linguistic analysis - Professor Binkert's Webpage - Oakland University

Different speakers may not agree exactly with all of the above judgements (?, *, or **), but it is clear
that the knowledge that they have of their native language is substantially uniform. The task for
linguistics is to account for that unconscious knowledge of syntax.
Turning to the grammatical realization problem, the crucial questions that must be asked are, How
do children acquire their native language, and how do native speakers produce and understand their
native language? The branches of linguistics that are primarily concerned with such questions are
PSYCHOLINGUISTICS, the psychology of language, BIOLINGUISTICS, the biology of
language, and NEUROLINGUISTICS, the neurology of language. Investigators in all these areas
have noted the dramatic difference between native language acquisition, the language one
unconsciously acquires at home as a child, and second language acquisition, the language one
consciously studies in school usually as an adult. Here is a summary:
(30) NATIVE LANGUAGE SECOND LANGUAGE
Speech is the sole input Speech and writing are inputs
Data heard is fragmentary Data studied is detailed and specific
Data heard is haphazard Data studied is organized
Data heard is often defective Data studied is fully grammatical
Data heard is mostly novel Data studied consists of patterns and drills
Acquisition is unconscious Learning is conscious
Acquisition is involuntary Learning is voluntary and deliberate
Virtually no instruction Formal instruction by experts
In addition to the above contrasts, native language acquisition has all of the following characteristics
which the grammatical realization problem must take into account and explain.
First, native language acquisition is rapid. It is completed in a remarkably short period for all normal
children. Generally, children utter their first words around their first birthday. By the time they enter
preschool and kindergarten at age five or six, they have mastered the basic structure of their native
language.
Second, children’s comprehension of language proceeds ahead of their production of language.
Children understand much more than they can express. A typical 12-14 month-old child might
produce about ten words like the following: mommy, daddy, cookie, pops, balloon, milk, truck,
some, up, down, sit, etc. However, the same child is likely to understand about ten times as many
words and phrases like helicopter, plane, Volkswagon, Burt, Bambi, Donald Duck, cheese, Coca-
Cola, hot dog, teeth, toes, belly button, up in high chair, go play piano, give daddy some, don’t spill
it, don’t throw it on the floor, let’s go get changed, brush your hair, etc.
Third, native language acquisition is not dependent on peripheral sensory mechanisms. Language
develops even in cases of blindness, deafness, and mutism. In fact, as the famous example of Helen
Keller attests, children can be both bind and deaf and acquire a native language provided the data
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