Newport's "Less Is More" hypothesis "Less is more" in action Passive learning of speech sound discriminability
10/9/19	FLIPPED CLASS Biological Bases of Language Acquisition III (pdf) Podcasts (1) Parrot language acquisition (2) Teaching chimpanzees: Gua & Viki (3) Chimpanzee vocal tract (4) Non-human primate vocal tract: differences (5) Teaching chimps ASL (6) Nim Chimpsky's combinations (7) Teaching bonobos (8) FLB vs. FLN	Be working on bio bases review questions through #28 & hw2 questions up through #19 in class	Alex the parrot Einstein the parrot Non-human primate vocal tract Only humans have pitch control on their voices Sedivy 2014, pp.15-17 (+Methods box 2.1): Teaching apes language Sedivy 2014, pp.34-36: language without speech (especially for apes) Sedivy 2014, pp.24-25: syntax, combining units Children vs. chimps Kanzi, ~2:35-7:42 Kanzi using lexigrams Kanzi understanding spoken langauge Kanzi understanding novel sentences Sequential information memory
10/11/19	Biological Bases of Language Acquisition IV (pdf) Podcasts (1) Rudimentary combinations in non-human primate communication (2) Titi monkey pragmatics (3) State diagrams (4) Birdsong vs. human language: similarities (5) Song acquisition vs. language acquisition: Some similarities (6) Song acquisition vs. language acquisition: More similarities (7) Birdsong vs. human language: differences		Sedivy 2014, pp.13-15: primate vocalizations vervet monkey calls: leopard, snake chimpanzees have intentional calls chimpanzees have intentional contact calls Baboon vocalizations Marmoset calls are syllable-based Primate call rudimentary syntax Monkey dialects Bat communication Sedivy 2014, pp.11-13: bee communication Honeybee waggle dance Sedivy 2014, p.36: birdsong and human language comparison Sedivy 2014, pp.42-44: birdsong sensitive period & reconstruction from impoverished input Kaplan 2014: vocal behavior = birdsong; referential signals; theoretical developments = vervet calls Birdsong and human speech rely on similar genes Birdsong and human speech are predisposed to certain acoustic patterns Birdsong unit perception depends on context Songbirds learn sounds & "words" simultaneously Songbirds and baby talk Bird similarities, song-areas activated by social vocalizations of nearby adult Bird similarities, adults guide baby output via social signals Berwick et al. 2012: Birdsong syntax + this and this Birdsong reordering units to create new "meaning" Engesser & Townsend 2019: Overview of combinatoriality in non-human animal communication systems (including non-human primates and songbirds) Extras: Dolphin language Dolphin whistle samples Dolphin signals as names Could we speak the language of dolphins?: especially 6:07-6:50, 8:36-9:26, 10:26-10:52 Elephant calls: 1, 2 Sperm whale communication Human language vs. other animal comm systems (evolution): 1, 2
10/14/19	Exam 1 Review	Come with questions to class HW2 due	QuickGuide: How to submit an online quiz through Canvas EEE Quiz More detailed guide to Canvas EEE online quizzes
10/16/19	Exam 1 Locations available: HSLH 100A & anywhere you have internet access	Make sure to have your coursebooks and notes available during the exam
10/18/19	Phonological Development I (pdf) Podcasts (1) Affricates	HW3 available Review questions available for phonological development	Diagram of vocal tract Lingspace: IPA (youtube) IPA sound conversion chart Sedivy 2014, Box 4.1 p.125: articulatory phonetics of beatboxing Beatboxing demo Lingspace: vocal tract overview + phonemes (youtube): especially through 5:07 Sedivy 2014, pp.121-124: manner, place, & voicing Lingspace: Place and manner of articulation (youtube) Lingspace: Other glottal articulation besides voicing (youtube) Non-pulmonic consonants Relevant consonants chart Relevant vowels chart Interactive full consonant chart Interactive full vowel chart Interactive IPA chart Lingspace: Sonorants Lingspace: Vowels (youtube): especially through 7:38 Lingspace: Details about vowels: resonance & formants Sedivy p.128 (box 4.3 = vowels) IPA font help IPA virtual keyboard
10/21/19	Phonological Development II (pdf) Podcasts (1) Feature combinations (2) World Phonotactics Database demo (3) Language & music developmental linking (4) Baby babbling is language-specific (5) Social component to phonological development (6) The importance of babies hearing their own output		World Phonotactics database Interactive IPA chart IPA cross-linguistic database A podcast series on the sounds of English American English vowels Dialect variation in North American English Link between speech perception and speech production Sedivy 2014, pp.106-107: learning sounds Sedivy 2014, p.33 Box 2.4: babbling Babbling and later literacy Baby babbling "conversation" Social component of babbling Babbling to elicit helpful feedback Link between hearing and babbling: 1, 2 Sedivy 2014, pp.424-425: social component to sound development Sedivy 2014, pp.126-128: cross-linguistic sounds Brandt et al. 2012: music of speech Music to language transfer Music training for developing sensitivity to prosody for children with cochlear implants Language & music relationship Improved consonant discrimination with piano training for kindergardeners
10/23/19	Phonological Development III (pdf) Podcasts (1) Deletion processes (2) Substitution processes (3) Multiple process examples (4) Multiple processes: "water" to "gaga"	Have IPA reference charts accessible during class	15-month-old pronunciation Child pronunciation: "popsicle" 1-year-old pronouncing words (child pronunciation errors) Memory for reduplicated word forms Time lapse of "water" pronunciation, ~4:20-5:40 O'Grady 2005: Making Adjustments, pp.153-163 LingSpace: Child speech errors (substitution)
10/25/19	Phonological Development IV (pdf) Podcasts (1) Infant speech perception link to speech production (2) Categorical perception decision tasks (3) Infant categorical perception evidence (4) Categorical perception non-humans (5) The lack of invariance problem (6) Motherese & sound discriminability		in-utero language discrimination Studying infant speech perception (youtube): up through 3:34 = HAS procedure, 3:35-5:48 = head-turn preference procedure Head-turn technique, especially 0:31-1:15 Sedivy 2014, p.132 box 4.2: HAS procedure Sedivy 2014, pp.108-109: head-turn preference procedure Experimental evidence for categorical perception (youtube): 5:39-6:59 Ambridge & Rowland 2013: Conditioned head-turn preference procedure Research of Janet Werker: especially 1:54-4:02 on conditioned head-turn preference procedure Sedivy 2014, pp.129-130: categorical perception categorical perception of words Sedivy 2014, pp.130-132: infant speech perception Curtin & Zamuner 2014: Box 1 = impact of speech perception abilities on later development Value of speech perception for word learning Sedivy 2014, p.133 box 4.4: speech perception in chinchillas Myers 2017: Speech perception Meltzoff et al. 2009: (section on lang learning) Social component for adult sound learning Motherese Gaze shifting linked to phonological development
10/28/19	Lexical Development I Guest lecture: Zachary Rosen (pdf) Podcasts (1) Compositional semantics (2) Prototype theory and feature weights (3) Words pick out certain concepts (4) Tense (5) Aspect (6) Natural relationships between tense and aspect	HW3 due HW4 available Review questions available for lexical development	The size of an English adult's vocabulary LingSpace: Arbitrariness of symbols (youtube) Arbitrary nature of words Making new words Making new words 2 The power of word meaning Sedivy 2014, p.159 Figure 5.4: features of word categories LingSpace: Set theory & adjectives (youtube), especially 4:57-6:26 Lexical gaps no longer Wagner 2010: (tense & aspect)
10/30/19	Lexical Development II (pdf) Podcasts (1) Fast mapping (2) Lexical biases in humans vs. collies (3) Underextension & overextension errors (4) Lexical biases in young children (5) Social cues to word learning (6) Discourse cues in word learning (7) Visual cues in word learning		Early word representations Words as referential in 4-month-olds Not-just-words as referential in 6-month-olds Early word learning and the value of sleep Sedivy 2014, p.155: over and underextensions A humorous example of possible prelingual conceptual categories [Dr. Who] A humorous example of overextension Context of vocabulary development, ~5:45-11:00 Learning words related to other words Labeling recognition at 12 months Benefits of word repetition in vocabulary development Cues to word learning changing over time Joint attention "in the wild" Sedivy 2014, pp.145-147: the mapping problem Sedivy 2014, p.160 Box 5.2: word learning in dogs Fast mapping by Ricoh Fast mapping by Chaser Differences between humans and dogs when representing words Sedivy 2014, pp.152-154, 165-168: word-learning biases Word-learning biases (youtube): 2:04-2:32 = mapping problem, 2:33-2:58 = whole-object assumption, 4:14-5:06 = mutual exclusivity assumption, 5:07-6:19 = syntactic bootstrapping Perfors 2014: induction in language learning First words predicted by visual experience Referential uncertainty and vocabulary growth Samuelson & McMurray 2017: word learning reference (mapping problem, referential ambiguity, vocabulary spurt, whole-object constraint, mutual exclusivity contraint) He & Arunchalam 2017: word learning reference (mapping problem, whole-object assumption, shape bias, noun-category/taxonomic bias, mutual exclusivity, social cues, linguistic cues, learning over multiple encounters)
11/1/19	Lexical Development III (pdf) Podcasts (1) Noun bias in early vocabularies + why (2) Snedeker et al. 1999 (3) Manner of motion vs. Direction of motion verbs (4) Cross-linguistic variation in noun bias (5) Snedeker & Gleitman 2002: Cues to verb learning (6) Clues from the input: Ferguson et al. 2014, 2018 (7) Clues from syntactic structure (8) Linguistic over social cues (9) Syntactic bootstrapping hypothesis (10) Fisher, Klingler, & Song 2006 (11) Braginsky et al. 2016 (12) Syntactic bootstrapping & the noun bias (13) Syntactic bootstrapping demo: But'n'Ben A-Go-Go		child input: videos 1-2 = why learning from non-linguistic context is hard, videos 3-10 = sample experimental stimuli from human simulation paradigm in Snedeker et al. 1999 Mobile App: What's that word? Sedivy 2014, pp.168-169: why learning verbs is hard from non-linguistic contexts Human Simulation Paradigm reference: Gleitman et al. 2005 Sedivy 2014, pp.505-506: manner-of-motion vs. direction-of-motion verbs Sedivy 2014, pp.169-170: syntactic bootstrapping Wagner 2010: syntactic bootstrapping & argument structure Fisher et al. 2010: syntactic bootstrapping He & Arunchalam 2017: linguistic cues
11/4/19	Lexical Development IV (pdf) Podcasts (1) Word spurts (2) Identifying a word spurt (3) Leveraging known words & causes of the word spurt (4) Production lags behind comprehension (5) Phonological memory (6) Motherese & word learning (quantity & quality) (7) Differences across SES (8) Differences within SES (9) Conversational turn-taking as interactive input (10) Links to statistical learning (11) Effects of having siblings on input quality		Samuelson & McMurray 2017: vocabulary spurt Repetitive words help infants learn new words Using more motherese yields better language outcomes Effects of input (+video) Sedivy p.151, Box 5.1: The 30-million-word gap Maternal education, not race, affects input quality Schwab & Lew-Williams 2016: SES impacts on child-directed input + general properties of motherese SES & vocabulary growth with syntactic bootstrapping Interactive speech boosts learning across SES Talking to kids promotes good brain connections irrespective of SES Social interaction benefits young kids Interactive video chat and word learning Quality of input in bilingual acquisition
11/6/19	Exam 2 Review	Come with questions to class HW4 due	QuickGuide: How to submit an online quiz through Canvas EEE Quiz More detailed guide to Canvas EEE online quizzes
11/8/19	Exam 2 Locations available: HSLH 100A & anywhere you have internet access	Make sure to have your coursebooks and notes available during the exam
11/11/19	NO CLASS: Happy Veterans Day!
11/13/19	Development of Morphology (pdf) Podcasts (1) Morpheme types (2) Bound morpheme development (3) English morphological development (4) Cross-linguistic morphological development	HW5 available Review questions available for development of morphology & syntax	Sedivy 2014, pp.170-172: intro to morphemes Sedivy 2014, pp.172-173: inflectional vs. derivational morphemes Sedivy 2014, pp.174-175: morphological case Morphemes (youtube): 0:38-3:10 = morpheme identification; 3:10-4:20 = morpheme types (free vs. bound), 5:08-5:36 = cross-linguistic variation in morphological richness Morphemes Lingspace: Morphological systems Lingspace: Derivational & inflectional morphology (youtube) Lingspace: Multipurpose morphology, especially 4:31-4:52 for English Rich morphology languages (youtube): 2:22-3:46
11/15/19	Development of Syntax I (pdf) Podcasts (1) Grammar templates: Phrase structure rules & trees (2) Recursion overview (3) Recursion with some syntactic rules (4) Building trees: Top-down (5) Building syntactic trees: Bottom-up		Syntax: Context-free grammars LingSpace: Syntactic structure Sedivy 2014, pp.190-198: syntactic rules Sedivy 2014, p.27 Box 2.3: recursion LingSpace: Complementizer Phrases and word order Everaert et al. 2015: Infinite use of finite means Lingspace: Relative clauses
11/18/19	Development of Syntax II (pdf) Podcasts (1) Yes/no vs. wh-question development (2) Order-of-mention sentence comprehension strategy (3) World knowledge sentence comprehension strategy (4) De Villers 1995 (5) Zipfian distributions in language		LingSpace: The stages of child syntax Preferential looking paradigm (youtube): 5:48-6:57 Children know more than they can say Zipf's law
11/20/19	Development of Syntax III (pdf) Podcasts (1) Reversible passives & semantic features (2) Silent things (3) Multiple potential silent subjects (4) Gerard et al. 2018 (5) Silent subjects and objects (6) Becker et al. 2012, 2015		Ambridge & Rowland 2013: elicited production, imitation, syntactic priming, act-tasks, preferential looking, grammaticality judgments Lingspace: Passives (youtube): 1:59-4:45 Lingspace: Verbs with silent subjects (youtube), especially 6:02-7:02
11/22/19	Development of Syntax IV (pdf) Podcasts (1) Pronoun types (2) Children interpreting pronouns (3) Quantifiers and order of acquisition (4) Quantifier scope with every-n't (5) Quantifier scope with every-a (6) Children's quantifier interpretations (7) Pragmatic factors and scope		Lingspace: Pronouns: 1:18-3:24, 6:24-7:20 Lingspace: Pronouns 2 (youtube): 0:49-2:20, 2:46-3:26 Sedivy 2014, pp.387-394: Cross-linguistic pronoun systems Sedivy 2014, pp.401-404: Pronoun interpretation by children Sedivy 2014, p. 403 Box 10.4: Binding constraints A poem showing pronoun reference issues, about a quarter of the way down the page Wagner 2010: (sections on quantification & scope) Children learn quantifiers in the same order cross-linguistically Lingspace: Quantifiers & scope (youtube): 0:39-5:24 Lingspace: Generalized quantifiers (youtube) Ambiguities in language (lexical and syntactic)
11/25/19	Language & Cognition (pdf) Podcasts (1) Sentential complements and order of acquisition (2) Standard false belief tasks (3) Using syntactic bootstrapping to learn mental states (4) Indirect false belief tasks (5) Parenthetical endorsements	HW5 due HW6 available Review questions available for language & cognition	Sedivy 2014, pp.181-184 Digging Deeper: concepts vs. words Sedivy 2014, pp.498-499: Whorf hypothesis Wolff & Holmes 2010: Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, cognitive off-loading Linguistic coding in bilinguals Regier & Xu 2017: Sapir-Whorf hypothesis & cognitive uncertainty Sedivy 2014, pp.514-515 Language at Large 12.2: Can your language make you broke and fat? Modern Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, especially 5:03-5:50 Linguistic relativity Sedivy 2014, p.508 method 12.1: language intrusion and the Whorf effect Sedivy 2014, pp.430-432, p.434 Box 11.2: theory of mind, false belief task Language and moral judgments: especially 3:28-6:15, 7:19-8:14, 12:51-13:16 False belief task & theory of mind Language input connection Sedivy 2014, p.434: Theory of mind in NSL speakers Baillargeon, Scott, & Bian 2016: section on spontaneous-response false-belief tasks (extra: elicited-intervention false-belief tasks) Carlson et al. 2013: Theory of mind Apes passing an indirect false belief task + video of experiment Dogs can take on the perspective of others
11/27/19	NO CLASS	Relax! :)
11/29/19	NO CLASS - Thanksgiving Break	Relax! :)
12/2/19	Language Development in Special Populations I (pdf) Podcasts (1) Signers and categorical perception (2) Simultaneous articulation (3) Developmental errors in ASL (4) Cochlear implants and language development	Review questions available for language development in special populations	Signed and spoken languages are processed the same: 1, 2, 3 Signed vs. spoken languages Lillo-Martin & Gajewski 2014: iconicity, use of space, simultaneity in signed languages ASL & music Sedivy 2014, p.43 Language at Large 2.2: ASL Sign language examples ASL resources: school for the deaf, dictionaries, lessons & dictionary Rhyming in ASL aspect in ASL Signed language’s iconicity can be an additional source of information Sign language intonation: 1, 2 Cochlear implants, cognitive development, and sign language Singing training improves speech perception of kids with cochlear implants Predicting cochlear implant success
12/4/19	Language Development in Special Populations II Guest lecture: Alandi Bates (pdf) Podcasts (1) Lexical development in autistic children (2) Morphological development in autistic children (3) Syntactic development in autistic children (4)"Form is easy, meaning is hard" hypothesis (5) Williams Syndrome and the Developmental Arrest Hypothesis (6) Williams Syndrome vs. Down Syndrome		Naigles & Tek 2017: language in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Mother’s voice causes reduced neural response in kids with autism Diversity of language development in children with autism Mental-state term usage in autistic children Williams syndrome video: 2:17-5:00 Williams syndrome video 2: 2:24-4:56 Landau & Ferrara 2013: Williams Syndrome Sedivy 2014, pp.57-62, p.60 Box 3.1: Williams Syndrome and Down Syndrome
12/6/19	Final Exam Review	HW6 due Come with questions to class	QuickGuide: How to take an online exam through EEE More detailed guide to EEE online exams
12/13/19	Final Exam 1:30pm-3:30pm Locations available: HSLH 100A & anywhere you have internet access	Make sure to have your coursebooks and notes available during the exam.

LSci 51/Psych 56L: Schedule