language acquisition week 1

How many natural human languages do you estimate are in current daily use in the world?

7100 languages

True or False: Any normal child growing up in any language environment will master the local language, even if they are blind or deaf?

True where even children who are blind, deaf, or neurologically impaired may develop language well

True or False: Adults are better at learning languages than children

False: Normal adults have difficulty achieving competence, let alone fluency, in a second language, despite greater cognitive sophistication than children and explicit instruction in classrooms

Language Landmarks: 0-3 Months

• coo

• burp

Language Landmarks: 3-6 months

• Cooing • Laughs • Cries • Gurgles • Recognizes name

Language Landmarks: 6-9 months

• Babbling • Turn-taking • Gestures ( Waving • clapping )

Language Landmarks: 9-12 months

• Pointing • Jargon • First words around 12 months

Language Landmarks: 12-18 months

• Learning 2 words/week • 50 words @ 18 mo. • Imitates words • Names for body parts, animals, etc.

Language Landmarks: 18 -24 months

• Talking about here and now • Follows simple commands • Loves stories, songs • Start combining words

Language Landmarks: 2-3 years

• 500 Words • Asks Questions • Past tense • Grammatical words (in, on, etc) • Produces many sounds clearly

Language Landmarks: 3-4 years

• 800 Words • Can follow simple plots • Time words: morning, afternoon, today • Some speech sounds still distorted

Language Landmarks: 1st grade

• 10,000 spoken words • Fewer words in reading & writing

Language definition

A system made up of different modules (components) that interact with one another

• phonology • morphology • syntax • semantics • pragmatics

Morphology (morpheme)

the smallest unit of meaning units in language

ex: cat_s (2 morp)

ex: runn_ing

Phonology & Phonetics: phonemes

the smallest unit sound in a language that can change the meaning of a word

phonetics: how we combine sounds

semantics vs pragmatics

semantics: literal meaning

pragmatic: meaning in context

e.g. “It’s fine”

be able to describe this chart

mention of fricative

syntax

• Order and arrangement of words in phrases and sentences

• Combinations of subject, verb, object

what is the most common syntax order

subject object verb - like korean!

semantics

• Study of meaning and sense

• Words, phrases, sentences, and larger

• Mental dictionary = lexicon (KNOW THIS)

• Word relations and awareness

Pragmatics

• Language use in context

• Intentions _{(Denial, refusal, blame, flattery, labeling, demand)}

• Politeness rules are culturally dependent

True or False: There are more than one method of communication

True, language is only ONE method of many communication ones

language vs communication

there could be communication without language (doggy?)

because language is a method of communication

FINISHEEEEHAFHSKJFLKSHLAKHwhat distinguishes language and communication

textbook: 3 features (Brown, 1973)

hockett (1960)

debunked language is sound (sign language)

doesnt have to be all 5

arbitrariness

aka semanticity or symbolism

arbitrary nature of language symbols make it possible to represent abstract concepts and imaginary ideas

ex) whale is big but word is short / microbiomes long but very small

stop sign - iconic (not arbitrary)

onomatopoeia - non arbitrary sounds

grammatically

ensures that communication of meaning is precise

GO ____ HOUSE

away? in? to?

Displacement

language is not limited to talking about the here and now

• past and future

• abstract concepts like feelings!

duality of patterning:

small # of meaningless sounds that, when combined in many ways, yield unlimited # of meaningful words and sentences

human language structures

two levels of structure

1. meaningful elements (words/morphemes)

2. word-internal meaningless elements ( phonemes)

english = 44 sounds