Abstract:

According to universal grammar, in the process of children’s language acquisition, there are many deficiencies in language stimuli, but children are nonetheless able to develop grammatical abilities, indicating the existence of an innate language acquisition mechanism in the brain. This hypothesis has been challenged by cognitive linguists, who believe that children’s understanding and use of language is based on general cognitive abilities, especially memory, abstraction, and reasoning. In recent years, experiments have revealed that children have excellent memory, abstraction, and reasoning abilities. Abstraction helps children to grasp grammar rules and acquire constructions through daily exposure to language materials, while reasoning helps children to use existing knowledge to acquire new knowledge, thereby enhancing their expressive abilities. This paper examines the actual process of children’s language acquisition and suggests that the acquisition of children’s language abilities is closely related to the quality and quantity of language input. The sources of language stimuli that children receive are extensive, and their richness, specificity, and frequency far exceed the imagination of the general public. Moreover, children’s language abilities interact with their conceptual and thinking abilities. These conceptual abilities can promote the development of language abilities, which in turn can further promote the development of thinking abilities.

Keywords: language acquisition; language ability; language input; stimulus poverty

摘要：

普遍语法学者认为，在儿童语言习得的过程中，虽然语言刺激存在许多缺陷，但儿童依然能够从这些充满缺陷的语言输入中获得语法能力，这说明人类大脑中存在一种先天的语言习得机制。这一假设遭到认知语言学的挑战。认知语言学认为，儿童对语言的理解和使用建立在一般认知能力的基础之上，特别是记忆能力、抽象能力和推理能力。近年来，学者们通过实验发现，儿童具有惊人的记忆力、抽象能力和推理能力。抽象能力帮助儿童通过日常接触的语料掌握语法规则，获得构式；推理能力则帮助儿童利用原有知识获得更多的新知识，从而增强其表达能力。本文通过对儿童实际语言习得过程的观察和研究，发现儿童语言能力的获得与语言输入的质和量有密切的关系。儿童获得的语言刺激来源广泛，其丰富性、针对性和高频次也远远超过一般人的想象。儿童的语言能力与其概念能力和思维能力相互影响：概念能力可以推动语言能力的发展，而语言能力的发展可以进一步推动思维能力的发展。

关键词: 语言习得, 语言能力, 语言输入, 刺激贫乏论