Towards a dynamic systems approach to the development of language and music - Theoretical foundations and methodological issues

Music and language are considered as distinct auditory systems that serve different communicative uses. From the perspective of infants rather inexperienced with their native musical and linguistic systems, these differences are less apparent. One of the enduring puzzles related to human cognitive development is the question of how children acquire these complex systems with such effortlessness and speed, and how developmental change can be explained. Dynamic systems theory (DST) can make significant contributions to our understanding of cognitive development, and has already been successfully applied to first and second language development. By drawing together findings from various scientific fields, we will argue that our understanding of musical and linguistic development can be crucially enhanced by i) cross-domain research, ii) applying DST and iii) new methodologies in empirical research. Language and music are seen as complex non-linear dynamical systems that may interact at various stages of development, such as in syntactic development. Major developmental shifts occur around the same time up to the age of four in both systems. DST also has potential to shed new light on common methodological issues in developmental research: intra-subject variability in behavioural data receives a positive meaning and is not considered as noise but as sound

Language learning from the perspective of nonlinear dynamic systems

This article outlines a nonlinear dynamic systems approach to language learning on the basis of developmental cognitive neuroscience. Language learning, on this view, is a process of experience-dependent shaping and selection of broadly defined domain-general and domain-specific genetic predispositions. The central concept of development is (neuro) cognitive,e growth in terms of self-organization. Linguistic structure-building is synergetic and emergent insofar as the acquisition of a critical mass of elements on a local level (e.g., words) results in the emergence of novel qualities and units on a macroscopic level (e.g., syntax). We argue that language development does not take a linear path but comes in phases of intermittent turbulence, fluctuation, and stability, along a "chaotic itinerary". We review qualitative, quantitative and computational applications of this concept in the lexical, morphological, and syntactic domain. We, identify as the most significant property of the dynamic approach the temporal nature of language learning. As a medium-term forecast we anticipate a further diversification of the dynamic approach, an increase in more formal approaches, and a stronger interest in issues of embodiment and embeddedness

Early foreign language learning : the biological perspective /

En tête du titre: Educational Research Workshop on the effectiveness of modern language learning and teaching, Graz (Austria), 5-8 March 199

L'Apprentissage précoce des langues étrangères : la perspective biologique /

En-tête du titre: Atelier de recherche pédagogique sur l'efficacité de l'apprentissage et de l'enseignement des langues vivantes Graz (Autriche), 5-8 mars 199