Final Paper
Sammy Péladeau
Professor Natalie Lachance
502-496-DW Interactive Activity
4 March 2022
The mind games of languages:
a neurolinguistic analysis of age in language acquisition.
It is our ability to speak languages in order to communicate that sets us apart from other species; but so few people know how to navigate this area that makes us humans. The left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for a multitude of elements, such as reading, writing, and calculating. (Yule 186) It is also called the logical side of the brain. It is the left part that is responsible for us talking. So how does it work and what are the factors that affect the function of this area? How do we acquire a language? Or two? Does age have any influence on how we learn? Age is a significant ingredient in language acquisition. Probably one of the predominant factors. But there is still a debate going on about the age factor in language acquisition. That maybe motivation and environment play a more important role. But we cannot help how our brains are wired. So, despite of previous research and opinions, it is clear that your age has an impact your brain’s ability to learn a second language. I will prove this by explaining how the left hemisphere works when we speak and how it affects our daily lives, showing how first language acquisition works in the brain, and show research on the relation between age and second language acquisition.
To begin with, we need to understand how language function in the brain and address the evident differences between bilingual and unilingual brains. The Wernicke’s and the Boca’s area are responsible for all of core language function. (Yule 188) Both areas are situated close to the left ear. The Broca’s area is responsible for producing language. It will put the words and sentences together, make sure we are comprehensible, and will be responsible for choosing the language in which we communicate. It will also choose if you speak one, two, or even three languages in the same sentence and will make them make sense together. (Yule 195) The Wernick’s area is responsible of the comprehension of language. So, it will decode the languages when we hear them and make sure to sent it to the Broca’s area so we can produce an adequate response. (Yule 196) In the first chapter of her book Introduction to Neurolinguistic, Elizabeth Ahlsén explains the principle of associationism, the concept that explains that any higher brain function, such as remembering or speaking, are dependent of the connections made between different areas in the cerebral cortex. (11) So, together, those regions of the brain will make it possible for us to communicate, but, even if just one is affected, we will lose some functions in the speaking department. Even it is your Broca’s area that’s affected, you might have issues understanding when your are spoken to. Everything is connected. Depending on how many languages you speak, the laterality, alias the activity in your brain, will appear differently. Even if languages are all processed in the same area, languages will be handled differently depending on which you are talking. (Paradis 101) For example, if we take a picture of a unilingual brain, a great part of the left hemisphere of your brain will be active, since the area only have one language to deal with. So, if we take a picture of unilingual brains, the entirety of the Broca’s and Wenick’s will be active. But in a multilingual brain, the area will be divided in between all of the languages you speak/understand. So, only a part of it will be active, depending on which language you are speaking. The quantity of languages you can use will also affect your personality and friend group. Research says that the number of languages we speak will affect our world view and the way we act. (Gitterman and Sies 329) Like with anything, when choosing your friends, you try and find people that resemble you. So, bilinguals with tend to go towards each other to match their world view. Languages are something you can relate about. Since being multilingual affects your brain activity, it will directly affect who you are. The Wernick’s and the Broca’s area work together to allow us to use language as a way of communication. They also form part of our personality and help us make friends. Those area are the one that give us the capacity to acquire languages and makes us humans.
Now, let's see how first language acquisition works, and which factors are built into our brain from a young age. From the youngest age, we communicate with language. Might just be a series of sounds at the beginning, but they are used to communicate intentions and needs to our caretakers. To become a fluent speaker, you must go through five stages: cooing, babbling, one word-stage, two-word stage and telegraphic speech. (Gu and Harris 2) Those stage spread themselves from the first few months of our life, to two and half years of age, meaning by that time, most kids have acquired a language. Contrary to popular beliefs, it as been studied that we are born with language capacities in our brain. In his textbook called The Study of Language, Doctor Yule, a renown linguist, talks about the principle of overgeneralization. It is the phenomenon where children start applying grammar rules before being able to understand them. (217) It is called overgeneralization because kids will apply those grammars rules on words that do not need them. For example, 2 years old children will put ‘s’ on everything plural, like ‘mans’ or ‘foots’. Sometimes, they will also add the plural ‘s’ to verbs when talking about more than one person. (218) This shows that they have no real understanding of the rule, they just instinctively know that they need to put an ’s’ at the end of a plural word. This will happen around the 18 months mark. Another thing that supports the theory that humans are born with the capacity of speech is the way children react to correction when speaking. Even if you correct a child, they will most likely repeat the exact same thing they said right before. Mister Paradis used a conversation between a mom and her toddler as an example in his textbook. The child used the term ‘holded’, and his mom corrected him by telling him to say ‘held’. But the child’s truth was that you said ‘holded’, so he did not care about the correction and continued using the wrong form of the word. (Paradis 8) But, once again, the toddler was too young to understand why we add ‘ed’ at the end of a past tense verb. So, how did he know? This can be seen as overgeneralization, like the use of the plural ‘s’, but verb rules are much harder to comprehend, as children have hardly any time reference. (Gu and Harris 4) Studies demonstrate that infants possess a capacity to differentiate between phonetic variations in every language. (Aktan-Erciyes) What that means, is that at a young age, we are like a blank canvas, ready to receive any phonetic sets presented to us. And, depending on which language our environment speaks, your brain will start selecting which set of phonemes it needs to keep, and which ones to forget, making us capable to speak particular languages. At the age of 6 months, infants can recognise their name or words such as ‘mom’ and ‘dad’. This proves that, by the age of 6 months, our Wernick’s area is already completely functional, and that we are ready to speak a complete language, we just do not have the vocabulary to do so yet. (Yule 220) Our brain will then go on and acquire those words to be able to produce speech. Our brain has an inborn capacity to acquire language. We, as human, are born to speak. Being young makes it easier for us to absorb our first language, but how does it affect our capacity to acquire another one?
Lastly, let's look at the hypotheses supporting the idea that ageing affects the brain's capacity to absorb a second language, because, contrary to what certain research says, it is apparent that it does. The authors of Early and Late Talkers: School-Age Language, Literacy and Neurolinguistic Differences wrote: “Early language development sets the stage for a lifetime if competence in the language and literacy.” (par 4) At a young age, our brains are like sponges. No wonder why when you say a bad word around a kid, they repeat it in the seconds following. The younger we learn, the better we will be at it. But why is it easier for younger people than for older people? In language, there is a critical period. Most research says it is between the age of 5 and puberty. (Frost and al) Past that period, second language acquisition becomes significantly harder, therefore less successful. It is possible to learn a language after that period. But then other factors, such as motivation will come and play a much bigger role. Later learners can excel at writing it and will be understood when speaking, but getting to that level will take more time than for a child. “The main factors in L2 acquisition are motivation and environment, no matter for who.” (Robinson and Ellis 95) That what is believed by some researchers. But a late L2 learner will probably never be able to reach native-like accent, kids can. For late learners, the sound set from their L1 will always affect the way they speak their second language. (Yule 238) An accent is almost impossible to lose after the critical period. Once you are past puberty, your brain is so used to speaking with one set of phonemes, or set of sounds if you will, that it refers to that particular set even when speaking aother languages, occasioning accents. (Yule 240) Learning a language is not only learning words, but also learning ways of speech. For example, for Spanish learners, it will be 2 or 3 times harder for them to learn how and to naturally role their “r” if they are past the critical period. When tested, it was also harder for them to learn a short list of vocabulary. (Costa 65) Their brain could not make the associations as fast as younger people. When compared to each other, the 7 to 15 age group had higher level of performance than the division of ‘late-talkers’. And that was both in the written and the oral department. (Frost and al) One of the reasons why it is easier for younger people to acquire a second language is because the brain is still in the period where it is ready to acquire any sets of phonemes. People in the critical period have an advantage. Their brain has not yet grown out of the capacities set to acquire their fist language. As kids, our brains are set to register any sets of phonemes. As we grow up, this ability erases slowly, making it harder for us to acquire another language, as we grow older.
So, age affects your brain’s capacity to acquire a second language. Now, we know that the brain relies on connections for us to speak, but that if only one of the zones in our brain is damaged, it will affect all of the other areas that are even slightly related. Our brain has an inborn capacity to acquire our first language, but that as we grow up, we grow out of some of those features. The brain is a beautiful but complicated organ that create who we are. We are not sure on why there is a degradation of the language assets in our brain. There is nothing else but theories on why as we grew up, our brain has more difficulty to learn languages. But with the brain, it is often like that. It is so particular that there are not many ways to be 100% sure about anything. And now, you have a greater understanding of this area that make us humans.
Work Cited:
Ahlsén, Elisabeth. “The development of theories about brain and language.”Introduction to Neurolinguistics, John Benjamins Publishing Co. 2006, pp.9-20
Aktan-Erciyes, Asli. "Understanding Language Acquisition: Neural Theory of Language." Understanding Language Acquisition: Neural Theory of Language. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 2021
Costa, Albert. "How does bilingualism sculpt the brain?" The Bilingual brain: and what it tells us about the science of language. Penguins Book, 2019, pp.59-67
Frost, Stephen J, et al. “Early and Late Talkers: School-Age Language, Literacy and Neurolinguistic Differences." Oxford University Press, Aug 2011.
Gitterman, Martin R., Luther F. Sies. “Neurolinguistic Processing and Brain Function: A General Semantics Perspective.” I nstitute of General Semantics, vol. 46, no. 4, Feb 1989, pp.328-333.
Gu, Lingyun and John G. Harris. "An HMM-Based system for Training of Second Language Acquisition" Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, 2003, pp.1-4
Paradis, Michel. "Chapter 1: Components of verbal communication, implicit and explicit memory." A Neurolinguistic Theory of Bilingualism, John Benjamins Publishing,2004, pp. 7-14
Paradis, Michel. "Chapter 4: Cerebral lateralization and localization." A Neurolinguistic Theory of Bilingualism, John Benjamins Publishing,2004, pp. 97-104
Robinson, Peter and Nick C. Ellis. "An English speaker learns the French word chat." Handbook of Cognitive linguistics and Second Language Acquisition, Aoyama Gakuin University and The University of Michigan, 2008, p. 95-97
Yule, George. "The Language and the Brain." The Study of Language, Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp. 184-199.
Yule, George. “First Language Acquisition.” The Study of Language, Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp. 215-226
Yule, George. "Second Language Acquisition/Learning." The Study of Language, Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp. 233-241.