Language Acquisition Act
The Language Acquisition Act models the course of processes that a child goes through when they learn to master their mother tongue . It is identical in form to the law of language change (= Piotrowski law ) and states that linguistic objects are acquired slowly at first, then faster up to a turning point and then more slowly again. With the logistic law, it is a form of the growth laws .
The idea that such learning processes could possibly take place lawfully seems to have come first to Chen and Irwin; but they have developed a different model in their research on phonetic acquisition.
Eric Heinz Lenneberg, on the other hand, graphically depicts the process of language acquisition as one that follows logistical law; Wagner et al. a. after all, have proposed this model explicitly for language acquisition. This suggestion was taken up and tested in a number of different language acquisition processes.
An example: Development of sentence lengths for English-speaking children
The increase in sentence lengths of English-speaking children serves as an example of a language acquisition process (Best, Rechtsrechte 2006, p. 45). This learning process follows the logistic model in the form:
If you adapt this model to the collected data, the result is:
| Age (in years) | Sentence length (observed) | Record length (calculated) |
|---|---|---|
| 1½ | 1.2 | 1.10 |
| 2 | 1.8 | 1.80 |
| 2½ | 2.5 | 2.65 |
| 3 | 3.5 | 3.49 |
| 3½ | 4.3 | 4.17 |
| 4th | 4.6 | 4.62 |
| 4½ | 4.9 | 4.89 |
| 5 | 5.0 | 5.04 |
| 5½ | 5.1 | 5.12 |
Explanation of the table: The data are based on an older American study with a total of 305 children. The second column shows the average sentence lengths, measured by the number of words per sentence, as observed. The third column shows the values obtained when examining whether the model can adequately represent the data. Adjusting the model to these values resulted in the following parameter values: a = 28.4423; b = 1.3545; c = 5.2011; an excellent test value of D = 0.997 is obtained for the agreement between the cumulative values and the model. Where D is the coefficient of determination ; this coefficient can at most reach the value 1, so in this case it is very close to the maximum value. The parameter c indicates the value towards which the observed process strives. Longer-term examinations will result in a significantly higher value for this parameter.
Further investigations
A whole series of other tests on different language acquisition processes were carried out (Best 2003, 2006). They mainly concerned the development of the children's vocabulary, but also the development of word length, the speed of speaking and a few other aspects. They all support the quantitative linguistics hypothesis that in language, as in the use of language, all processes and states obey laws.
literature
- Karl-Heinz Best : Language acquisition, language change and vocabulary growth in texts. On the scope of the Piotrowski law . In: Glottometrics 6, 2003, pp. 9-34. (PDF full text ).
- Karl-Heinz Best: On the development of vocabulary and speaking skills in children . In: Göttinger Contributions to Linguistics 9, 2003, pages 7–20.
- Karl-Heinz Best: Laws in first language acquisition . In: Glottometrics 12, 2006, pages 39-54. (PDF full text ).
- Karl-Heinz Best: Quantitative Linguistics. An approximation . 3rd, heavily revised and expanded edition. Peust & Gutschmidt, Göttingen 2006. ISBN 3-933043-17-4 .
- Karl-Heinz Best: LinK. Linguistics in brief with an outlook on quantitative linguistics. 5th revised edition. Script. RAM-Verlag: Lüdenscheid 2008. Therein: The logistic law as a model for the acquisition of mother tongue vocabulary , pages 124–129.
- Han Piao Chen, Orvis C. Irwin: Infant Speech Vowel and Consonant Types . In: Journal of Speech Disorders 11, 1946, pages 27-29.
- Orvis C. Irwin, & Han Piao Chen: Development of Speech During Infancy: Curve of Phonemic Types . In: Journal of Experimental Psychology 36, 1946, pp. 431-436.
- Orvis C. Irwin: Development of Speech During Infancy: Curve of Phonemic Frequencies. In: Journal of Experimental Psychology 37, 1947, pp. 187-193.
- Orvis C. Irwin: Infant Speech: The Effect of Family Occupational Status and of Age on Sound Frequency . In: Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 13, 1948, pp. 320-323.
- Eric H. Lenneberg : Biological Foundations of Language. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1972, page 166.
- Klaus R. Wagner, Gabriel Altmann , Reinhard Köhler : On the overall vocabulary of children . In: Klaus R. Wagner (Ed.), Vocabulary acquisition. Peter Lang, Bern 1987, pages 128-142.