Transcript Brian MacWhinney

Born August 22, 1945 in New York, New
York
 Teaches modern languages and
psychology at Carnegie Mellon
 KEY FACT: Used to have an AWESOME
‘stache that you will see later in the
presentation (like right now!)

 What
is it?
› Process humans undertake to
comprehend words and
language and speak the
language in a communicable
manner
The belief that a comprehensive
system is made up of many small
facets.
 In language particularly it is vital to
understand context to grasp
language acquisition.
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MacWhinney created his Competition
Model along with Elizabeth Bates
› This states that language acquisition is not
possible through a sole component . This
means that acquiring a language is both
learned and innate. It also states that
thinking is key in the language acquisition
process. Particular parts of the brain help to
learn words and grammar. This model also
states that words are worthless without
context.

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No universal grammar exists
There is not a specific language organ
There are no genes related to language
Creating a language and learning a
language are very similar processes
Cultural evolution created and shaped
language
Language came from thought
The Child Language Data Exchange System
 Database of information about child
acquisition of language
 Created in1984 with Elizabeth Bates
 Now uses audio and video for the best
transcript
 The database contains 34 languages
 The Swiss Cheese concept
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The Origin of Language Debate. UsingEnglish.com, 22 Feb. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2011
<http://www.usingenglish.com/speaking-out/origin-language-debate.html>.
"Emergentism" Defined. Progressive Living. Web. 10 Apr. 2011
<http://www.progressiveliving.org/emergentism_defined.htm>.
MacWhinney, Brian. A Unified Model of Language Acquisition. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:
Carnegie Mellon U. Web. 10 Apr. 2011
<http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:PHAmp58mJUJ:citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.76.7113%2
6rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf+brian+macwhinney&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=AD
GEESh2PiXaDehMBNZRPUfmqN4WGqciUm_gLtKbL5j1x1vS1MimR1xbVOSdWbu3ndX9nGaIWfQeP89zhZc_7F5uxFbojcxcf_M2AbwcnyXR8p5pSzBVR-63HNQChdncjU0mzxt3N&sig=AHIEtbRmeFq_U9dRPBIJ8QMow9iiFRYMjA>.
MacWhinney, Brian Brian MacWhinney. Carnegie Mellon Psychology Department.
Web. 10 Apr. 2011 <http://www.psy.cmu.edu/faculty/macwhinney/>.