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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Language Acquisition

Language acquisition

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ ˌækwɪˈzɪʃn/nounCore term

In linguistics & grammar, language acquisition means: The 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.

In Turkish: dil edinimi

How it is used

Used for first language acquisition in children and second language acquisition (SLA) in older learners. Some researchers, notably Stephen Krashen, contrast unconscious acquisition with conscious learning in the classroom.

Example sentences

  1. Children's language acquisition follows similar stages in every culture.

  2. Her thesis is on language acquisition in Turkish-German bilingual children.

Common collocations

  • first language acquisition
  • child language acquisition
  • theory of language acquisition
  • language acquisition device
  • first languageThe language a person learns first, from birth or early childhood, usually the one they know best; linguists often shorten it to L1.
  • 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.
  • inputThe language a learner hears or reads and tries to understand, which is the raw material for acquiring a language.
  • critical period hypothesisThe 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.
  • universal grammarThe theory, associated with Noam Chomsky, that all humans are born with a set of basic grammatical principles shared by all languages, which helps children acquire language.

More terms: Language Acquisition

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