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Cited by 1,738Language Development and DisordersNeurobiology of Language and BilingualismEFL/ESL Teaching and Learning

Maturational constraints on language learning

Open access
Newport, Elissa L.·1990·Cognitive Science
DOI 10.1207/s15516709cog1401_2
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Abstract

This paper suggests that there are constraints on learning required to explain the acquisition of language, in particular, maturational constraints. First, empirical evidence for this claim is reviewed. The evidence from several studies of both first and second language acquisition suggests that normal language learning occurs only when exposure to the language begins early in life. With exposure beginning later in life, asymptotic performance in the language declines: the effects over age of first exposure are approximately linear through childhood, with a flattening of the function in adulthood. These outcomes argue that some type of constraints ensuring successful language learning exist early in life, and weaken with increasing maturation. Second, two hypotheses are considered as to the nature of these maturational changes. One hypothesis is that constraints on learning particular to language acquisition undergo maturational decay. A second hypothesis, which is considered in more detail, suggests that language learning abilities decline because of the expansion of nonlinguistic cognitive abilities.

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  • Language acquisition does not favor adults over children; the initial stages of language acquisition are characterized by age invariance.

    “language acquisition does not favor adults over children. Rather, the initial stages of language acquisition are characterized by age invariance.”

    From Incidental Language Learning: Listening (and Learning) Out of the Corner of Your Ear (1997) · cites this paper as Newport, 1990

    In “What Changes Over Maturation” (page unavailable), Newport says that children and adults make different types of errors in the early stages of learning ASL, contrary to the claim of age invariance. The paper also predicts a child advantage for componential analysis and an adult advantage for whole-word learning, rather than a uniform pattern across language acquisition. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • The absence of age differences is in line with the literature on age of learning in natural language acquisition.

    “This absence of age differences is in line with the literature on age of learning in natural language acquisition.”

    From Incidental Language Learning: Listening (and Learning) Out of the Corner of Your Ear (1997) · cites this paper as Newport, 1990

    In “Evidence of Maturational Constraints in Second Language Learning,” the paper reports no significant relationship between age of arrival and performance among learners arriving at ages 17–39, which could support an absence of age differences among adults. But it reports strong age-of-acquisition effects through childhood in both first and second language learning. The citing sentence does not specify the age range or language feature for which differences were absent. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • A reduction in initial flexibility with age dramatically decreases the capacity to acquire a new language as adults.

    “We are in a nascent stage of understanding the brain mechanisms underlying infants’ early flexibility with regard to the acquisition of language – their ability to acquire language by eye or by ear, and acquire one or multiple languages – and also the reduction in this initial flexibility that occurs with age, which dramatically decreases our capacity to acquire a new language as adults (Newport,”

    From Brain mechanisms in early language acquisition (2010) · cites this paper as Newport, 1990

  • Critical-period effects, meaning superiority of child learners over adults, emerge later in learning, particularly for more complex syntactic and morphological structures.

    “Critical-period effects (i.e., superiority of child learners over adults) emerge later in learning, particularly for more complex syntactic and morphological structures”

    From Incidental Language Learning: Listening (and Learning) Out of the Corner of Your Ear (1997) · cites this paper as Newport, 1990

  • In later stages of language acquisition, learners who began as children surpass those who began as adults.

    “In later stages, learners who began as children surpass those who began as adults”

    From Incidental Language Learning: Listening (and Learning) Out of the Corner of Your Ear (1997) · cites this paper as Newport, 1990

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. [2]2. Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge: MIT Press.
  2. [13]13. Kail, R. (1984). The development of memory (2nd ed.). New York: W.H. Freeman & Co. Klima, E., & Bellugi, U. (1979). Thesigns of language. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  3. [14]14. Krashen, S. (1975). The development of cerebral dominance and language learning: More new evidence. In D. Dato (Ed.), Developmentalpsycholinguistics: Theory and applications. Washington, DC: Georgetown University.
  4. [25]25. Osherson, D., Stob, M., & Weinstein, S. (1986). Systems that learn. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  5. [29]29. Supalla, T. (1982). Structure and acquisition of verbs of motion and location in American Sign Language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, San Diego.
  6. [31]31. Wexler, K., & Culicover, P. (1980). Formal principles of language acquisition. Cambridge,
  7. [33]33. MA: MIT Press. Press. 15516709, 1990, 1,

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Authors
Newport, E. L.
Affiliations
University of Rochester (US)
Corresponding author
Newport, Elissa L.
ORCID
Newport, Elissa L.
Venue
Cognitive Science
Publisher
Wiley
Published
1990-01
Volume
14
Issue
1
Pages
11-28
ISSN
  • 0364-0213 (ISSN-L)
  • 1551-6709
DOI
10.1207/s15516709cog1401_2
OpenAlex
W1984588653
Cited by
1,738
References
24
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 106 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 97 · 2019: 131 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 74 · 2016: 51 · 2015: 57 · 2014: 57 · 2013: 62 · 2012: 61
FWCI
53.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 7346 d)
Locations
Cognitive Science (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
Keywords
maturational constraints, language acquisition, critical period, age of first exposure, second language acquisition, first language acquisition, asymptotic performance, cognitive development

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