Iterated learning models of language evolution have typically been used to study the emergence of language, rather than historical language change. We use iterated learning models to investigate historical change in the accent classes of two Korean dialects. Simulations reveal that many of the patterns of historical change can be explained as…

Poverty of the stimulus has been at the heart of ferocious and tear-filled debates at the nexus of psychology, linguistics, and philosophy for decades. This review is intended as a guide for readers without a formal linguistics or philosophy background, focusing on what poverty of the stimulus is and how it's been interpreted, which is…

The course Introduction to Linguistics aims at fostering students' rational understanding of human languages, fortifying students' linguistic and cultural awareness and critical thinking ability, and developing students' language research awareness and interest. The article analyzes the status quo of Introduction to Linguistics teaching in some…

Language is one of the hallmarks of intelligence, demanding explanation in a theory of human cognition. However, language presents unique practical challenges for quantitative empirical research, making many linguistic theories difficult to test at naturalistic scales. Artificial neural network language models (LMs) provide a new tool for studying…

Generative approaches to language have long recognized the natural link between theories of knowledge representation and theories of knowledge acquisition. The basic idea is that the knowledge representations provided by Universal Grammar enable children to acquire language as reliably as they do because these representations highlight the…

I propose that the course of development in first and second language acquisition is shaped by two types of processing pressures--internal efficiency-related factors relevant to easing the burden on working memory and external input-related factors such as frequency of occurrence. In an attempt to document the role of internal factors, I consider…

This paper responds to calls for studies that investigate multiple types of word knowledge and the processes of word learning. Focusing on a single word, this three-month diary study describes the micro-development of an adult male's Japanese L2 lexical knowledge. In contrast to most L2 vocabulary acquisition studies, this study posits a dynamic…

Ten case studies of adults learning a second language are reported and analyzed in an effort to identify a variety of learning strategies. The superordinate strategies that were discovered lent themselves to the development of a tentative language learning model, which is set forth as a chart. The model is consistently confirmed by the various…

This article reports major findings of a longitudinal, naturalistic study of the acquisition of English as a second language by a five-year-old Japanese girl. The emphasis is on empirical findings rather than on any particular theoretical orientation. (Author/POP)

A case study of the acquisition of Hausa as the first language by a child focuses on acquisition of interrogatives. The subject was a male child aged 25-60 months. Data were drawn from observation and elicitation. Three phases of acquisition were distinguished. Strategies adopted by the child appeared to reflect realities and contacts in his daily…

A case study in second language learning was conducted by the researcher on herself in a specific sociolinguistic context, Trinidad, and with reference to a specific first and second language relationship, standard English and Trinidadian English Creole. The study attempted to: (1) demonstrate the complexity of social, cultural, psychological, and…

The concept of autonomy in second language learning is explored by tracing some steps in the evolution of theory and practice. The first section relates one definition of learner autonomy ("the ability to take charge of one's learning") to self-instruction in language learning and to research in language learning at the adult level. The…

An interactionist-discovery theory of child phonology is proposed based on the following tenets: children invent their own phonological rules, and phonetic mastery is not automatically or generally in step with learning about phonemic contrasts. When a child learns the sound pattern of a language, there is constant interaction between the…

The report details results of a research project to monitor and map the literacy development of three learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) studying in an Australian English program for adult migrants. The objective was to gain a longitudinal picture of their reading and writing development over a period of nine months. Five additional…