Critical Period
How do Mexican People Say "Despacito"
Play videoCutest video of a young girl who has grown up hearing different ways of pronouncing loan words, and is able to pronounce both an English and Mexican pronunciation perfectly. She is showing the different linguistic resources that she can draw on, see our discussion on Tuesday in class about repertoire.
The linguistic genius of babies
Play videoThe video basically introduces some of the factors that are important to babies when they are first exposed to languages. And also, it shows us how critical period and puberty play a role in babies language acquisitions.
Do children with Tourette syndrome have an advantage at language?
Researchers in Newcastle recently found that children who had Tourette syndrome were faster at phonological processing than children without Tourette syndrome. The researchers wanted to examine potential strengths of the language-affected disorder, rather than studying the weaknesses, which is far more common. [Published on 09-29-2016]
Babies Are Linguistic Geniuses
In this TedTalk, Patricia Kuhl assess the linguistic abilities of babies and how their surrounding environment affects their language acquisition. She examines the various mental processes and reasoning babies use in order to understand their life in this world. [Published on 10-01-2010]
Do second and third-born children really talk late?
"What the research says about birth order and early language development." Having observed my two youngest at an early age (they are 15 months apart) the oldest of the two was constantly speaking for the youngest one. I would ask for my oldest to let her sister talk but they had their own speech community. The younger one was always content to let the older one speak for her. It did not seem to me to hinder her language or speech readiness once she did start speaking for herself.
Cherokee Look for Ways to Save Their Dying Language
This article depicts the perception of Cherokee as a "dying language", and how the remaining speakers are trying to bring it back to life. [Published on 02-29-2016]
Babies are the coolest
A Qwant comic on L1 acquisition
Radiolab: Words
A episode from the WNYC program Radiolab about language, covering topics like the emergence of Nicaraguan Sign Language, the critical period, and issues of language and cognition.