Exploratory task 2.3

Mark the following sentences as + core grammar, -+ peripheral grammar, - ungrammatical phrases

Sentences

+ -+ -

I did not realize how comfortable I was I did not realize how I was uncomfortable He raised the find for to help the Indians They had policeman to stop the bus How many do you want oranges? Who did John give the book to? If it would rain the concert will be canceled If they would cancel the concert we would be in the rain I remember he read me the book He stayed put You must make do anyway Said the Prime Minister how upset he was

Exploratory task 2.4

Analyze the following sentences from the point of their complexity and attribute them to the elementary “E”, intermediate “I” or advanced “A” language level. Pay attention to the choice of words, the complexity of sentence structures, the topic of the conversation.

Sentences	Language level “E” “I” or “A”
Hi. This is Paul. How’s it going?
What’s in the box? - It’s my new pet
Kangaroos can jump 9 meters. They can jump very high.
We’ve heard a lot about the way rain forests are destroyed.
Could you check oil and tires for me?
I’ve had a terrible backache all week. – Hope you feel better soon.
Can I have this packet of sweets, please?
A white shark isn’t very nice. It is very big – 6 meters long

Transformational grammar studies the way people understand the deep meaning of sentences such as "My father's father's father's brother come over from Scotland". Another real-world example is a phrase like "This man is the father of my sister's husband's half-brother". To get to the deep meaning one has to perform a number of transformations "from the surface to the depth" of meaning: "You have a sister and she is married. Her husband has a half-brother … etc). If a person has enough experience in dealing with "deep" sentences, they can get the message at once, reading it "from the surface" without transformations. E.g. "Sorry, sold out!" (Aitchison, J. 1999. P. 209).

Exploratory task 2.5

What transformations do you have to make in order to understand these phrases? Count the number of transformations (new sentences) you need to make in order to understand the original sentence clearly. Rate the sentences in order of difficulty for comprehension. Some examples of transformations have been done for you.

Sentences	Transformations	Rank
A/ Thank you for the present	You gave me a present. I am saying “thank you” for this.
B/ The book that you gave me that I asked you to find for me is now back at the library
C/ The job has been done very fast by the workers and they are now expecting to be paid well.	The workers worked very fast. They completed the job …
D/ Rolling stones in the mountains can be very dangerous.
E/ The daughter of my friend’s nephew who is the son of the famous artist is now my daughter-in-law	My friend has a nephew …

Acquisition of linguistic competence

Linguistic competence is "the system of knowledge that underlies the use and understanding of language" (Chomsky, N. 1986. Knowledge of Language: It's Nature, Origin and Use. N.Y. P. 24). This could involve acting without any conscious rules (e.g. a spider can spin a web without knowing any rules but following the biologically in-built programme). (Aitchison, J. 1999. The Articulate Mammal. An Introduction to Psycholinguistics. L.,N.Y.P.180-182. Harley,T. 1997. The Psychology of Language. Psychology Press. P.141). Linguistic competence starts with the development of the Universal Grammar i.e. basic grammar structures that are typical of all the language in the world and all the language users in their young age. Then Generative Grammar develops and the young language users become competent in how to extend the sentence and add more elements to it. Transformation Grammar makes children competent in comprehending a deep meaning of the sentence. The growth of the "linguistic competence tree" is shown below:

Exploratory task 2.6

Consider the following principles of the Natural Approach to language teaching and tick off  those principles that truly describe natural language acquisition process. Give the reasons.

Principles of Natural Approach	
Language acquisition is an unconscious process of developing competence in a foreign language
In the language users’ minds there exists a Monitor mechanism to self-correct language errors
Acquisition of language proceeds in a predictable order with some typical language appearing before others
Language input should be comprehensible and slightly beyond the current level of learners’ competence
Language acquisition is more successful if there is low anxiety in the learners

(After Krashen, S. and T.Terrell. 1983. The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom. Oxford: Pergamon)

Orders and sequences in grammar acquisition

All children pass through a series of more or less fixed stages as the progress in their language. The language milestones are reached by children in the same order:

Language stage	Age
Instinctive crying Cooing with vowels Babbling with consonants Using intonation patterns One-word utterances Two-word utterances Word inflections Questions and negatives Complex constructions Mature speech	Birth 6 weeks 6 months 8 months One year Eighteen months Two years Two-and-a-half years Five years Ten years

(Aitchison, J. 1999. The Articulate Mammal. An Introduction to Pscholinguistics. L. N.Y.P. 76).

There appears to be a "natural order" of language acquisition. Within the boxes some changes are possible but the “boxes” follow in the given succession.

-ing plural copula be

auxiliary verb article

irregular past

regular past 3rd singular possessive

This acquisition order looks very close to the natural acquisition order of native English.

Present progressive –ing plural –s past irregular possessive 's uncontractible copula be articles a/the past regular –ed third person regular –s uncontractible auxiliary be contractible copula be contractible auxiliary be

(Clark, H. and E.Clark. 1977. Psychology and Language: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics. N.Y. )

Unlike acquisition order, which shows the acquisition of morphemes, acquisition or developmental sequences are the steps leading to acquisition of a particular structure. A typical example of an acquisition sequence is the development of the negation structure. It consists of a number of steps and each step is characterized by a certain change in the phrase with a negative particle. This developmental sequence is given in the table:

Stage	Description	Example
1 2 3 4	External negation ("no" or "not" is placed at the beginning of the utterance) Internal negation ("no" or "not" is placed between the subject and the main verb) Negative attachment to modal verbs Negative attachment to auxiliary verbs	No you playing here. No very good. She not coming today. I no play. I no can swim. I can't play. I won't go He did not said.

The development of question structures.

Stage	Sample utterance
Rising intonation Non-inverted WH + auxiliary Over-inversion Differentiation	He work today? What he (is) saying? Do you know where is it? Does she like where she lives?

Exploratory task 2.7

Direct intervention in the child’s language has relatively little effect on children. Attempts to try and change the child's language often fail as shown in the example of the following interchange between a father and a child. Analyze the conversation below and write your observation notes in the space provided. What was the father’s intention and how did the child react? :

Child: want other one spoon daddy

Father: you mean you want the other spoon?

Child: Yes I want the other one spoon please Daddy

Father: Can you say "the other spoon"?

Child: other… one… spoon

Father: say "other"

Child: other

Father: spoon

Child: spoon

Father: "other spoon"

Child: other … spoon now give me other one spoon (cited by Aitchison, J. 1999. The Articulate Mammal. An Introduction to Psycholinguistics. L., N.Y. P. 70).

Observation notes: