Part 2. General psycholinguistic patterns of language learning by children

There are several theories of language learning. We characterize the main ones.

One of the “oldest” is the theory of imitation. She has supporters in the present. The essence of the theory: the child hears patterns of speech of others and imitates these patterns.

This theory, in our opinion, is not sufficiently convincing and "exhaustive." We give only some objections. Even from a large mass of various single-word sentences that adults use and the child hears (we leave aside other syntactic structures), among the first sentences he most often, almost naturally, “chooses” [227] statements like “Mama”, “Papa”, “ Baba "," Aunt "," Uncle "," Grandfather "," Give "[" dai], "On" and some others. On this objection, the followers of the theory of imitation, in particular, give the following argument: the first words and sentences are supposedly composed of the most simple articular sounds, and the articulation of these sounds is a child s an opportunity to perceive visually. [228]

However, there is still no clear definition of the criteria for articulatory complexity (simplicity) of sounds and their hierarchy by this attribute. There is no reason to say that, for example, sound [d] is more complicated or simpler than sound [b], although the latter usually appears before sound [d]; in the same way, there is no reason to assert that sound [l] is simpler or more complicated [r], a [f] is simpler or more complicated [h], and so on.

The point, of course, is not articulatory "simplicity" or "complexity" of sounds, especially in their "observability" or "non-observability" (blind children, who have no other anomalies, assimilate sounds in the same sequence as sighted ones). The point is the functional significance of sounds for the formation of a phonetic (more precisely, phonemic) system of language. Sounds [a], [o], [i]; [m], [р], [b], [t>], [t], [d], [d>], [n] appear first not because they are much "simpler" than others in articulatory terms, but because the most contrasting ([a] - [o]; [p] - [a]; [p] - [t]; [p] - [t]; [t>] - [d>]; and so on. etc.) and serve as a necessary base for the formation of other sounds (more precisely, phonemes). With the help of these basic sounds (phonemes), the child is able to build the first words-sentences of a codified language and communicate, seeking to satisfy their needs (biological or social). [229]

At the same time, numerous targeted observations of language ontogenesis and experimental studies have shown the inconsistency of the theory of imitation (275, 278, 284, etc.). So, in particular, it was proved that children, as a rule, do not use those sentences (syntactic structures) that they hear from the mother. If the “average” child, say, 18–20 months, is asked to repeat the words “doll”, “sits”, “on”, “table”, then he will do it (of course, with the specific pronunciation of most words). However, having the ability to repeat isolated words, the child cannot repeat the sentence "The doll sits on the table." He will say: “Doll” or “Doll sits” or “Doll table” and not otherwise, because at this age the syntactic and semantic components of its linguistic mechanism “work” in this way, and no imitation can change this mechanism (to special cases include “parrot” phrases of children). [230] In addition, words that at the insistence of adults the child repeats, he at the indicated age (and earlier), as a rule, does not include independent speech.

The second theory is the theory of inborn language knowledge, quite “young” and popular in the last three or four decades. Proponents of this theory (239, 275, and others), as mentioned earlier (see § 1 of this chapter), believe that a child is born with some genetically determined knowledge of the “universals of the language”: the semantic, syntactic, lexical, phonetic and other Society, however, plays only the role of a kind of “push” or “activator” in the “launching” of the innate linguistic mechanism.

It seems that the idea of ​​an innate ability to various kinds of symbolization ( symbolic notation) in this theory is productive. The idea of ​​the innate universals of the language is probably productive, especially since some of them (at least a number of semantic and syntactic “rules”) are associated with mental universals (thinking, emotions, etc.). [231]

At the same time, the peculiarities of different languages ​​and different cultures, in the “social environment” of which the child masters the language, demonstrate to us the peculiarity of mastering the language as an integral system and the peculiarity of mastering its particular components (syntactic, lexical, phonetic, etc.) by children of different nationalities. [ 232] Consequently, not only innate factors determine the ontogeny of language and speech activity in general. A significant role in the child's speech development belongs to social factors , in particular, to the specifics of the language that the child learns.

Finally, another theory of language learning, which will be discussed and largely shared by the authors of this book, is the socio-biological theory . Its main content is that the child, possessing an innate ability to symbolize (including linguistic) and receiving material from an adult from one or another language, “processes” it and, as it develops, actively and to a large extent independently assimilates a number of successive ones. “childish” language systems, gradually bringing them closer to the adult language system. [233]

What should a child master, learning a language? What conditions — internal and external — are necessary for him to master a language? What forces make him learn a language? And what are the basic laws of language learning? We will try to highlight these issues.

Mastering the language, the child must first of all master the language system, that is, the units and elements of the language and the rules for their functioning; in other words, it must master a dictionary of linguistic units and actions with signs of the language as a set of interrelated operations - semantic, syntactic, lexical, morphological, morpho-semantic, phonemic and phonetic, used in the production and perception of speech.

Secondly, the child should master the “language norm”, the system of “traditional” rules for a given language, i.e., language activities derived from the practice of speech activity (in certain situations) that can be used (for example, “Hello”, “Hello”, “Hello,” “Halloween!”, Nod, “home”, but “home”, not “houses”; “go to the cinema”, but not “throw in”; “build a house”, not “home” Although, on the other hand: “to build a veranda”, and not “veranda”; to walk with a Petersburger, but: with Masha, Len-oh, who-th, horse-th; to distinguish: “to dress” - “ put on " , etc.

Thirdly, the child needs to master the different functions of language and speech, different forms and means of speech activity.

Fourthly, which is also very important, the child needs to learn the features of the ways of speech communication in various activities (gaming, labor, self-service, artistic, educational, etc.) and in various situations in which the speech activity itself takes place.

As for the conditions necessary for mastering the language, the main ones are as follows.

The child must have a certain level of formation (maturation) of the nervous system (central and peripheral), sufficient to master the language at a given stage of its assimilation. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the following pattern of ontogenesis: development as a social phenomenon (in particular, the process of socialization) is ahead of biological maturation. It is known that many structures of the human brain turn out to be completely formed only by the time of “early adulthood” (approximately by the age of 21). However, a person masters the language (all its forms) much earlier than this age, namely: the “core” of the oral and kinetic language — by three years, the “core” of the written language - by eight to ten years. [234] It should be remembered that to master the language requires the maturation of well- defined structures of the nervous system and the formation of certain connections between them. This position is confirmed, in particular, by various forms of the pathology of the nervous system. For example, many children with cerebral palsy [235] master the language as a sign system, although they usually have articular disorders, sometimes severe ones.

In addition, the child must have a peripheral articular and hearing aid that allows him to speak and perceive the addressed speech. However, even with significant deformations of the peripheral articular apparatus, such as cleft lip and palate (hard and soft), the child learns the language as a sign system (in this case, the child usually manifests pronounced violations of sound pronunciation and prosody). The situation is different with impaired hearing. A moderate and severe degree of hearing loss naturally leads to the pathological development of all components of the language: not only phonetic and phonemic, but also semantic, as well as syntactic, lexical, morphological and morpho-syntactic.

The next and very important condition is the formation of the necessary for the mastery of the language of the highest level of the psyche, all its components, first of all - intelligence, thinking, memory, attention, emotions. Indeed, in order to mean something (that is, to use language as a sign), you need to have adequate knowledge of what is meant, to establish proper connections between facts and phenomena of reality, to organize your attention properly, etc. But the language is assimilated (although and with a noticeable delay, often with violations) and in the pathology of intelligence, thinking, lack of knowledge. [236] Therefore, one should not absolutize the meaning of the psyche in the development of a language, much less look for direct causal relationships between a child’s assimilation of logical structures in nonverbal activity and the structures corresponding to them in speech activity. The language has a special logic.

Of course, mastering the language is to a large extent connected with mastering the culture (spiritual and material), and above all - the people whose language the child learns. As mentioned above, the characteristics of the culture of the ethnic group, the country determines some features of the language.

Essential condition for mastering a language is mastering various forms of non-speech activity, of course, accessible to a certain age and manifest in this age peculiarly manifested: communicative, cognitive, game, labor, design, self-service, artistic , etc. As there is a means for carrying out not only speech, but also non-speech activity, as far as outside of it it cannot “take place”.

In connection with this indisputable position, most psychologists and ontolinguists [237] propose such a hierarchical pattern of the genesis of language signs: actions — images — a sign and. [238] Actions in this scheme are understood as actions exclusively physical, mostly manual (manual), and images as images of perception of various modalities (mostly visual).

A prerequisite for mastering a language is the ability and need for communication. It is known that children with autism, [239] in whom this ability and need are extremely limited and develop pathologically, it is for this reason that they do not master the language at all or master it to a very small extent, and then, as a rule, with significant disabilities.

It has already been said that the child must also have an innate ability to symbolize, including in the “language sphere”.

In order to master the language, the child needs to get the right samples of the speech of others. The speech behavior of others should also be correct: attentive attitude to the speech of children, rendering them unobtrusive assistance in producing statements, approval of the desire for verbal communication, tactful correction of errors in speech, etc. [240] Special mention should be made of the desire of adults to constantly replenish the vocabulary of children. Usually, close children fill up the dictionary with so-called nominative vocabulary, “real” words (“Say: house, cockerel, car, fork, shoes”), leaving “aside” predicative words (verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, etc.). In the center of a separate utterance, as you know, it is the predicate that is located , and in the expanded utterance (text) there is a system of predicates. Therefore, these words need to take the main place in the vocabulary of children.

Finally, one of the significant conditions for learning a language is a favorable social environment in which a child lives: a benevolent attitude towards him, prolonged communication with him, including speech, proper upbringing and training. In communication, of course, the role of the mother is especially great.

Next, we indicate the forces that induce the child to master the language.

First of all, it is the satisfaction of diverse needs (biological and social), the achievement of the goals of speech and non-speech activity. For this, the child resorts to the use of language. And the older a child becomes, the more often he has to do it, because the social environment directly or indirectly “forces” him to do so.

To meet their needs, the child should not only adapt to the environment, but also to master it and (to the best of its ability) transform it. Significant means in this kind of activity are language signs.

One of the driving forces of language learning is the child’s natural desire to communicate with others and those around him.

An important motivating force is the contradiction between the system and the norm of the adult language and the system and the “norm” of the child’s language existing at one stage or another of ontogenesis (D. Slobin, S. Tseitlin). In order to understand the speech of others and to be understood by them, to achieve the goals of non-speech activity, the child needs to “sum up” his “system” of children's language changing with age to the system and norm of the adult language. Based on the foregoing, it can be concluded that the driving forces of language acquisition are the contradictions between the desires (claims) of the child, on the one hand, and his linguistic and communicative abilities and the requirements of the social environment, on the other.

We further describe the basic laws of language learning.

The child learns the language actively. Not only by imitation and, of course, not purely "genetically" (inherited). The child creatively processes the language material received from those around him and creates his own, unique and changing with the age systems of the language, step by step bringing them closer to the adult language system. Each of these children's language systems has features. For example, in the second language system created by a child (approximately 9 to 18 months old), the situation “Doll sits on a chair” will be described as “Doll” or “Sits”. In the subsequent language system, this situation is standardly described as “Doll sits” or “Doll chair”; then: "The doll sits in the chair (or: chair)"; and finally - “The doll sits on a chair . ” [241] This feature is characteristic not only of the syntactic, but also of all other components of the language (semantic, lexical, morphological, morpho-syntactic, phonemic and phonetic). It can be argued that the child learns the language largely independently. At the same time, he begins to assimilate it only when it becomes vitally necessary for him; He “enters” this or that language unit into his language system only when the relevant internal conditions for the performance of speech activity (language and non-language) are ripe for this. [242]

Another pattern of the formation of speech activity is the almost simultaneous assimilation of impressive and expressive speech. Recognizing this fact, it is necessary, of course, to take into account that the assimilation of codified impressive speech is ahead of time in terms of the assimilation of sound expressive speech. It should not be forgotten that in the early stages of ontogenesis (up to 10–11 months), before the emergence of codified expressive speech, the child actively and widely uses non-codified sound speech (shouting, babbling, “muttering”, pseudoword, etc.) and codified mimic gestural speech. These two forms of speech create the necessary prerequisites for the formation of codified expressive speech.

As for writing (reading and writing), it is absorbed much later and is largely based on oral speech. At the same time, a person can master the letter, as well as reading to himself, in the absence of external expressive speech (of course, the child’s impressive speech must be developed). [243]

The assimilation of language as a means of speech and mental activity is the simultaneous assimilation of all its components: semantic, syntactic, lexical, morphological, morpho-syntactic, phonemic and phonetic. Close relationships are immediately established between them. Ребенок не начинает усвоение языка с какого-то одного из его компонентов, после чего переходит к другому и т. д. Ребенок не усваивает, как иногда думают, сначала некое число звуков, затем некое число слогов, потом слов, предложений и наконец овладевает навыками «текстообразования» (способностью образовывать развернутые связные высказывания). Усвоение системы языка протекает принципиально иначе. Ребенок с самого начала усваивает язык как целостную систему знаков. И если, предположим, его первым «речением» (как фактом кодифицированного языка) будет даже одиночный звук, например [а], то этот звук, являясь звуковым сигналом, одновременно (и в первую очередь) выступит как слово, как предложениеand, perhaps, as part of the text, if it (sound) is included in other speeches (sound, kinetic) or in dialogue. [244] This sound, acting as a sentence, of course, will have some meaning (the expression of some kind of desire, emotional state, etc.) and a certain intonation.

Сказанное, разумеется, относится и к первым «классическим» словам, вернее, словам-предложениям («Мама», «Папа», «Баба», «Дядя», «Дай», «На» и др.), с той лишь разницей, что «внутри» этих слов-предложений ребенок усваивает и разные слоговые конструкции (СГ, СГС и др.), разную слоговую структуру слов (СГ-СГ, СГ, СГ-Г и др.), начинает строить фонематическую систему (для чего, в частности, противопоставляет контрастные фонемы /р/ – /а/; /р/ – /т/; /р/ – /t>/; /t>/ – /d'/ и др.), начинает осваивать акцентные модели слов; у ребенка начинает формироваться «представление» об исходном падеже и т. д.

В процессе «становления языка» его содержанию (значению, семантике), по сравнению с формой, принадлежит первостепенная роль .

Как уже говорилось, посредством языка ребенок удовлетворяет свои жизненные потребности, общается с окружающими, передает им содержание своей психической деятельности. Именно поэтому для ребенка гораздо важнее значение, нежели языковая форма речевого высказывания. Поэтому в онтогенезе речи языковые значения всегда «опережают» языковые формы.

Д. Слобин на материале усвоения разных языков, в том числе и русского, показал, что новые (вновь усваиваемые) значения обслуживаются старыми формами. (201). Например, усвоенное окончание вин. пад. ж. R. – [у] – какое-то время переносится на все значения этого падежа и даже на некоторые другие падежи: «Читает книгу»; «Дай кубику» (след.: кубик); «Нет стулу» (прав.: стула).

Одна из закономерностей раннего онтогенеза – опережающее формирование коммуникативной функции речи и основных типов интонации на этапе некодифицированного языка (от 6 до 9—10 мес.) по сравнению с формированием единиц и правил функционирования кодифицированного языка.

В усвоении языка ребенок использует следующую «стратегию»: от крупных единиц к «мелким», а не наоборот. И это понятно, поскольку более «мелкие» языковые единицы могут формироваться («вычленяться») только внутри более крупных: в тексте – предложения; в предложениях – слова; в словах – морфемы, слоги, звуки; в морфемах – фонемы. Поэтому ребенок, как это ни парадоксально на первый взгляд, начинает говорить «текстами» (т. е. сразу «выдает» речевые сообщения) и, конечно, предложениями (и не только однословными, как принято считать), но никак не словами, слогами или звуками (194, 279 и др.).

Следующая закономерность усвоения языка – движение от общего (исходного) к частному, от контрастов к оттенкам .[245] Так, на начальном этапе овладения языком ребенок нередко обозначает сложную (многосоставную) ситуацию одним словом: например, словом-предложением «Мама» означает «Мама, открой дверь, я хочу быть с тобой».[246] Другой пример: от основополагающих семантических структур S– О; S – Р ребенок переходит к структуре S – Р – О, а далее «разворачивает» составные компоненты этих структур. Ребенок сначала усваивает исходный (псевдо-«именительный») падеж и заменяет им все остальные падежи, затем появляется Вин. пад., контрастный исходному, а вслед за этим падежом – другие. Аналогично этому, от универсальной слоговой структуры СГ («мама», «папа», «тетя», «дядя» и проч.) ребенок переходит к усвоению других слоговых структур. От базовых и наиболее контрастных фонем ребенок идет к усвоению фонем «периферических» и менее контрастных.

Следующая закономерность, проявляющаяся в период примерно с одного года до трех-пяти лет, – это генерализация (по другому: сверхгенерализация, сверхрегуляризация, стремление к регулярности). Суть ее состоит в том, что усвоив новую языковую форму, ребенок часто распространяет ее на выражение содержания (значения или значимости), которое требует иных языковых форм. Например, усвоив выражение прямого объекта окончанием [—у] в Вин. пад. женского рода («читай книгу», «дай палку», «на лису» и т. п.), ребенок трансформирует окончание [—у] на объекты мужского и среднего рода («дай хлебу», «хочу колесу» — след.: колесо и т. д.).[247] Овладев словом «тина» («машина»), ребенок некоторое время называет им все виды наземного транспорта: и трамвай, и троллейбус, и поезд, и велосипед, хотя в импрес-сивной речи различает их. Слово «на» часто означает не только «возьми», но и «дай», «вытащи» (извлеки из), «сделай еще раз так же». Слово «и-зя» означает: «нельзя», «не хочу», «плохо» (так плохо делать) и др. Слово «де» – это: «деньги», «кошелек», «бумага».

Следует подчеркнуть, что усвоение языка наряду с общими для всех детей закономерностями имеет особенности индивидуальные. Иначе говоря, любой ребенок (как, впрочем, и взрослый) обладает идиолектом[248] – определенной спецификой структуры и особенностями функционирования языка в речи. Это касается всех подсистем языка (семантической, лексической, синтаксической и иных). Дети также отличаются друг от друга сроками и темпом усвоения языка.[249]

Несмотря на индивидуальные особенности речевого онтогенеза, всех детей в зависимости от общих особенностей («универсалий») усвоения языка можно условно разделить на 3 группы.

Дети, усваивающие язык по аналитическому типу, обычно говорят немного (т. н. «молчуны»), чаще используют неразвернутые высказывания, но с самого начала пытаются говорить правильно (правильно употреблять флексии, произносить звуки и т. д.).

Усваивающие язык по синтетическому типу говорят много («говоруны»), широко используют развернутые высказывания и мало следят за их языковой формой; им важнее передать слушателям многообразие и сложность своего внутреннего и захватывающего их внешнего мира.

Дети третьей группы «совмещают» два названных типа усвоения языка (как правило, с доминированием одного из них).

Наконец, последняя из рассматриваемых здесь основных закономерностей – последовательная смена «создаваемых» ребенком систем языка в процессе овладения языком взрослых. Каждая из этих «систем» обладает структурным и функциональным своеобразием. Применительно к последовательной смене этих систем принято говорить об этапах онтогенеза языка (развития речи).

Анализ психолингвистических исследований (по разделу «Психолингвистика развития») и данные наших собственных исследований позволяют выделить три основных этапа усвоения языка.

Первый этап (от 0 до 9—10 мес.)[250] – усвоение кодифицированной импрессивной речи (устной и кинетической), экспрессивной кинетической и некодифицированной устной экспрессивной речи.

Второй этап (от 9—10 мес. до 11 лет) – усвоение всех форм кодифицированной устной и кинетической речи. Этот этап, в свою очередь, включает 4 ступени.

Первая ступень (от 9—10 до 18 мес.) – начало усвоения языковой системы.

Вторая ступень (от 18 мес. до 3 лет) – овладение «ядром» языковой системы.

Третья ступень (от 3 до 5 лет) – усвоение «периферии» языковой системы.

Четвертая ступень (от 5 до 11 лет и позже) – совершенствование сложившейся языковой системы.[251]

Третий этап (чаще – от 6 до 11 лет) – овладение письменной речью (чтением и письмом).

Первая ступень – овладение начальными навыками чтения (от 6 до 8 лет) и письма (от 6–7 до 9 лет).

Вторая ступень (от 8–9 до 11 лет и позже) – совершенствование навыков чтения и письма.[252]

Кратко охарактеризуем указанные выше этапы.

Первый этап (от 0 до 9—10 мес.)[253] – усвоение кодифицированной импрессивной речи (устной и кинетической), экспрессивной кинетической и некодифицированной устной экспрессивной речи.[254]

Что касается устной импрессивной речи, то согласно данным большинства исследователей, дети начинают реагировать на речь окружающих буквально с первых дней жизни.[255] Сначала это реакция на голос человека: ребенок различает неречевые и речевые звучания. Уже на втором-третьем месяце он начинает адекватно реагировать на общий интонационный рисунок обращенной к нему речи, дифференцирует оттенки интонации, сам активно ищет контакт с окружающими, отвечает на их речь не только общедвигательными реакциями («комплекс оживления»), но и реакциями голосовыми. На третьем-четвертом месяце он начинает перекликаться («разговаривать») со взрослыми на расстоянии. На четвертом-пятом месяце появляется понимание доступных для его психического развития предложений, например: «Бери!» («На!»); «Не надо!»; «Где баба?» и т. п. В последующие месяцы формируется понимание более сложных по значению и форме предложений, например: «Иди ко мне»; «Дай куклу маме»; «Поиграй в ладушки»; «Садись на ковер и построй домик из кубиков» и т. п. На этом этапе у детей постепенно возникает и понимание серий последовательных предложений, описывающих «комплексные» сложные ситуации.

Относительно роли некодифицированной устной экспрессивной речи в усвоении языка детьми мнения исследователей расходятся.

Most of them believe that the semantic side of expressive speech begins to develop only after the first codified words appeared in the child (i.e., from 9–10 months), and the syntactic side - since the appearance of the codified [256] two-word sentence (i.e. from 18 months). At the same time, the ideas that manifestations of non-codified speech are not related to the development of the semantic and syntactic sides of speech are codified, but are only reactions reflecting the maturation of the brain and the physiological state of the child, or are a kind of "fun" or "training" articulatory apparatus.

Only a small number of works contain information about the sign function of non-codified speech and its participation in the formation of codified speech syntax (E. Isenina, 1983; VA Kovshikov, 1983; AM Shakhnarovich, 1990). [257]

In our opinion, the latter opinion is largely true. Indeed, uncodified oral speech in combination with the codified kinetic speech throughout the entire stage under consideration is the main communication tool and largely reflects the child’s behavior. Consequently, in this form of speech, speech functions, primary linguistic meanings, the beginnings of syntax must be developed. In other words, a kind of base is created for the assimilation of codified speech . [258] If this is so, then the extraordinary rapidity with which children “suddenly” acquire codified speech, a fact that so surprises some researchers, becomes clear.