LANGUAGE ACQUISITION--TIMING AND NATURE OF INPUT

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）：该项目将 探索一种新的方法来研究输入的时间和性质 可能会影响语言习得--更具体地说， 第一语言（L1）和第二语言（L2）的习得。 本文的研究将直接关系到重大的理论问题 例如：早期的语言经验是否以及如何 建立学习者对语言的心理表征， 一种语言能在多大程度上 在没有负反馈的情况下获得（例如，仅仅是无意中听到 和/或被说话），以及有多少内隐童年记忆， 语言的结构可以通过再习得来恢复。 这个项目将研究是否以及如何， 儿童时期的语言影响人们学习或重新学习， 在青春期或成年期的语言。 两项研究将评估：（1） 可能的长期和独特的好处是什么是学习期间 儿童时期，（2）不完整的语言经验可能带来的好处。 第一次学习西班牙语的成人/青少年的语言能力 将比较那些再学习者将不同种类的事先 西班牙语（例如，偷听vs.被人说vs. 简单地说;早期与晚期暴露）。 该项目将重点关注 语言的两个方面，可以很容易地获得儿童， 似乎很难被成年人掌握，即形态句法和语音。 此外，一般来说（例如，讲故事）和理解 技能（理解日常对话）将被检查。 的 项目还将涉及重要的应用问题，如是否 鼓励孩子们说他们移民父母的话是值得的 当他们可能会在几分钟内停止使用这种语言时， 年，以及幼儿语言教育计划是否可以 具有持久和可衡量的效益。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from Applicant's Abstract): This project will explore a new approach to studying how the timing and nature of input might affect language acquisition--more specifically, the re-acquisition of a first language (L1) and the acquisition of a second language (L2). The proposed research will directly bear on important theoretical issues such as: whether, and how, early experience with a language can establish a learner's mental representation of the language in some fundamental and long-lasting way, how much of a language can be acquired without negative feedback (e.g., through merely overhearing and/or being spoken to), and how much of implicit childhood memory for the structure of a language can be recovered through re-acquisition. This project will examine whether, and how, various kinds of experience with a language during childhood affect people learn or re-learn that language during adolescence or adulthood. Two studies will assess: (1) possible long-term and unique benefits of what is learned during childhood, and (2) possible benefits of incomplete language experience. Language abilities of first-time adult/adolescent learners of Spanish will be compared to those of re-learners will different kinds of prior experience with Spanish (e.g., overhearing vs. being spoken to vs. speaking briefly; early vs. late exposure). This project will focus on two aspects of language that can be readily acquired by children but seem hard to be mastered by adults, namely, morphosyntax and phonology. In addition general speaking (e.g., story telling) and comprehension skills (understanding everyday conversations) will be examined. The project will also bear on important applied issues such as whether it is worthwhile to encourage children to speak their immigrant parents' native language when they might stop using that language within a few years, and whether language education programs for young children could have lasting and measurable benefits.