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Language Acquisition

Code: 100196
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Catalan Philology: Literary Studies and Linguistics OP 4
Spanish Language and Literature OP 3
Spanish Language and Literature OP 4
English Studies OP 3
English Studies OP 4
English and Catalan Studies OP 3
English and Catalan Studies OP 4
English and Spanish Studies OP 3
English and Spanish Studies OP 4
Catalan and Spanish Studies OP 3
English and French Studies OP 4
English and Classics Studies OP 3
English and Classics Studies OP 4

Contact lecturer

Name :
Anna Gavarró Algueró
Email :
anna.gavarro@uab.cat

Teaching staff

Anna Gavarró Algueró
Elena Pagliarini

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

A background in linguistics and knowledge of English to read the literature are necessary to follow the course.

Objectives

The aim of this course is to introduce the student to an empirical field of linguistics: language acquisition.

We will consider language acquisition in both typical and pathological cases. By the end of the course, the student should be able to undertake original research in the field.

Learning outcomes

  1. Identify principal and secondary ideas and express them using correct language.
  2. Produce normatively correct written and oral texts.
  3. Solve problems self-sufficiently.
  4. Use and interpret texts of an interdisciplinary nature on the connections between linguistics and other disciplines.
  5. Identify different theoretical options or ways to address the same problems from alternative theoretical frameworks.
  6. Recognise different systems of natural language processing on the basis of their possible applications and development principles.
  7. Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  8. Accurately drawing up normative texts.
  9. Solving problems autonomously.
  10. Identifying different theoretical options or ways of dealing with the same problem from alternative theoretical frameworks.
  11. Recognising different processing systems of the natural language according to their possible applications and development principles.
  12. Construct normatively correct texts.
  13. Identify main and secondary ideas and express them with linguistic correctness.
  14. Identify different theoretical options or ways of approaching the same problems from alternative theoretical frameworks.
  15. Solve problems autonomously.
  16. Use and interpret texts of interdisciplinary nature about the connections between linguistics and other disciplines.
  17. Appropriately use the different available formal and technical resources.
  18. Identifying main and supporting ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  19. Solving problems autonomously.
  20. Identify the main and secondary ideas and express them with linguistic correctness.
  21. Use and interpret texts of interdisciplinary nature about the connections between linguistics and other disciplines.
  22. Accurately drawing up normative texts.
  23. Resolving problems independently.

Contents

1. Introduction

Language as a characteristic of the human species. Assumptions about knowledge of language. Plato's problem, or the logical problem of language acquisition.


2. Early stages: phonology and lexical acquisition

2.1 Phonological discrimination

2.2 Perceptual reduction

2.3 Lexical acquisition

2.4. Phonological bootstrapping

2.5. The acquisition of meaning: nouns vs. verbs. Biases in word meaning.


3. The acquisition of logical words and pragmatics

3.1 Implicatures

3.2. Quantifiers


4. The acquisition of morphosyntax in typically developing children

4.1. The acquisition of syntax and morphology. Early productions.

4.2. Phenomena of apparent optionality: optional infinitives and the optional production of third-person clitics.

4.3. Notes on Developmental Language Disorder.

4.4. The acquisition of syntax: passive constructions. Related structures.

4.5. The acquisition of syntax in the pre-productive stage.




Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Problem resolution and preparation of written work 43.5 1.74 3, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 19, 22, 23
Discussion of the literature 45 1.8 1, 5, 7, 13, 18, 20
Master lectures 10 0.4 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 14, 16, 21
Reading 30 1.2 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 21

The methodology used will be based on problem resolution.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Reserach Project 25% 10 0.4 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22
Written test 50% 1.5 0.06 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 19, 23
Original analysis 25% 10 0.4 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 15, 19, 21, 22, 23


The assessment consists of three components: a research project (i), an original analysis (ii) and a written examination (iii). If a student obtains a mark below 3.5 in the written examination, they must sit the resit regardless of their overall average mark. Furthermore, in accordance with faculty policy, a mark between 3.5 and 4.8 is required to be eligible for the resit. Neither (i) nor (ii) will be re-assessed. Students who have not completed two of the three assessment items will be marked as “Not Assessed”.


Plagiarism will automatically result in a mark of 0. The use of AI in the preparation of assignments is not permitted.


Non continous evaluation - The non continuos evaluation will consist in the same assessment items as the continuous assessment, at a date to be announced in due course.


Exchange students requesting to move an exam forward must submit to the professor a written document from their home university justifying their request.


At the time each assessment activity takes place, the professor will inform students (via Moodle) of the procedure and the date for reviewing grades.


Bibliography

Aravind, A., De Villiers, J., de Villiers, P. A., Lonigan, C. J., Phillips, B. M., Clancy, J., ... & Valiente, C. (2017). Children's quantification with every over time. Glossa, 10(X), 1.

Arosio, F., Foppolo, F., Pagliarini, E., Perugini, M., & Guasti, M. T. (2017). Semantic and pragmatic abilities can be spared in Italian children with SLI. Language Learning and Development, 13(4), 418-429.

Bergelson, E., & Swingley, D. (2012). At 6-9 months, human infants know the meanings of many common nouns. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(9), 3253-3258.

Gavarró, Anna, Maya Leela, Luigi Rizzi & Julie Franck (2015). Knowledge of the OV parameter setting at 19 months: Evidence from Hindi-Urdu. Lingua, 154: 27-34.

Gavarró, Anna, Vicenç Torrens & Ken Wexler (2010). Object clitic omission: two language types. Language Acquisition, 17(4): 192-219.

Gervain, J., Nespor, M., Mazuka, R., Horie, R., & Mehler, J. (2008). Bootstrapping word order in prelexical infants: A Japanese - Italian cross-linguistic study. Cognitive Psychology, 57, 56-74.

*Guasti, M. Teresa (2017). Language Acquisition. The Growth of Grammar. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press. Second edition.

Halberda, J. (2003). The development of a word-learning strategy. Cognition, 87(1).

Katsos, N., Cummins, C., Ezeizabarrena, M. J., Gavarró, A., Kuvač Kraljević, J., Hrzica, G., ... & Noveck, I. (2016). Cross-linguistic patterns in the acquisition of quantifiers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(33), 9244-9249.

Nazzi, T., Bertoncini, J., & Mehler, J. (1998). Language discrimination by newborns: toward an understanding of the role of rhythm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human perception and performance, 24(3), 756.

Noveck, I. A. (2001). When children are more logical than adults: Experimental investigations of scalar implicature. Cognition, 78(2), 165-188.

Pagliarini, E., Bill, C., Romoli, J., Tieu, L., & Crain, S. (2018). On children’s variable success with scalar inferences: Insights from disjunction in the scope of a universal quantifier. Cognition, 178, 178-192.

Skordos, D., Myers, A., & Barner, D. (2022). Quantifier spreading and the question under discussion. Cognition, 226, 105059.

Stiller, A. J., Goodman, N. D., & Frank, M. C. (2015). Ad-hoc implicature in preschool children. Language learning and development, 11(2), 176-190.

*De Villiers, Jill, & Tom Roeper (eds.) (2011) Handbook of Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition. Berlin: Springer.

Werker, J. F. (2018). Perceptual beginnings to language acquisition. Applied Psycholinguistics, 39(4), 703-728.

Werker, J. F., & Tees, R. C. (1984). Cross-language speech perception: Evidence for perceptual reorganization during the first year of life. Infant behavior and development, 7(1), 49-63.

Wexler, K. (2011). Grammatical computation in the Optional Infinitive stage. A De Villiers, Jill, & Tom Roeper (eds.) Handbook of Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition. Berlin: Springer.




Software

Child Language Data Exchange System http://childes.psy.cmu.edu

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed