How do native English children acquire irregular verbs? The process of how children acquire their first language is a widely investigated phenomenon. Some researchers and experts agree that every child has a special language learning device, which enables them to learn a language very effectively. Numerous researches have been conducted on the different stages of first language acquisition. One of these stages is the process of verb acquisition. Children usually make errors when trying to use...

CHAPTER 3 MALAY SPEECH CORPUS 3.1 Introduction The knowledge related to the structure of the rules and grammar for any language must be understood in depth prior to the development of any Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems. This chapter is intended to discuss the related issues concerning the Malay language and its speech sounds.  The Malay corpus and the test collections used for this study are also presented in the following sections. 3.2Malay Speech Sounds and Language...

William Labov’s narrative analysis differs from some of the earlier approaches in that his method focuses on oral narrative instead of written text. William Labov’s narrative analysis differs from some of the earlier approaches in that his method focuses on oral narrative instead of written text. Earlier linguists, such as Ferdinand de Saussure, believed in a structural approach. This meant that language had to be approached as a fixed, clearly defined set of symbols, which...

It all started in England in the late 1980s and continued in the early 1990s, when a few new governmental initiatives were successfully implemented. These initiatives included numerous fundamental changes of the system itself, such as:- New national curriculum- National assessment system that requires all students in public schools to take appropriate tests in writing and reading at young ages: 7, 11 and 14 years, thus preventing illiteracy and other similar problems at young ages.The British...

Arthur Miller Evokes a Hero in John Proctor of the Crucible The story of The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, shows a very good test of morality. John Proctor is internally conflicted throughout the entire play. His struggles change in each act. But, he is not a character deserving of pity because all of his struggles are self-inflicted. His affair with Abigail is at the root of most of them, the others are a result of stubborn pride. John Proctor’s Attitude changes by the end of the story...

Souls Punished In "Dante’s Inferno" In Dante’s Divine Comedy, there are countless references to all forms of sins and the punishments of those who committed them. Dante goes into great detail when describing these sins and their consequences. Each punishment is perfectly fitting to the crime itself, so that the sinner deserves exactly what he is facing. Dante gains an immense amount of knowledge in conversing with a few of the souls that are forever trapped in Hell. When...

This paper will give you an overview of the stages in second language acquisition theories. There are two theories that will be looked at; one has four stages in language acquisition and the other have five stages. This paper will also explain the elements that balanced literacy consists of. Along with getting an overview of the stages of language acquisition and balanced literacy, this paper will explain how balanced literacy can aid in English acquisition of an English Language Learner (ELL)...

The Dumbest Generation, How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30) is a critical analysis on the effects of the prolific spread of information and communication technology on the youth of today. In it, Mark Bauerlein argues that while this technology could have been used to increase access to knowledge and therefore improve the minds of children, it has only been used to distract them from useful knowledge and skills which he...

Touching upon the concepts of vernaculars, dialects and diglossia is a good place to begin. The term "vernacular" has various meanings; but mostly refers to a language not standardized and not officially confirmed; which is used by local people. Generally, vernaculars are spread among communities living in a multilingual atmosphere where they have a different mother-language than the official language of their residence. For example; Afro-American English is a vernacular created...

There is a general consensus that time is the central conception that encapsulates tense. According to Angela Downing & Philip Locke (2002), tense is the linguistic expression of time relations when these are realised by verb forms. John Seely (2007) gives a slightly broader definition and states that a tense is "a form of the verb phrase which gives information about aspect and time". This definition brings the notion of aspect to surface and suggests that aspect is part of the...