Brian MacWhinney facts for kids

Brian James MacWhinney (born August 22, 1945) is a Professor of Psychology and Modern Languages at Carnegie Mellon University. He is an expert in how people learn their first language and second languages. He also studies how our brains handle language (called neurolinguistics).

Professor MacWhinney has written many books and articles about these topics. He is famous for his competition model of language learning. He also created two huge collections of language data called CHILDES and TalkBank. These collections help researchers study how children and adults use language.

He also helped create special software for psychology experiments. These include PsyScope, E-Prime, and STEP. These tools make it easier to do research on how people think and use language.

About Brian MacWhinney

Brian MacWhinney earned his first degree in rhetoric and geology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1965. He was 19 years old. Later, he got his master's degree in speech science in 1967. He then earned his Ph.D. in psycholinguistics in 1974, also from UC Berkeley.

Before becoming a full-time professor, he worked as an elementary school teacher. He also did research at UC Berkeley and UC Davis. In 1974, he started his first full-time job as a psychology professor at the University of Denver. In 1981, he moved to Carnegie Mellon University, where he still teaches today. He was also a visiting professor at Hong Kong University in 2001.

Many groups have recognized Professor MacWhinney for his excellent research. He has been part of important boards and committees. He has also reviewed articles for top science journals like Science and Nature. He is a member of many important professional groups that study psychology and language.

Professor MacWhinney is married and has two sons. He can speak six languages fluently. These include English, Hungarian, German, French, Spanish, and Italian. He has shared his research in many countries around the world.

How We Learn Language: The Competition Model

Professor MacWhinney created a way to understand how we learn our first and second languages. It's called the competition model. This model suggests that language learning happens because different words and grammar patterns "compete" in our minds.

Imagine you hear a new word or sentence structure. Your brain tries to figure out what it means. Over time, as you hear more examples, your brain learns which patterns are most common. This helps you understand and use language better. Studies have shown that learning language forms comes from hearing words and patterns many times in different situations.

CHILDES and TalkBank Projects

Professor MacWhinney also created and leads the CHILDES and TalkBank projects. These are huge collections of language data used by researchers worldwide. He also helps manage FluencyBank, which is part of TalkBank.

The CHILDES system helps people study how conversations work. It has a database of written conversations (transcripts). It also has computer programs to analyze these transcripts. The database includes many transcripts from children learning language. Most of these are recordings of everyday conversations. There are also transcripts from children who speak two languages. It includes older school kids, adults learning a second language, and people with language difficulties. The database has information on learning 26 different languages.

TalkBank includes all the data from CHILDES. It also has more language data from older children and adults. This includes people with aphasia (language loss due to brain injury). It also has data from adults talking and from language learning in classrooms. In 2020, a journal called Language Development Research was started. It is the official journal for the TalkBank system.

These databases get support from important groups like the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. They also get help from the National Science Foundation.

Understanding Language and the Brain

Recently, Professor MacWhinney has been looking at how people learn second languages. He also studies how the brain handles language. He does this by looking at children who have had brain injuries.

He is exploring a new idea called linguistic functionalism. This idea connects how we communicate with how we understand things from different points of view. It suggests that grammar helps us express shifts in our perspective. For example, words like pronouns (like "he" or "she") or different voices (like active or passive) help us show who is doing what. A big goal of this research is to understand how our brains switch between these different viewpoints.

Awards and Recognitions

• President, International Association for the Study of Child Language, 1999–2002
• Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
• Fellow, American Psychological Association
• Director, Child Language Data Exchange System, 1984–present

See also

• Competition model
• CHILDES
• TalkBank
• PsyScope
• System for Teaching Experimental Psychology
• International Association for the Study of Child Language