Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-wxvwp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T11:38:47.167Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Second Language Acquisition: Possible Insights from Studies on How Birds Acquire Song

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Denise M. Neapolitan,
Irene M. Pepperberg and
Linda Schinke-Llano
Denise M. Neapolitan
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
Irene M. Pepperberg
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
Linda Schinke-Llano
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Research into general linguistic and cognitive processes in humans has been aided by studies of analogous processes in animals. Studies on how birds develop their species-specific song have been of particular interest to researchers seeking to identify critical variables and universels in first language acquisition in humans. Because of recent studies on exceptional song acquisition, that is, time-independent. learning of second dialects or song by birds generally thought to acquire a single song during a limited sensitive period, we suggest that there also exist significant parallels between human second language acquisition and avian bilingualism. The purpose of this paper is to highlight these parallels and to demonstrate that such interspecies comparisons may provide new insights into the processes of second language acquisition.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , February 1988, pp. 1 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Andersen, R. (1983). Transfer to somewhere. In Gass, S. & Selinker, L. (Eds.), Language transfer in language learning (pp. 177–201). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Asher, J., & Garcia, G. (1969). The optimal age to learn a foreign language. Modem Language Journal, 38, 334–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, M. C., & Cunningham, M. A. (1985). The biology of bird-song dialects. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 8, 85–133.Google Scholar
Baptista, L. F. (1985). The functional significance of song sharing in the white-crowned sparrow. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 63, 1741–1752.Google Scholar
Baptista, L. F., & Morton, M. L. (1982). Song dialects and mate selection in montane white-crowned sparrows. Auk, 99, 537–547.Google Scholar
Baptista, L. F., & Petrinovich, L. (1984). Social interaction, sensitive phases and the song template hypothesis in the white-crowned sparrow. Animal Behaviour, 32, 172–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baptista, L. F., & Petrinovich, L. (1986). Song development in the white-crowned sparrow: Social factors and sex differences. Animal Behaviour, 34, 1359–1371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, H. D. (1980). Principles of language learning and teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Brown, I. (1976). Role of referent concreteness in the acquisition of passive sentence comprehension through abstract modeling. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 22, 185–199.Google Scholar
Corder, S. P. (1983). A role for the mother tongue. In Gass, S. & Selinker, L. (Eds.), Language transfer and language learning (pp. 85–97). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Cunningham, M. A., & Baker, M. C. (1983). Vocal learning in white-crowned sparrows: Sensitive phase and song dialects. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 13, 259–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fishman, J. (1977). Language and ethnicity. In Giles, H. (Ed.), Language, ethnicity and intergroup relations (pp. 15–57). New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Gardner, R. C. (1982). Social factors in language retention. In Lambert, R. & Freed, B. (Eds.), The loss of language skills (pp. 24–39). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1959). Motivational variables in second language acquisition. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 13, 266–272.Google Scholar
Geschwind, N. (1970). The organization of language and the brain. Science, 170, 940–944.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, J. (1970). Foreign accents, language acquisition, and cerebral dominance revisited. Language Learning, 20, 237–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kachru, B. (1977). New Englishes and old models. English Language Forum, July.Google Scholar
Konishi, M. (1965). The role of auditory feedback in the control of vocalization in the white-crowned sparrow. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 22, 770–783.Google Scholar
Krashen, S. (1973). Lateratization, language learning and the critical period: Some new evidence. Language Learning, 23, 63–74.Google Scholar
Krashen, S. (1976). Formal and informal linguistic environments in language learning and language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 10, 157–186.Google Scholar
Krashen, S. (1980). The input hypothesis. In Alatis, J. E. (Ed.), Current issues in bilingual education (pp. 168–180). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Krashen, S., Scarcella, R. C., & Long, M. H. (Eds.). (1982). Child-adult differences in second language acquisition. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Kroodsma, D. E. (1981). Ontogeny of bird song. In Immelmami, K., Barlow, G. W., Petrinovich, L., & Main, M. (Eds.), Behavioral development (pp. 518–532). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kroodsma, D. E., Baker, M. C., Baptista, L. F., & Petrinovich, L. (1984). Vocal “dialects” in Nuttall's white-crowned sparrow. Current Ornithology, 2, 103–133.Google Scholar
Kroodsma, D. E., & Canady, R. (1985). Differences in repertoire size, singing behavior, and associated neuroanatomy among marsh wren populations have a genetic basis. Auk, 102, 439–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamendella, J. T. (1977). General principles of neurofunctional organization and their manifestation in primary and nonprimary language acquisition. Language Learning, 27, 155–196.Google Scholar
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1979). The importance of input in second language acquisition. In Andersen, R. W. (Ed.), Pidginization and creolization as language acquisition (pp. 87–93). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Lenneberg, E. (1967). Biological foundations of language. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Long, M. (1980). Input, interaction, and second language acquisition. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Lukmani, Y. (1972). Motivation to learn and language proficiency. Language Learning, 22, 261–274.Google Scholar
Marler, P. (1970). A comparative approach to vocal learning: Song development in white-crowned sparrows. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 71, 1–25.Google Scholar
Marler, P., & Peters, S. (1981). Birdsong and speech: Evidence for special processing. In Eimas, P. D. & Miller, J. L. (Eds.), Perspectives on the study of speech (pp. 75–112). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Marler, P., & Terrace, H. S. (Eds.). (1984). The biology of learning. Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLaughhn, B. (1984). Second language acquisition in childhood: Vol. 1. Preschool children. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Nottebohm, F. (1970). Ontogeny of bird song. Science, 167, 950–956.Google Scholar
Nottebohm, F. (1975). A zoologist's view of some language phenomena with particular emphasis on vocal learning. In Lenneberg, E. H. & Lenneberg, E. (Eds.), Foundations of language development (pp. 61–103). New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Nottebohm, F. (1985). Neuronal replacement in adulthood. In Nottebohm, F. (Ed.), Hope for a new neurology (pp. 143–161). New York: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 457.Google Scholar
Nottebohm, F., Kasparian, S., & Pandazis, C. (1981). Brain space for a learned task. Brain Research, 213, 99–109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Obler, L. (1982). Neurolinguistic aspects of language loss as they pertain to second language attrition. In Lambert, R. & Freed, B. (Eds.), The loss of language skill (pp. 60–79). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Payne, R. B., Thompson, W. L., Fiala, K. L., & Sweany, L. L. (1981). Local song traditions in indigo buntings: Cultural transmission of behavior patterns across generations. Behaviour, 77, 199–221.Google Scholar
Peck, S. (1978). Child-child discourse in second language acquisition. In Hatch, E. M. (Ed.), Second language acquisition: A book, of readings (pp. 383–400). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M. (1985). Social modeling theory: A possible framework for understanding avian vocal learning. Auk, 102, 854–864.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M. (1986). Acquisition of anomalous communicatory systems: Implications for studies on interspecies communication. In Schusterman, R., Thomas, J., & Wood, F. (Eds.), Dolphin behavior and cognition: Comparative and ethological aspects (pp. 289–302). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M., & Neapolitan, D. M. (in press). Second language acquisition as a model for the importance of input and interaction in exceptional song acquisition. Ethology.Google Scholar
Petrinovich, L. (1972). Psychobiological mechanisms in language development. In Newton, G. & Riesen, A. H. (Eds.), Advances in Psychobiology, Vol. 1 (pp. 259–285). New York: Wiley Interscience.Google Scholar
Petrinovich, L. (1985). Factors influencing song development in the white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia Ieucophrys). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 99, 15–29.Google Scholar
Petrinovich, L., & Baptista, L. F. (1984). Song dialects, mate selection, and breeding success in white-crowned sparrows. Animal Behaviour, 32, 1078–1088.Google Scholar
Petrinovich, L., & Baptista, L. F. (in press). Song development in the white-crowned sparrow: Modification of learned song. Animal Behaviour.Google Scholar
Premack, D. (1983). The codes of man and beasts. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 6, 125–167.Google Scholar
Schinke-Llano, L. A. (1983). Foreigner talk in content classrooms. In Seliger, H. & Long, M. H. (Eds.), Classroom centered research (pp. 146–164). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Schumann, J. H. (1978). The pidginization process: A model for second language acquisition. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Scovel, T. (1969). Foreign accents, language acquisition, and cerebral dominance. Language Learning, 19, 245–354.Google Scholar
Shiovitz, K. A., & Lemon, R. E. (1980). Species identification of songs by indigo buntings as determined by responses to computer generated sounds. Behaviour, 74, 167–199.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E., & Hoefnagel-Höhle, M. (1978). The critical period for language acquisition: Evidence from second language learning. Child Development, 49, 1114–1128.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E., Arlman-Rupp, A., Massing, Y., Jobse, J., Joosten, J., & Vorster, J. (1976). Mother's speech in three social classes. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 5, 1–20.Google Scholar
West, M. J., & King, A. P. (1985). Learning by performing: An ecological theme for the study of vocal learning. In Johnson, T. D. & Pietrewicz, A. T. (Eds.), Issues in the ecological study of learning (pp. 245–272). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar