INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS SYNONYM

is a word that has the same, or nearly the same, meaning

SEMANTICS as another word. A synonym is a word, morpheme, or
Semantics – is a sub-discipline of Linguistics which phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another
focuses on the study of meaning. Semantics tries to word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For
understand what meaning is as an element of language example, in the English language, the words begin, start,
and how it is constructed by language as well as commence, and initiate are all synonyms of one another:
interpreted, obscured and negotiated by speakers and they are synonymous.
listeners of language. The field of linguistics is concerned
with the study of meaning in language. Linguistic ANTONYM
semantics has been defined as the study of how An antonym is a word that has an opposite definition
languages organize and express meanings. The term compared to that of another word.
semantics (from the Greek word for sign) was coined by
French linguist Michel Bréal (1832-1915), who is TYPES OF ANTONYM
commonly regarded as a founder of modern semantics. AUTO-ANTONYMS (CONTRONYMS) - auto-antonyms
(also referred to as contronyms) are words that have two
DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF MEANING OF A WORD OF meanings that are opposite of each other.
SEMANTICS:
A. Connotation – refers to the associations that are Take the word overlook as an example. It can mean “to
connected to a certain word or the emotional fail to notice something” or “to look over something or
suggestions related to that word. The connotative supervise”
meaning of a word exists in addition to the - We overlooked an error that caused a massive
denotative meanings. decrease in profits.
B. Denotative – the logical meaning, which indicates - Our boss had to overlook the sale of the
the essential qualities of a concept which products.
distinguish it from other concepts. Refers to the These two contradictory meanings make “overlook” an
literal meaning of a word, the 'dictionary auto-antonym.
definition.
A few more examples are:
AMBIGUITY Dust (verb): to clean or wipe the dust off a surface
Ambiguity is a statement or sentence which could have Dust (verb: to sprinkle a surface with a powder or dust
more than one possible interpretation, it is up to the
listener or reader to determine what the true Back up (phrasal verb): to support
interpretation could be. There are some statements Back up (phrasal verb): to retreat
which may be ambiguous when said alone but with
additional information, the ambiguity could be removed. Fine (adjective): of superior or high quality
Fine (adjective): acceptable or satisfactory
LEXICAL AMBIGUITY - occurs when a word has multiple
meanings, making the sentence unclear or confusing. GRADED ANTONYMS - graded (or gradable) antonyms are
those words that fall on the opposite sides of a spectrum
EXAMPLES: when referring to a specific quality. For example, hot and
➤ Give me the bat! cold have to do with temperature and are opposites.
➤ Penelope went to the bank.
Other examples of gradable antonyms include:
STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY - occurs when the structure of small — big (size)
a sentence makes it unclear which word or phrase a near — far (distance)
modifier is referring to. light — heavy (weight)

EXAMPLES: COMPLEMENTARY ANTONYMS - complementary

➤ A modern English textbook. antonyms (sometimes known as binary or contradictory
antonyms) offer no middle ground. In other words,
➤ I saw the man with the telescope.
something can be one or the other, but not both.
➤ He bought some blue books and pens.
For instance, you can be mortal or immortal, but it would EXAMPLE:
be impossible to be somewhere in the middle. polish: meaning ‘to clean until shiny’
Polish: as in ‘the language from Poland’.
A few more examples of complementary antonyms are:
vacant — occupied HETERONYMS - (also known as heterophones) are those
on — off words that have different meanings and pronunciation
yes — no but identical spelling.
EXAMPLE:
CONVERSE ANTONYMS - converse antonyms are also ‘desert’ - a noun meaning ‘a dry region of Earth
referred to as relational antonyms. These are a pair of ‘desert’ - a verb meaning ‘to abandon’
words that establishes a relationship from opposite
perspectives. HOMOGRAPHS - much like capitonyms, except that
there’s no difference in capitalisation, homographs are
Take the word overlook as an example. It can mean “to words which share different meanings but identical
fail to notice something” or “to look over something or spellings. How the words are pronounced is not
supervise” important to allocate the label ‘homograph’
EXAMPLE:
Here are a few more examples of converse antonyms: ‘bark’ - a verb meaning ‘the sound a dog makes
employee — employer ‘bark’ - a noun meaning ‘the skin of a tree
prey — predator
doctor — patient HOMOPHONES - have different meanings but identical
pronunciation, with no care for their spelling.
HYPONYM EXAMPLE:
➢ Hyponym is a term used to designate a particular ‘there’, ‘their’ and ‘they’re’
member of a broader class.
➢ Specific examples of a general word, group or COREFERENCE
classification. A relationship between two words or phrases in which
➢ It’s etymology from the Greek, "below" plus "name. both refer to the same person or thing and one stands as
" a linguistic antecedent of the other.
EXAMPLES
HYPERNYM AND HYPONYM • Syrus went to the store. He bought some groceries.
Hypernym Hyponym • Irene says she will always be grateful to Chelsie.
• Superordinate • Subordinate • Selena said Kathleen would arrive soon, and she
• Broader term • specific term did.
TYPES OF COREFERENCE
HOMONYM ANAPHORA - is the use of an expression whose
each of two or more words having the same spelling or interpretation depends upon another expression in
pronunciation but different meanings and origins. context (its antecedent)
EXAMPLE:
Where did Homonyms originate from? The music was so loud that it couldn't be enjoyed.
The word 'homonym' comes from the Greek word
'homonymos' which means 'having the same name'. The CATAPHORA - when the referring expression is pointing
prefix 'homo' means the same, and the suffix 'nym' forward then it is cataphora.
means name. Therefore, homonyms are two words that EXAMPLE:
look and/or sound exactly alike! If they are angry about the music, the neighbors will call
the cops.
TYPES OF HOMONYM
CAPITONYMS - the oddly named capitonym is when two SPLIT ANTECEDENTS - ss antecedent which consists of
words possess different meanings but have the same more than one noun phrase.
spelling, with pronunciation being unimportant. The only EXAMPLE:
difference between these words is that one word is Princess told Ericka to attend the party. They arrived
capitalised and the other is not, explaining their strange together.
name.
COREFERRING NOUN PHRASES - coreferring noun • The airport is fifteen kilometers from my house.
phrases are noun phrases in a text or discourse that refer That is too far for me to take you home.
to the same entity or entity type. That refers to the Airport.
EXAMPLE: • I plan to have a vacation to Bali after finishing my
The project leader is refusing to help. The jerk thinks only study. Probably, I’ll be there on November.
of himself. There refers to Bali

DEIXIS ENTAILMENT
The term “deixis” comes from the Greek word for Relationship that applies between two
“pointing” and “indicating”. It is a part of pragmatics sentences/propositions, where the truth of one implies
which has a simply meaning “pointing” via language or the truth of the other because of the meaning of the
asserting something via language. Any linguistics form words involve.
used to accomplish this pointing is called a deictic
expression. CHARACTERISTICS OF ENTAILMENT
➢ Entailment concerned with meaning of the
TYPES OF DEIXIS sentence itself.
PERSON DEIXIS - according to Yule (1996:10), person ➢ Purely logical (not a pragmatic concept)
deixis clearly operates on a basic three-part division, ➢ Entailment also happens when one set of objects is
examplified by pronouns for first person (I), second included in another. It may be seen as a kind of
person (You) and third person (she, he, it). Person deixis hyponymic relation,
involves the speaker (I) and the addressee (You). In ➢ Entailment can also involves the use of
conversation, each person constantly changes from being determiners.
I to being you. EXAMPLES:
EXAMPLES: A. Everyone passed the examination.
• I was late. B. No-one failed the examination.
• You arrived early. A II- B
• She saw a dog. A. Most Scientist are vegetarian.
B. At least one scientist is vegetarian.
TEMPORAL DEIXIS - according to Cruse (2000:321) A. Mary is John’s Wife
“temporal deixis functions to locate points or intervals on B. John is Married.
the time axis, using the moments of utterance as a
reference point”. There are three major divisions of the ORDERED ENTAILMENTS
time axis, they are: (1) before the moment of utterance, Bob ate three sandwiches.
(2) at the time of utterance, (3) after the time of the Someone ate three sandwiches.
utterance. The most basic temporal deictics in English are Bob did something to three sandwiches.
“now” and “then”. Bob ate three of something.
EXAMPLES: Something happened.
• Now, I am still a student.
• My uncle called me yesterday. • The speaker will necessarily produce large number
• Carl, my young brother, will give me some money of background entailments.
next week. • But, the speaker will indicate how these
entailments are to be ordered.
SPATIAL DEIXIS - concerns the specification of locations • By stress, and By special structures.
relative to anchorage in the speech event. The • The hearer will understand which entailment is
importance of location specification in general can be assumed to be more important for interpreting
gauged from the fact that there seem to be two basic intended meaning
ways of referring to objects - by describing or naming
them on the one hand and by locating them on the other. FOREGROUND ENTAILMENT - speaker indicate how
According to Cruse (2000:320) “spatial or place deixis entailments are to be ordered typically by stress for
manifests itself principally in the form of locative adverbs interpreting intended meaning.
such as ‘here’ and ‘there’ and demonstratives or
determiners such as “this” and “that”. A. Rover chased THREE squirrels.
EXAMPLES: B. ROVER chased three squirrels.
 THE STRUCTURAL PRESUPPOSITION - is conceptual
Cleft construction: Speaker can communicate what assumptions. In this case, these sentence structures have
he/she believes the listener may already be thinking been examined as conventionally and regularly assuming
that part of the structure is assumed to be true. One
It wasn’t me who took your money, would suggest that speakers may use these systems to
• To attribute the foreground entailment to the view knowledge as presumed (assumed to be true) and
listener without actually stating it (as a possible therefore to be recognized as valid by the listeners.
accusation)
THE COUNTER-FACTUAL PRESUPPOSITION - is
PRESUPPOSITION presupposed is not only true, but was the opposite of
Yule (2010) said that presupposition is something that is what is true, or contrary to facts.
assumed by the speaker as an event before generating a
speech. In addition Cummings (2009) said that A presupposition occurs when you base something on a
presuppositions are assumptions or inferences implicit in presumption.
certain linguistic expressions. Presupposition can be
found in utterance or sentence. PRAGMATICS
Speech Act Theory
FOR EXAMPLE IN THE UTTERANCE: “If I have a car, I will Theory of meaning that holds that the meaning of
come to your house” there is presupposition “I don’t linguistic expressions can be explained in terms of the
have a car” (le, 2010). rules governing their use in performing various speech
acts.
The presupposition is triggered by the word “if” that
indicated that the speak just had imaginative though that It was developed in 1975 by John Langshaw Austin. It
he or she has a car because of the word “if.” This studies how words are used to perform different types of
presupposition also called counter factual actions.
presupposition.
THE CONDITIONS
According to Cruse (2000), Presupposition is an ESSENTIAL CONDITION - this means that you say what
important role in the production and comprehension of you say, that both speaker and hearer take the utterance
speech act. to be.

For example: “My brother has a big house” (Cruse, 2000) SINCERITY CONDITION - the means that you mean what
you say, that both speaker and hearer take the utterance
It presupposes that “he has a brother, and his brother is to be intentional to accurately represent the wish of the
rich.” speaker and the hearer’s understanding that the
utterance express.
TYPES OF PRESUPPOSITION
THE EXISTENTIAL PRESUPPOSITION - is assumed to be PREPARATORY CONDITION - this mean that you can do
either present in constructional possessive. what you say, that both speaker and hearer agree that it
is situationally appropriate for you perform the speech
THE FACTIVE PRESUPPOSITION - since some words are act.
used in the sentences to denote cts, such as, regret, glad,
odd, know, realize and aware. Searle’ s Classifications of Speech Act
ASSERTIVE - the speaker expresses belief about the truth
THE NON-FACTIVE PRESUPPOSITION - is the contrast of of a proposition.
factive presupposition. It is assumed not to be true. Verbs
like dream, imagine and pretend are used with the DIRECTIVES - the speaker tries to make the addressee
presupposition that what follows is not true. perform an action.

THE LEXICAL PRESUPPOSITION - is the use of form with COMMISSIVES - commits the speaker to doing something
its asserted meaning is conventionally interpreted with in the future.
the presupposition that another meaning is understood.
EXPRESSIVES - the speaker expresses his/her feelings or PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
emotional reactions. Psycholinguistics is an integration of two disciplines;
psychology and linguistics. Psychology is the study of
DECLARATIVES - brings a change in the external situation. mind and behavior; linguistics is the study of language.
So, in general, psycholinguistics can be defined as the
Speech act theory suggests that the meaning of what we study of mind and language.
say is influenced by the type of speech it is, the structure
of the utterance, and the context in which it is used. PROPONENTS OF PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
Through speech acts, the speaker can convey physical Burrhus Frederic Skinner
action merely through words and phrases. There are •Famously known as B.F. Skinner
three types of acts in the speech acts, they are •American psychologist
locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary. • Published “Verbal Behavior,” a 1957 book

Locutionary Acts - occurs when the speaker performs an BEHAVIORIST THEORY OF LANGUAGE
utterance (locution), which has a meaning in the A theory that posits language is learned and developed
traditional sense. This act happens with the utterance of through conditioning and reinforcement.
a sound, a word, or even a phrase as a natural unit of
speech. Operant Conditioning - where behaviors are associated
with consequences to shape future actions.
Illocutionary Acts - it is not just saying something itself,
but the act of saying something with the intention of; COMPONENTS OF OPERANT CONDITIONING:
- stating an opinion, confirming, or denying 1.Stimulus
something 2. Response
- making a prediction, a promise or a request 3. Reinforcement
- issuing an order or a decision 4. Repetition
- giving advice or permission
Operant Conditioning can be summarized thus:
Perlocutionary Acts - the effect that an utterance has on Stimulus > Response > Reinforcement > Repetition
the thoughts, feelings or attitudes of the listener. The
response may not necessarily be physical or verbal and Jacob Kantor
elicited by: INTERBEHAVIORISM
- Inspiring or insulting It is the interaction between the organism and stimuli
- Persuading or convincing which is the environment.
- Deterring or scaring
5 FACTORS OF INTERBEHAVIORISM
CONVERSATIONAL MAXIMS 1. ORGANISM
It is a set of principles proposed by philosopher Paul 2. THE STIMULUS
Grice to explain how speakers and listeners cooperate to 3. MEDIA STIMULATION
create successful communication. 4. SETTING FACTORS
5. INTERBEHAVIORAL HISTORY
4 TYPES OF MAXIMS
MAXIMS OF QUALITY - Be truthful. Only say that for Jerome Bruner
which you have adequate evidence. He believed that children construct knowledge through
active experience with the world around th
MAXIMS OF QUANTITY - Provide as much information as
required. Do not provide more information than is JEROME BRUNER’S INTERACTIONIST THEORY
required. DISCOVERY LEARNING THEORY
➢ he proposes that learners construct their own
MAXIMS OF RELATION - Be relevant. knowledge and do this by organizing and
categorizing information using coding system
MAXIMS OF MANNER - Avoid ambiguity. Avoid obscure
expressions. Be logical in order of expression. Avoid
superfluous expressions.
 ➢ under this theory, bruner believed that the most UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR
effective way to develop a coding system is by • A set of innate principles and adjustable parameters
discovering rather than being told that are common to all human languages
SCAFFOLDING THEORY •Focuses on the structural relationships rather than
➢ learners are provided with support while learning linear order of the words
new skill or knowledge interactionist theory
➢ while children are naturally able to pick up Jean Piaget
language, in order for them to become fully fluent •Swiss psychologist and biologist
in it, they also need to engage in a lot of direct •Cognitive Development Theory
communication with others. JEAN PIAGET'S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY
It proposes that children progress through distinct stages
Noam Chomsky of cognitive development, each characterized by specific
• Born on December 07 1928 at Pennysylvania, USA. thought patterns and language abilities.
• An American Linguist, Cognitive Scientist,
Philosopher Historian, political Activist, And Social THE FOUR STAGES:
Critic. ➢ SENSORI-MOTOR STAGE (birth to 2 years)
- children experience the world through senses and
➢ He said that every child is born with a biological movement.
predisposition to learn language-any language.
➢ He is the mind of the idea of a language organ. ➢ PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE (2 to 7 years)
Which is also known as The Language Acquisition - children can think about things symbolically
Device (LAD)
➢ Children have been observed to pick up grammar ➢ CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (7 to 11 years)
and syntac without any formal teaching (spoken - children begin to think logically about concrete
language) event.
➢ He also noted that children observe and seek
patterns in the language samples which surround ➢ FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (11 years and beyond)
them. - children understand the abstract and deductive
NATIVIST THEORY OF LANGUAGE reasoning.
The nativist theory was sometimes called and innatist
theory. It's name originates from its core assertion that THEORIES
there are innate structures within human brains which Behaviorism Theory
provide us with our capacity for language. Interactionist Theory
NOAM CHOMSKY THEORY OF LANGUAGE Nativist Theory
➢ Acquisition is innately determined that we are born Cognitive Theory
with a built-in device of some kind that
predisposed us to language acquisition PSYCHOLINGUISTICS APPROACH
➢ Humans are born with pre-wired structures in the In his study, (Harmer 2001) noted that: The term
brain. "approach" describes how practices and guiding
➢ The Brain having Language Acquisition Device that principles in language education are derived from ideas
fades at the age of 12 or puberty stage. regarding the nature of language and language learning.
➢ Children's brain contain a Language Acquisition
Device which holds the grammatical universal. An approach's primary realization is called a method.
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE (LAD) Various processes and techniques are included in
➢ The natural biological acquire and develop stage is methods.
represented by the language acquisition device. 1. NATURAL METHOD
➢ He offered an explanation for why kids can pick up - This method believes that language learning is a
any human language within a few years of birth if reproduction of the way humans naturally acquire
they are exposed to it. their native language.
➢ It is thought that a child's process of learning a Psycholinguistic Principles:
language involves understanding which universal a. Learning in the Natural
grammar rules apply to the language that they are b. Developing Communicative Competence
learning. c. Comprehension Emphasis
2. TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE METHOD High and Low prestige varieties
- The Total Physical Response (TPR) Method Ferguson named the English language variety used in a
emphasizes the involvement of the kinesthetic sensory formal situation and most written and formal purposes
system in language learning. as high (H) variety, while the regional dialect that is used
Psycholinguistic Principles: in daily conversations as low (L) variety.
a. Kinesthetic Learning
Social Network
3. SUGGESTOPEDIA Understanding language in society means that one also
Suggestopedia focuses on creating a relaxed has to understand the social networks in which language
atmosphere to enhance memory retention. is embedded. A social network is another way of
Psycholinguistic Principles: describing a particular speech community in terms of
a. Relaxed Learning relations between individual members in a community. A
b. Classroom Setup network could be loose or tight depending on how
c. Dialogue Characteristics members interact with each other (Wardhaugh,
2002:126-127)
SOCIOLINGUISTIC
The study between language and society. Internal vs. external language
In Chomskian linguistics, a distinction is drawn between
Sociolinguistics - is the study of inter relationships of I-language (internal language) and E-language (external
language and social structure, linguistics variation and language). In this context, internal language applies to
attitudes toward language. It is any set of linguistics the study of syntax and semantics in language on the
form which pattern according to social factors. abstract level; as mentally represented knowledge in a
native speaker. External language applies to language in
Sociolinguistics divided into two: social contexts, i.e. behavioral habits shared by a
community.
MACRO-SOCIOLINGUISTIC - the study of language
related to how the society treats language. LANGUAGE VARIATION
MICRO-SOCIOLINGUISTIC - the study of language in ➢ Language variety refers to the various forms of
relation to society deals with small group of people in language triggered by social factors.
certain community. ➢ Language may changes from region to region, from
one social class to another, from individual to
individual, and from situation to situation. This
TWO BRANCHES OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS actual changes result in the varieties of language.
INTERACTIONIST SOCIOLINGUISTS - focus on language in
its social context, the language used in interaction by DIALECT VS LANGUAGE
closely observing a “speech event” in a particular • A language is a structured system of communication, a
community code with a standardized set of grammar rules.
VARIATIONIST SOCIOLINGUISTICS - is a methodological • A language can be verbal, gestural, or written.
and analytical approach to understanding the
relationship between language and its context of use. • A dialect is not a language; it is a subset of a language.
• A dialect is usually verbal, not written.
• A dialect is spoken by a certain group of people who
FOUR FUNDAMENTALS CONCEPT IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS have something in common.
1. Speech Community is a concept in sociolinguistics
that describes a more or less discrete group of people DIALECTS
who use language in a unique and mutually accepted Dialects are regional or social varieties of language
way among themselves. distinguished by pronounciation, grammar, and
Speech communities can be members of a profession vocabularity. These variations occur different
with a specialized jargon, distinct social groups like high geographical areas and within different social groups.
school students or hip hop fans, or even tight-knit groups Dialects can be associated with a particular place, social
like families and friends. Members of speech class or ethnicity.
communities will often develop slang or jargon to serve
the group's special purposes and priorities.
TYPES OF DIALECTS • They can discriminate speech sounds from
Regional Dialects - are variations of a language that are nonspeech sounds.
specific to a particular geographical region. These • This stage of language perception/hearing in the
dialects can vary in terms of pronounciation, vocabulary womb is essential for language acquisition after
and grammar. They develop due to the isolation and birth.
interaction of communities within a specific area.
BABBLING STAGE
Social Dialects - social dialects also known as sociolects • At this stage, infants begin to explore the properties
are variations of a language that are associated with a of sounds through production.
particular social group of class. These dialects can reflect • The sounds of early babbling are universal. However,
factors such as education, occupation and socioeconomic by the time a child reaches the age of 8 months, a
status. drift occurs in the characteristics of babbling (Helms-
Park, 2018).
ISOGLOSS
a linguistic term that refers to a geograpical boundary line TYPES OF BABBLING
separating regions or areas where different linguistic Canonical Babbling - is the duplication of the same
features are used. syllables
EXAMPLE: "da-da-da", "ma-ma-ma"
VARIOUS TYPES OF ISOGLOSS
1. an Isophone is a feature of pronunciation. Variegated Babbling - is the repetition of different vowel
ISOPHONE - is a line in a map that represents areas where and consonant combination syllables.
a particular language or dialect is spoken. EXAMPLE: "da-pa-pa-da", "ma-ga-ga-me"

2. Isomorph feature of word formation. Jargon Babbling - is when the babbling begins to sound
ISOMORPH - a linguistic structures that have similar like a conversation.
forms or functions across different languages. EXAMPLE: "ba-ba", "ma-ma"

3. Isolex an item vocabulary. ONE-WORD STAGE

ISOLEX - in linguistics refers to the limits or boundaries of • During this stage, children begin to acquire and
a lexical item or word. produce real words of their native languages.
• At this stage, children know the meanings of words
There are numerous example of vocabulary differences that they say, as speaking is often accompanied by
that can be marked by isolex. finger-pointing (Helms-Park, 2018).
1. Regional food terms Functions
2. Regional Slang - Express emotions
3. Names for clothing items - Request a desired action
4. Regionalisms - Name objects
5. Loanwords
TWO-WORD STAGE
4. Isoseme a particular word meaning. • Typically occurs at the age of 18 to 24 months.
ISOSEME - refers to the limits or boundaries of a semantic • Using two-word phrases in their speech.
features associated with a particular word or lexical item. • Begin to string together two words to create basic
sentences.
• The sentences produced consist primarily of nouns,
CHILD ACQUISITION LANGUAGE
verbs, etc.
Learning is a conscious and deliberate process.
• Tend to use the correct grammatical sequence in
Acquisition is a subconscious and implicit process.
their sentences.
STAGES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
MULTI-WORD STAGE
PRE-BIRTH STAGE
• Utterances become more grammatically complex.
• Language acquisition begins well before a child is
• They start to include function words and use more
born.
complete sentence structures.
EARLY MULTI-WORD STAGE Approaches and Methods to Language Learning
• Typically starts at 24 months and ends at 30 months Approach - refers to the set of principles, beliefs or ideas
old. about the nature of learning which is translated into the
• There is a clear progression from the previous two- classroom.
word stages.
Method - is a systematic way of doing something. It
LATER MULTIWORD STAGE implies an orderly logical arrangement of steps. It is more
• Starts at the age of 30 months and has no definite procedural.
endpoint.
• A child will go through before achieving native Direct Method - in this method, the teaching is done
proficiency in their language. entirely in the language being learned.

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Grammar-Translation - in this method, learning is largely

BEHAVIORIST THEORY - B.F. Skinner by translation to and from the target language.
His theory of children acquiring language through
intereacting with their environment. Audio-lingual Method - it is a method used for teaching
foreign language where students are made to listen to
Language is acquired through principles of conditioning, the language first and then speak later in order to learn
including association, imitation, and reinforcement. the target language.
- This Method is also known as the New Key or Army
COGNITIVE THEORY - Jean Piaget Method: Originated during the World War II - US
Acquisition of knowledge within the context of a child's Government set up the Army Specialized Training
mental or cognitive development. Program.
- Professor Nelson Brooks of Yale University coined
Language acquisition is part of learning as a whole and the word Audiolingualism in 1964.
children need different support at different ages. - This Method is based on Behaviourism: language
learning should become automatic habit formation
NATIVIST THEORY - Noam Chomsky through drill and pattern practice.
His theory proposed that all children are born with an - Main objective of the Audio-lingual method is to
innate language acquisition device that allows them to help learners acquire accurate pronunciation.
learn any language. UG & LAD - Behavirrist focuses on words, Audio-lingual
method focuses on structure.
INTERACTIONIST THEORY - Jerome Bruner
His theory proposed that language exist for a purpose of Characteristics of Audio-lingual Method
communication and can only be learned on the context - Based on the principle of 'habit-formation' through
of interaction. repetition and drill.
- 'Ear-training' in order to develop speaking
INTERACTIONIST THEORY - Lev Vygotsky proficiency.
His theory proposed the concept of scaffolding, wherein - Focus on listening and speaking skills.
community and language play a central part in learning. - Memorization of set phrases and sentences while
focusing on intonation and correct pronunciation.
- No clear grammatical explanations are given
- Reinfocements play an important role.
- Use of language laboratory is helpful in this method.

Merits of Audio-lingual Method

- Importance is given to listening and speaking.
- Reinforcements are used appropriately.
- Correct pronunciation and structure are emphasized
and acquired.
- It is grounded on a solid theory of learning, i.e., the
Behaviorist Theory.