This was a problem for behaviourist accounts and supports aspects of language acquisition being domain specific.
Difference in method of acquisition and brain areas involved for those who learn two languages at the same time, and children who learn a second language after the first.
Does being bilingual confer benefits? (Barac et al., 2014)
Meta-analysis
Bilingual children show strengths in some areas of cognition, but findings are inconsistent for others.
Experience with two linguistic systems changes brain function, structure and organisation in some way
Child directed speech / ‘motherese’
Characterised by short simple sentences that refer to concrete objects and events.
Important words are often repeated
Speech is slower and often in a high pitch
Why do we use this?
Children orientate to it
Simplified structure helps children learn syntax, semantics and pragmatics.
Acoustic variation and repetition highlights important words
What happens when language input is minimal?
Genie
Suffered extreme neglect and deprivation from 18 months of age up to when she was found at 13 years old.
Following this, she did have some success in learning to communicate, but she did not acquire ‘normal’ language.
Argued to be due to missed language input during her critical period.
