fixation pauseis not marked according to differences in the person or number of the
subject, and has no tense. The infinitiveand the participles are non-
finite forms of verbs in English. For example:first conditional n
seeconditional forms
first language n
(generally) a person’s mother tongue or the language acquired first. In
multilingual communities, however, where a child may gradually shift from
the main use of one language to the main use of another (e.g. because of the
influence of a school language), first language may refer to the language the
child feels most comfortable using. Often this term is used synonymously
with native language. First language is also known as L1.
first language acquisition n
the process of learning a native language. First language acquisition has
been studied primarily by linguists, developmental psychologists, and
psycholinguists. Most explanations of how children learn to speak and
understand language involve the influence of both the linguistic input to
which children are exposed in social interaction with their parents and
other caregivers and a natural aptitude for grammar that is unique to
humans. However, proponents of universal grammarand the innatist
position, proponents of cognitive psychologyand emergentism, and
those who view language acquisition in terms of language socialization
disagree strongly on the relative importance of these factors.
first language attrition n
see language attrition
fixation pause n
(in reading) the brief periods when the eyeball is resting and during which
the visual input required for reading takes place. The jump from one fixation
point to another is known as a saccade.
see also reading span