CSD- Speech and Lang. Chpt. 1 & 2

Speech (def)

verbal or oral means of communication that uses the sounds of the language

Speech (paralinguistic) (3)

• voice quality

• intonation

• rate

speech (phonology)

sound/phonemes charateristics of sound combinations

Speech requires percise…

neuromuscular coordination

Language def

a socially shard code or system for representing concepts through the use of arbitrary symbols and rule governed combinations of those symbols

dialects def

subcategories of the parent language that use similar but not identical rules

Number of words in engish?

700,000

• largest # of words

• adds 6 a day

speech is not essential…

to language

Communication def

process of exchanging information and ideas, needs, and desires between two or more individuals

Communication involves…

encoding, transmitting and decoding the intended message

communication requires…

a sender and receiver who are aware of the needs of the other to ensure effective communication

communicative competence

degree to which a speaker is successful in communicating

Properties of language (4) (language is…)

• language is a social tool

• language is a rule-goverened system

• language is generative

• language has other properties

language is a social tool becuase…

it is a code for transmission between people

Language is a rule governed system because…

the relationship between meaning and symbols is arbitrary but their arangment is not

A language user’s underlying knowledge about language rules is called

lingustic competence

linguistic performance def

lingustic knowledge in actual usage

Language is generative because… (2)

• language is productive and creative

• knowledge of the rules allows speakers to generate meaningful utterances

Human langauge is _________ meaning we can use language to talk about language itself

reflexive

Diplacement

ability to communicate beyond the immediate context

The symbols used in language are ______ but sometimes there is a suggested relationship between the _____ nad the physical object/action in refrence

• arbitrary

• sounds

Other properties of language (3)

• reflexive

• displacemtn

• arbitrary

Three major components of language

• form

• content

• use

form includes…

• syntax

• morphology

• phonology

syntax refers to…

word order and their relationships

• specifies word, phrase, and clause order: sentence organization; and the realationships between words, word classes, and other sentence elements

ex) this is a rabbit vs. a is rabbit this

morphology refers to…

words and word beginnings and/or endings

• internal organization of words

• words consist of one/mult. morphemes

phonology refers to…

the sound units and sequences

• “the rules governing the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables

content includes

semantics

use includes…

pragmatics

morpheme

the smallest grammatical/meaningful unit (undivisible)

free morphemes

independent

• can stand alone

ex) dog, happy

bound morphemes

grammatical markers that cannot function independently

ex) un-, non-, -ly,

derivational morphemes

changes the whole class of words

• are prefixes and suffixes

ex) slow/slowly, mad/madness, true/untrue

inflectional morphemes

• suffixes only

• change the state or increase precision of a free morpheme

ex) sally/sally’s walk/walks

Phoneme

smalledt linguistic unit of sound that can signal a difference in meaning

allophones

differ slightly, but not enough to sound like a different phoneme

(spin vs. pen)

two rules in phonology

• distributional

  • sequencing

distributional rules

whoch phonemes are permissble in carious positions of words

sequencing ruels

sound modifications when two phenemes appear next to each other

phonemes are classified by (3)

• acoustic/sound properties (including voiced or voiceless)

• manner (how the airsteam is modified)

  • place of production

semantics

system of rules governing the meaning or content of words adn word combinations

semantics includes (4)

• world knowledge

• word knowledge

• semantic features

  • selection restrictions

world knowledge (semantics)

your autobiographical and experiential understanding and memory of particular events in your past

word knowledge

mental dictionary or thesaurus

• aka lexicon

semantic features

aspect of meaning that characterize a word

selection restrictions

prohibition of certain word combinations

pragmatics

study of kanguage in contect and concentrates on langiage as a communication tool that is used to acheive social ends

pragmatics consists of (4)

• communication intentions and recognized ways of carrying them out

• conversational rules or principles

• types of discourse and their construction

• communication norms for a particular culture

dialects (def 1)

a subcategoriy of a parent language that uses similar but not identical linguistic rules

dialects (def 2)

a langiage rule system used by an identifiable group of people that varies in some way from a typical language standard

each dialect shares a comon set of ________ _____ with the “standard language” and dialects of a language are theoretically mutually __________ to all speakers of that language

• grammatical rules

• intelligiable

dialectal differences

people who live int he same region but don’t sound exactly the same

registers

situationally influenced[ langauge variations

style shifting

variation from formal to informal styles

factors in dialect differences (6)

• geo

• SES

• race/ethnicity

• situation/context

• peer group influence

• first/secondhand learning

how many regional dialects in US

at least 10

racial/ethnic dialects in US (3)

• african american English (AAE)

• spanish influenced english'

• asian english

Why study language? (3)

• understand how human development occurs so we can support those whose language does not follow the typical sequence

• interesting

• langauge and cognition are closely related. understanding langiage better could lead to understanding cognition better

Who studies language? (5)

• linguists

• psycholingists

• sociolinguists

• behavioral psychologists

• SLPs

Which theories believe in a nature over nurture?

• generative

• nativist

Which theories believe in nurture over nature?

• interactionist approach

Generative/nativist approach def

children are born with innate rules or principles related to the structures of human languages

• would be very difficult to leanr a langauge without this underlying understanding

• early version didn’t explain how kids move from semantic based langauge to acquiring the syntactic rules

Language acquisition device (LAD)

theoretical underlying structure in the brain outlining the universal rulres of language

(generative/nativist) linguists decided after looking at many languages that there was…

no universal grammar to apply to all languages

semantic revolutions

argued that the meaning of words is more important in child language development rather than grammar

(generative/nativist approach) acqusition has 2 components

1. acquring all the words, idioms, and constructions of that language

2. linking the core strucutres of the language being learned to the universal grammar in the LAD

• helps child interpret langauge correctly and formulate their expressive language output

• since we are born with this grammar doesn’t change throughout our lifespan

generative/nativist weaknesses (3)

• not all language is formed follwoing syntactic rules

• doesn’t explain changes in language over time

• doesn’t account for individual difference in child language development- overlooks the language input aspect

interactionalist approach

emphasizes the influence of a combination of biological and environmental processon langauge learning

• like the idea of language structure (like nativists) but not dead set

• chlidren learn language by general cognitive mechanisms they are born with

  • brain organization and function → learning language

two approaches to interactionalist approach

• emergentism

• constructivism

in interactionalist approach child is an _______ ___________ in the language learning process

active participant (back and forth of language)

• based on feedback from child, parents use child-directed speech to maximize the child’s understanding

emergnetism

interactionalist sub category

• def: language is a structire arising from exsisting interating pattens in the human brain

  • not an innate structure but somehting that develops overtime based on one’s experiences

emergentism: Our brains like patterns and…

language is a pattern

(Emergentism) nature or nurture?

both

Psychologist for emergentism

Tomasello and Bates

• kinda skinner

emergentism (summary) (3)

• paraents model language

• children imitate the models

• parents provide feedback (reienforcment/punishment) that influences the likelihood the child will use that language again

constructionism

subcategory of interactionism

• def: a usage-based approach that sees langiage as composed of constructionsor symbol units taht combine the form and meaning of language through the use of morphemes, words, idioms, and sentence frames

• language structure emerges from language use

(constructionism) children construct abstract language categories and patterns gradually through two general cognitive process

• intention-reading-knowing the communicative significance of an utterance

• pattern finding creating a map of abstract langauge patterns

interactionalist weakness

doesn’t fully explain language development

• how to account for the similarities of languge learning and use across children despite having different language models and experiences

neither generative or interationalist theoretical approaches clearly explain…

the mechanics of learning language

learning theories are conceptual models that attempt to describe…

how knowledge is acquired, processed, and retained when we learn

disagreements occur because many factors (cognitive, emotional, environmental) play a role in how we…

understand the world and how that understanding changes as a result of learning

three major learning theories

• behavioral

• cognitivist

• social constructivist

cognitist theory

concerned with the thought process behind the behaviors of alngauge and changes in behavior are indictive of that thought process

cognitivist theory (3 point summary)

• learning occurs through internal processing of incoming info

• cognitive processing is governed by an internal process rather than by external circumstances

• memory is active and organized AND prior knowledge is key to learning

cognitivist psychologist (and his def)

jean piaget

• cognitism assumes that the learner plays an active role in trying to understand and process information

  • using adaption which is the result of assimilation and accommodation leading to cognitive changes

cognitivist weaknesses (2)

• piagetian and cognitivist notions of learnig don’t necessarily negate realted to generative linguistictheory, BUT it’s not a strong fit for the interactionalist theory

• cognitivist theories do not offer an explaination for the role of social learning of the social tool called language

behavioral theory

children learn language through direct reienfrocment adn punishment

• focuses on observable behaviors

behavioral theory psychologist

skinner

weaknesses of behavioral theory (2)

• noam chompsky was main critic (thought is was too simplistic)

• parents do not provide good models, children do not just imitate, and parents do not regularly reienforce the child’s behavior

social cognitivist learning theory

knowledge is constructed within social context through interactions

• individual understanding and knowledge are obtained via experience and reflections on those experiences

social cognitist’s 2 concepts

• experiences are used by learner to creat a model of the social world and the way that it functions

  • language is the most essential system with which to construct that reality

social cognitivist psychologist

lev vygotsky (russian)

• contrasted piaget by theorizing social learning precedes development

Zone of proximal development

suggests that the easiest things for a child to learn are those closest or proximal to what he already knows

basic goals of child langauage research (3)

• discover adn confirm general lingistic principles and paterns of language development

• clarify the relationship of language development to changes inother area, such as cognition

  • provide a theoretical description of language devlopment that helps explain the process

four issues in the study of child language

1. method of data collection can sometimes elicit different results (ex: foraml testing vs observatin of spontaneous language)

2. structured collection methods alone don’t give an accurate picture of skills in conservation

3. sampling and observation (language sampling techniques vary from very structured to unstructured, natural open ended samples to controlled samples ect.)

4. varibles that affect dat[a collection and generalization of research findings

varibles that can affect data collection and generalization of research findings (6)

• number of cihldren

• variability/diversity

• size of language sample

• SES

• conversational partner

• ESL

cross language studies are usually taken in order to investigate (5)

• univerality (which aspects of language appear in mult. languages)

• developmental similarities

• lingistic specicitiy (is development a result of universal cognitive developmetn or unique lingisitic knowledge?)

• realtive difficulty (language development differences explained by how challengin the particular languge is to learn)

• acquisitional principles (underlying language learning strategies that are used universally)

two methods of collecting crosslinguistic data

1. gather a range of studies completed in different languages, even through the studies may differ in their purpose and methods

2. conduct og studies using similar design across subjects from different language groups

linguists

determine the language rules that people use to communicate

psycholinguistics

study of how people acquire and process language