First Language Acquisition Essay

1047 Words5 Pages

Compare to the time it takes in adults’ language learning, it is widely believed that children acquire their first language at a much higher speed. There have been a lot of researches concerning this topic. For example, White (2003) discussed about the theoretical problem of first language acquisition from the perspective of universal grammar; Krashen (1982) has proposed five hypothesis concerning principles and practices on the topic of second language acquisition. In order to analyze this topic, it is appropriate to start with children’s first language acquisition. By the comparison and analysis first language acquisition process, we may discover the features of language acquisition as well as the factors that affect the process. As a result, …show more content…

This system is formed with the most primitive sounds, syntax principles and parameters. Under a fixed fundamental syntax structure, the different settings of the principles and parameters lead to different kinds of language. In the process of first language acquisition, people gradually eliminate pronunciations and syntactic patterns that are unnatural in their first language, by using this filtering system. Thus, because we are able to develop a perfect language system without making a lot of effort, he claims. However, this filtering system disappears as we grow up. It is like a skeleton key, which we could use to open the door to any language in the world. However, by the time we use it, its shape becomes fixed in order to fit the lock on the first door we open. When babies start to learn their first language, this is the time we begin to lose our skeleton key. Babies can still learn more than two languages spontaneously, but after a certain age, as their ability in their first language expand, their skeleton key becomes more limited and the other rooms become

Open Document