Child language acquisition research in the Baltic area

Abstract

Child language acquisition has been a fascinating object of study for more than 200 years. Most of the early research was based on what has come to be known as ‘the period of diary studies’, which involved collection of data in the form of diaries. 1 More detailed and systematic analyses of child language acquisition processes started in the middle of the twentieth century with the appearance of the tape-recorder. Since then, child language has attracted the attention of scholars working in a variety of disciplines. The interdisciplinary field of psycholinguistics, which is concerned with the study of cognitive aspects of language understanding and production, came into prominence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when Noam Chomsky opposed the traditional learning theory basis of language acquisition limiting the application of behaviorist psychology in linguistic studies. A Chomskyan approach takes the view that certain aspects of linguistic knowledge are the product of a universal and innate ability that allows each normal child to construct a systematic grammar and generate phrases. The opposite approach emphasizes the influence of a linguistic environment, i.e. the way adults speak to young children (Ferguson & Slobin 1973). Thus the so-called ‘baby-talk’ (BT), or adult speech characterized by a set of specific features, is claimed to be crucial in language development of a child because it helps to acquire a target linguistic system. BT differs considerably from the language used while communicating with adults and is characterized by simplifications on the levels of phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Other terms used to refer to this type of language are ‘child-directed speech’ (CDS), ‘motherese’ and ‘caregiver speech’ Many grammars of child language were published in the early 1970s.[...]