Department of Language and Linguistic Science
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- Talk: First steps into language development
Talk: First steps into language development
Posted on 20 May 2020
Marilyn Vihman (Dept Language and Linguistic Science, University of York) will feature as a guest speaker (on 11 June 2020) as part of a new online program of lectures and panels that will take place from now through July, sponsored by Abralin, the Brazilian Linguistic Association, together with the LSA (Ling soc of America) and LAGB (Ling Assoc of Great Britain), on the youtube channel Abralin ao Vivo - Linguists Online. The series consists of live streams in either Portuguese or English, with presentations by lead specialists in the field of Linguistics. It has included such renowned scholars as Chomsky and Labov.
It is great to be given this opportunity to present an overview, to a worldwide audience, of what I’ve learned in some 40 years of studying infants as they learn to talk! -Prof. Marilyn Vihman, Dept Language and Linguistic Science, University of York
Prof Vihman’s talk for Abralin ao Vivo will explore the fascinating topic of language development in infants:
‘First steps in language development: The role of production and the emergence of lexical systematicity’
Language development requires that the infant first gain the ability to understand and produce identifiable word forms. The talk will focus on the first two years of life, beginning with vocal practice and its important role as support not only for word production but also for word-recognition and segmentation. This will be followed by an account of the shift from initial ‘item learning’ to later ‘lexical engagement’, in which infants extend phonological patterns from familiar adult input forms to new, more challenging words; these are adapted to the child’s existing patterns in accordance with one or more emergent templates. I will show that child templates integrate aspects of the ambient language structure with the individual child’s own well-practiced production routines. These first steps toward lexical systematicity lay the foundation for the basic linguistic principle of opposition of structures. The extension or generalization of lexical representations reflects the interaction of implicit and explicit learning that makes the acquisition of this uniquely complex human behaviour possible.
Marilyn Vihman’s talk will be streamed live on Thursday 11 June 2020 at 2pm GMT but the recording will also be available after the event.
Link to the live broadcast and youtube channel: Abralin ao vivo