1962-1965
Identification of stress, pause and pitch patterns for English
sentences. It is assumed that sentences can be spoken with a neutral,
i.e. a non-emphatic intonation pattern. Emphasis, focus and/or specific
meanings can then be described as deviations from the neutral pattern.
1966-1970
Studies of the language of German pre- and post-surgery patients
suffering from Parkinson's disease. Paper-and-pencil as well as
spectographic analyses revealed that the patients suffered from loss of
motor control of the articulatory mechanisms. The glottal and
superglottal mechanisms can be affected independent of each other. This
yields three types of patients: one type suffering only from glottal
defects, another type suffering from superglottal defects, and a third
type suffering only from both.
1969-1974
This was the first in a series of projects to provide data for the study
of language acquisition from a universal point of view, i.e. by
comparing the various types of language acquisition such as L1,
naturalistic L2, tutored L2, re-acquisition, etc. The key data derive
from four German children. They were studied for their L1-acquisition of
German, their L2-acquisition of English, and their re-acquisition of
L2-English/L1-German.
The L1 analysis was focused on negation, interrogation, early sentence
patterns, segmental phonology, and intonation.
1973-1975
It was suggested that the neutral stress pattern predictable from the
morpho-syntactic structure of poetic texts serves as the basis for the
metrical schemes of ictic versus non-ictic syllables.
1975-(ongoing)
In 1975 the four German children of the 1969-1974 project, then aged 4;0
- 9;0, were taken to northern California, USA, for 6 months to be
studied for how they would learn English as their L2 in a naturalistic
setting. The data were collected longitudinally via (a) notes taken
spontaneously on the scene of action, (b) tape recordings of spontaneous
interactions, and (c) experimental elicitation. Almost every day was
covered. The structural areas focused on include phonology, inflectional
morphology, early sentence patterns, negation, interrogation, the
lexicon, and the use of pronouns.
Principal collaborators: H. Burmeister, J. Bahns, O. Bohn, T. Vogel, D. Ufert, A. Hohenscheidt, A. Rohde, P. Burmeister.
1974-1979
This project parallels the 1975 one on L2 English/L1 German to provide
data on the reverse combination of languages, i.e. L2 German/L1 English.
The subjects were English children from British families who spent
several years in the Kiel area as part of the British commitments within
NATO.
These children attended the regular German pre schools and/or primary
schools.
Data collection was as in the 1975 project on L2 English/L1 German.
The structural areas studied in detail are early sentence pattern,
negation, some lexical issues.
Principal collaborators: S. Felix, D. Lange
1976-1980
The purpose of this project was to provide data in order to determine
whether and to what extent the developmental structures in tutored L2
acquisition parallel these of non-tutored L2 acquisition.
Data were collected by following and recording every English period
taught to a beginners' class of 10-11 year-old German students for the
first 8 months of English instruction.
The focus was on phonology, inflectional morphology, early syntax, and
some aspects of the lexicon.
No evidence was found to suggest that the two acquisitional types were
subject to different developmental structures.
Principal collaborators: S. Felix, D. Lange, A. Schröder, U. Puls
1977-(ongoing)
Two years after their return to Germany the three younger children of
the 1975 project on L2 English/L1 German had forgotten their English
almost completely.
In 1977 the family returned to the same town in California for six weeks
to collect data on how the children would re-acquire or revive their
English.
By the end of the 6-week stay the children were back where they had left
off in 1975, and they may even have gone further.
The analyses were focussed on the same structural areas as with the 1975
corpus when English was acquired as the L2 for the first time.
Therefore, it was claimed that re-acquisition is not re-learning the
language, but reviving it.
Principal collaborators: S. Allendorf, B. Pries, A. Rohde, A. Peters, T. Schnell, J.-L. Schrader
1979-1983
The aim of this project was to provide data on L2 English based on a
language other than German.
Four L1-French speaking children are followed for approximately one year
as they acquired English as their L2 in the Boston, USA, area. Their
parents were engaged in non-linguistic research at local universities.
The structural analyses were foussed on early declarative sentences,
interrogation, and negation. The study revealed that the process of L2
acquisition is parallel to the one for L2 English/L1 German except for
the differences derived from transfer from French.
Principal collaborator: U. Tiphine
1980-1983
G. Kadar-Hoffmann studied her son's L1 acquisition of German, French,
and Hungarian. The focus was on the early development of negation. It
was found that the child acquired each language in the same
developmental sequence as L1 monolingual children do.
Principal collaborator: G. Kadar-Hoffmann
1989-1997
The project was focused on phonological variation in early L1 German
child speech. The point of departure was speech-perception in infants
and neonates. Eight children were followed from their first word until
their vocabulary contained xxx-375 words. We tried to record as many
tokens per word as possible during weekly sessions of at least one hour.
It was found that segment-based coding tended to be preceeded by
articulatory patterns and that right from the beginning the syllable
structures were not limited to CV(CV). The kind of variation found
across the children reflected articulatory, as well as processing
problems.
Principal collaborator: S. Wichmann, B. Krüger, T. Piske, U. Lindner, F. Schindel
1994-(ongoing)
This project was primarily theoretical in orientation. Its point of
departure was the research on speech perception with neonates, infants,
and non-human species. It is assumed that the discontinuities in the
perception of the various acoustic dimensions constitutes to the basis
for the typology of the distinctive features of natural human languages.
Since much the same discontinuities occur with non-human species, this
auditory basis probably gave rise to the capacity for language in homo sapiens
with respect to the configuration of the vocal tract and the phylogeny
of the structure of phonological systems in natural human languages.
1991-(ongoing)
This project originated as a response to the challenge current not only
in present-day Europe that children are to learn at least three
languages in school at a functionally appropiate level. It is commonly
agreed, that the time span of sec. I-II is sufficient to promote one
additional language via Bilingualer Unterricht/Immersion. But there is
not enough time to promote the second additional language to the same
extent. Consequently, there is a common agreement among educators that
foreign language teaching needs to start much earlier, preferably during
the first grade of primary or before.
In the sec. I-II project we studied the acquisition and development of
English as the first foreign language. The endeavor was part of the
evaluation of an experimental German-type bilingual education program
initiated in 1991 to introduce immersion teachin in the state of
Schleswig-Holstein.
Principal collaborators: M. Knust, K. Kickler, P. Burmeister, A. Daniel, V. Mukherjee, I. Cohrs, B. Nerlich, M. Reinhard
1995-(ongoing)
L1 German-speaking children are followed as to how they learn English as
a foreign language in a bilingual preschool starting at age 3. The
school is organized on the basis of the person-language bond, one of the
two teachers per group being a native speaker of English. The preschool
follows the regular curriculum. After preschool, English is continued
via immersion throughout the primary grades.
Principal collaborators: K. Westphal, C. Tiefenthal, T. Maibaum, K. Lauer, N. Hansen, C. Immhof, C. Berger, A. Rohde
1999-(ongoing)
There are two major goals to this project. One is to study the
development of the children from the preschool project as they continue
to be taught English throughout the primary grades via immersion. The
second goal is to develop a teacher training program to encourage early
foreign language teaching and leaving by linking preschool and primary
school.
Principal collaborators: K. Lauer, C. Imhoff, K. Beier, C. Berger, G. Tonn, T. Maibaum