The Development of Language

A complex and dynamic system of conventional symbols used for thought and communication

Sound, written, manual, iconic

Language ( 4 sound system)

Sound symbols

Speech

Written symbols

Letters

Manual symbols

Sign Language

Iconic symbols

Augmentative communication device

Language is a conventional system

Everyone in a community must agree on the same set of symbols for successful communication

Language is a dynamic system

Language systems evolve and change over time

Language is rule-goverened

Allows language to be generative

What are the 5 domains of language

Phonology morphemes syntax semantics pragmatics

(Form)

Sound system of language

Smallest unit of sound

Ex: d-o-g

Phonology

Used by SLPs, Describes the sounds of language

Rules for combining sounds

International Phonetic Alphabet

Morphology

Rules that govern the use of morphemes

How we form words

Smallest unit of language that expresses meaning

Bound and free morphemes

Morpheme

Bound Morphemes

Must be attached to a root word

Inflectional and Derivational

Indicate Verb Tense

Past tense -ed,-s

he walked to the store

Inflectional Morpheme

Prefixes and suffixes added to words

Root word: Happy: -un or -ness is the …

Derivational Morpheme

Root words that stand alone

Ex: Dog is FM

Ex Dog’s; Dog is FM, -s is the IM

Free Morpheme

Syntax

How we form sentences

Semantics

Meaning system of language

Our mental dictionary aka lexicon

Word form that includes phonological composition of the word, aka lexeme

Ex: sounds of d-o-g

Lexical Information

(Use)

How we use the form and content of language

Intention

Seen in individuals with autism

Pragmatics

Receptive Language

Ability to understand/comprehend language

Expressive Language

The ability to produce/speak language

Way for someone to express themselves

Birth - 10 months

Pre-linguistic

Unintentional stage of communication

No intended message but adults believe so and set the stage

Perlocutionary Stage

~10 months

Begin to use gestures and jargoning/babble WITH intention

Pre-linguistic

Illocutionary Stage

~12 months and onward

Intentional communication with words

Linguistic and metalinguistic

Locutionary Stage

Development of phonology, syntax, and morphology complete by 8 years old

Linguistics (Language)

The childs ability to talk about and think about language

Necessary to think about words

Metalinguistic

The continuous developmental growth of perception, memory, conception, judgment, and reason

Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor

Preoperational

Concrete

Formal

Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Birth to 2 years of age

Child is constructing meaning of the world by hearing and seeing

Foundations of communication are formed during this period

Sensorimotor

Schema

Information the child knows

Assimilation

Childs attempts to incorporate new stimuli into existing cognitive schemas

When a child encounters a new stimulus that does not fit into an existing cognitive schema

Accommodation

Baby interacts through 3 reflexes

Sucking, following moving objects with eyes, closing hand when an object is put in palm (palmar grasp)

Reflexive

2-4 months old

Reproduce an event that initially occured by chance

Primary Circular Reactions

4-8 months

Sensory input and motor output more complex and externally focused

Ex: if i do this, mother will do this

Secondary Circular Reaction

8-12 months

Demonstrates intentional bx

Coordination of Reactions

12-18 months

Explores new ways to achieve purpose

Tertiary Circular Reactions

18-24 months

Can talk about events and things not present

Early Representation Thought

2-7 y/o

Growing vocab and language

Preoperational Stage

7-11 y/o

Advanced logical thinking

Concrete Stage

Reversibility

Ability to follow a line of thinking back to where it began

Ability to mentally arrange elements in a series according to value, size, ect

Seriation

Classification

Ability of grouping objects according to similarity

Formal Stage of Cognitive Development

11-15 years

Cognition is fully developed

Gross motor development

Refers to movement involving large muscles

Fine motor development

Refers to movements involving smaller muscles

Used to survey the development of several skills across development of children from birth to 36 months of age

Rosseti Infant-Toddler Language Scale

Test of receptive vocabulary in which the child is presented with a four pitch array and must identify the correct picture

Peabody picture vocabulary test

A test of expressive vocabulary in which child is presented with a series of single pitchers and asked to name

The expressive vocabulary test

A test of expressive pathology in which the child is presented with a series, a single pitch and asked to name each one in hopes to illicit each consonant or vowel sound

The goldman-Fristoe test of articulation

Child comes heavily “wired” to perform the task of acquiring

Nature

Observable environmental factors explain language

Nurture

Hybrid of nurture and nature views

Interactionist view

Eric Lennenburg

Nature

Provided much of the ground work

Argued: little variation between species

Specific organic correlates

Heredity

No history within species

Biological bases

Noam Chomsky (1957-1965)

Nature

Early view described the innate knowledge that enables a native speaker to produce a potential potentially infinite number of novel utterances

He believed that the child brought a language acquisition device to the task of language learning

Revised his theory to Government Binding Theory

Transformation Generative Grammar

Pinker and Jackendoff (05)

Nature

Argued that specialized language faculties trigger the development of linguistic knowledge

Contemporary view

What are the Nate mechanisms necessary for language learning to take place?

Specific cognitive skills

Metacognitive control that monitors, incoming stimuli, motor output

Theory of mind – the ability to attribute mental states to others that are different from your own

Classical conditioning early 1900s

Acquisition relies heavily on paired associations between stimuli

Pavlov

Operant conditioning

Skinner 1950s

Frequency of certain behaviors is increased if positive reinforcement is contingent upon targets

Piagetian perspective

Learning is accomplished throughout the lifespan by active participation of infants, children, and adults

Maintain the direct relationship exists between cognitive achievements, and later linguistic attainments

Cognitive prerequisites are required

Cognitive-constructivist models

Vygotsky (1986)

Believe that children’s cognitive development resulted from interaction between children’s and Nate skills in their social experiences with peers adults in the culture

Social-Cognitive models

Halliday: describe the functions of his non-linguistic sons communication as – satisfying needs, controlling others, interacting, and expressing emotions and interest

Social-pragmatic models

When a child, an adult collaborate on a task, the information can be stored for future use, and can be used as a tool to guide in direct problem-solving in other cognitive

Private Speech

Area between what a child can accomplish independently and what he can accomplish with another person who has greater knowledge experience and skill

Zone of Proximal Development

When caregivers and their infants engage in joint referencing (share a common interest) ultimately contributes to language acquisition

Brunner (1975; 1977)

Gestural, postural, and vocal means to get baby’s attention

Indicator

spatial and contextual clues caregiver used to assist the child understanding (this,here,that, you, me)

Deictic Terms

When the child can associate a label with a reference, occurs receptively before expressively

Naming

John Dore: identified the primitive speech, acts of children at the one Word stage

Social pragmatic perspective