#364 Limor Raviv: Psycholinguistics, Child Development, and Language Acquisition

RECORDED ON AUGUST 10th, 2020.
Dr. Limor Raviv is a research associate at the University of Madison, Wisconsin. Her research focuses on the cultural evolution of languages in different social environments. Specifically, she studies how the social structure of the environment affects the grammatical structure of languages.

In this episode, we talk about many questions that Psycholinguistics tries to answer. We ask what why child development is so important for linguistics, and if language is innate, including the poverty of the stimulus argument. We also question if it is really so difficult for adults to acquire a second language. We then discuss the cultural evolution of language, and how we can compare humans to other species. We talk about sign language and creole language. And, finally, we talk about Dr. Raviv’s work on how the social structure of the environment affects the grammatical structure of languages, and the limitations of lab studies.

Time Links:
00:34 What is Psycholinguistics?
03:21 Child development
06:09 Is language innate?
12:02 Is the stimulus really poor?
18:43 Differences between literate and preliterate children
23:00 Is it difficult for adults to acquire a second language?
33:43 The (cultural) evolution of language
37:32 Comparing humans to other animals
40:42 What can we learn from studying sign language?
45:08 What about creole languages?
48:13 What is a language?
59:08 How the social structure of the environment affects the grammatical structure of languages
1:08:38 Can we extrapolate from the lab to natural environments?
1:18:05 Follow Dr. Raviv’s work!

Follow Dr. Raviv’s work:
Max Planck page: https://bit.ly/2WUCsla
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/2JrGTfk
Twitter handle: @Limor_Raviv