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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Language Acquisition

Critical period hypothesis

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

nounCommon term

In linguistics & grammar, critical period hypothesis means: The idea that there is a limited time in childhood, ending around puberty, when a language can be acquired fully and naturally; after it, native-like mastery becomes much harder.

In Turkish: kritik dönem hipotezi, kritik dönem varsayımı

How it is used

Associated with Eric Lenneberg (1967). Researchers still debate the exact age limits and whether the idea applies to every area of language; the evidence is strongest for accent. Some prefer the term sensitive period.

Example sentences

  1. The critical period hypothesis would explain why adult learners rarely lose their foreign accent.

  2. Evidence for the critical period hypothesis is mixed when it comes to grammar.

Common collocations

  • support the critical period hypothesis
  • sensitive period
  • age of onset
  • age effects
  • language acquisitionThe process by which people come to know and use a language, especially the natural way young children pick up their first language from the speech around them.
  • second language acquisitionThe process of learning another language after the first one, and the research field that studies how this happens; usually shortened to SLA.
  • first languageThe language a person learns first, from birth or early childhood, usually the one they know best; linguists often shorten it to L1.
  • accentA way of pronouncing a language that shows where a speaker comes from, such as their region, social group or first language, as in a Scottish or a Turkish accent.

More terms: Language Acquisition

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