Theories of Language Development Flashcards

Flashcards covering key concepts in language development theories, including linguistic nativism, usage-based theory, and the components of language.

What are the main components of language?

Phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics

What is phonology?

The system of speech sounds used to communicate, known as phonemes.

What is morphology?

How combinations of phonemes are used to create meaningful units, called morphemes.

What is syntax?

The rules and principles governing the structure of sentences.

What is semantics?

The meanings of words.

What is pragmatics?

The concrete use of language in social interaction.

Who is Noam Chomsky?

Considered the father of modern linguistics.

Describe the linguistic nativism theory.

There are specific mechanisms that are hard-wired for language learning; we are biologically programmed to learn language.

What is the Language Acquisition Device (LAD)?

A tool that human beings are provided with that gives them the ability to learn language and understand the core structure.

What is universal grammar?

Innate knowledge about the basic structure of languages.

How do linguistic nativists view word learning and syntax learning?

As two separate processes.

Describe the usage-based theory.

Language is learned via mechanisms used in other domains, such as socio-cognitive mechanisms -- joint attention, theory of mind, and statistical learning.

How do usage-based theorists view syntax and word learning?

As combined processes that go together, reliant on linguistic input.

What is the all object assumption?

The assumption that children are born with some knowledge of how words work, and assume that new words refer to a whole object, not a part or property of an object.

What is the mutual exclusivity assumption?

The assumption that children apply a one-to-one mapping relationship between basic level word forms and their meanings; one word corresponds to just one object.

What is joint attention?

Shared attention towards a common referent.

What is intention reading?

The ability to understand the intentions of the speaker.

What is the Subject-Verb-Object structure?

A typical syntactic structure in English.

What do usage-based theorists believe about syntax learning?

It is initially based around frequent words; children associate words in isolated item-based constructional islands.

What is statistical learning?

The ability to implicitly learn the probabilities with which particular contexts predict the occurrence of certain items.

What are the main pragmatic skills?

Irony, sarcasm, understanding conversation skills, and referential communication.

What is referential communication?

The ability of the speaker to verbally code a reference and to modulate the information about the reference according to the knowledge of others.

What is theory of mind?

Understanding that our behavior is motivated not only by our desires but also by the knowledge we have; understanding that somebody might have a false belief about something.

What are executive functions?

Aspects of memory control and flexibility needed for planning and considering consequences to actions.

What are the 3 components of Executive Function?

Inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory.