Dr. Blake's Language Acquisition Exam 1

Definition of language

An agreed upon system of communicating thoughts, ideas,and feelings through arbitrary spoken, written, or signed symbols.

There are approximately how many languages today?

7,000

Is it possible to communicate without language?

Yes

Syntax

word order

Morphology

The system of forming words in a language; how words are put together. Example: Sleep vs. Slept

Phonology

sound combination; "dat vs. that"

Semantics

the study of meaning;the system of finding and creating words and sentences

non-linguistic cues

gestures, body language, communicating without using language

Paralinguistic codes (and suprasegmental Devices)

stress, pitch, or juncture Ex:"like I really want to do that"

Pragmatics

The system of using language appropriately to

achieve social ends. Involves the speaker

a) Selecting the appropriate form

b) Abiding by assumed rules

c) Following conversational rituals

Word Knowledge

the meanings we associate with spoken, written, or signed symbols

World Knowledge

our experiences and understanding of life events that occur with us and around us; the meanings

Phoneme

smallest unit of sound that is capable of distinguishing meaning in a language

Morpheme

smallest, meaningful unit of sound in a word; bound-which cannot stand alone; and free-which can stand alone

dialect

a particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group

Deficit Approach

one dialect is better than another

Sociolinguistic approach

No dialect is better than another

Word

acts as a symbol, refers to referent

Referent

The thing the word is referring to

Minimal Pair

A pair of words that are only differentiated by only one sound; all about sounds, not spelling. Ex. Tie and buy are minimal pairs. Bit and Big are also minimal pairs.

Neuroplasticity allows for what?

allows other parts of brain to take over

Normative Studies

the norm for how children develop language

Speech Perspective Studies

Questions asked during these studies: How do children distinguish sounds from each other? How early can they differentiate between different sounds?

5 behavior theories

Behavoirist, Generativist, Constructivists, social/interactionist, connectionism

Behaviorist

learning through repetition, rewarding through good language behavior, make sure students avoid mistake, teaching grammar rules through repeating

Generativist

Born with language, everyone born with a universal grammar, all child needs is input, exposing kids to rich language

Constructivist

discovering learning, cognitive learning, child autonomy- working alone

Social/interactivist

language comes from social interaction, communication with others is important, encourage kids to talk in class

There is no way a child can learn language off teletubbies alone, it can't be learned in a social vacuum

Social/ interactionist

The best way to get someone to learn English is to motivate that person to talk and use language with others in the classroom

Social / interactionist

Language learning is all about a child's brain recognizing the patterns of language

connectionist

A childs language develops in accordance with her cognitive development

constructivist

language ability is innate-just like walking

generativist

Jenny learns language by imitating what she hears her mom saying at home

behaviorist

My language theory is best summed up in the findings of B.F. Skinner

Behaviorist

Connectionism

Everything connects, neuron pathways

Functional Mapping

how different parts of the brain are mapped out to fill specific language tasks

Wernicke's Aphasia

Incomprehensible speech; sentences are grammatical but makes no sense (in left hemisphere)

Broca's Aphasia

Broken Speech, no syntax, produce only minimal content words

Why can humans talk but animals can't?

because of our brain structure

What part of the brain is responsible for fluent language production?

Broca's Area

Left Hemisphere

responsible for language, math, and logic

Right Hemisphere

responsible for faces,spaces, holistic thinking, (stress, gestures-paralinguistics)

Invariance Hypothesis

Left hemisphere is specialized for language from birth

Equipotentiality Hypothesis

Left hemisphere is not specialized at birth but shifts to left with maturity/puberty

Brain Plasticity

The ability of a child's right hemisphere to take over and adapt when left hemisphere is damaged

True or False: Plasticity is lost as child matures. (Brain is less able to adapt)

True

True or False: Child's physical brain growth is complete by puberty

True

Myelin Sheath is an insulation around the what?

axon

What is complete by puberty?

Myelinatin

A language that is not spoken is not really a langauge

False

There is not a logical connection between the symbols in our language and the idea, places and things that the symbols represent

True

Communication and language are synonymous terms

False

American sign language is ...

a language

Pragmatics

Language in use and the contexts in which it is used

A phoneme is

the smallest sound unit that can distinguish one word from another

A morpheme is

a smallest meaningful unit of sound in a word

Dialects are: (3)

variations of a parent language. all language users have a dialect. some dialects are closer to standard english that other dialects.

word knowledge is...

refined through interactions with others

deficit approach

believes that the closer a dialect is to the stated "standard" is more pure or better

sociolinguistic approach

views language dialects as no better or more valued than the standard of the language

The first language acquisition experiment studied by greeks

false , egyptians

early baby biographies

charles darwin, highlighted speech development milestones similar to those we know today , conducted during the 19th century

normative studies

they did not focus on the language ability of "exceptional children"

speech perception studies are useful how?

how babies distinguish between sounds of the english language

infants turning their heads study

infants are able to distinguish sounds of other languages in the world, young infants are capable of distinguishing all sounds of language in the world.

which of the following is true about the process of language comprehension

linguistic data is processed in Wernickes area

which of the following is true about myelination

it may help to explain a critical period for language development.

aphasia

an impairment of language due to brain injury

neural plasticity means

parts of the brain are able to take over functions that they would normally not

the critical period hypothesis

there is a critical age of range during which children are able to develop language

I feel very lost. My hearing, linking been doing loosh. Baby tanks give her time darling.

Wernickes Aphasia

The part of the brain responsible for fluent language production

brocas area

the areas of brain responsible for processing auditory signals

hershl area

the bundle of nerves that connects the two halves of the brain

corpus collosum

The part of the brain that controls motor movements

motor cortex

The little part of the brain that controls motor movements

gyri

The part of the brain responsible for comprehensible language production

weirnickes area

the side of the brain responsible for music , language and logic

left side

the side of the brain responsible for spatial details and holistic thinking is called

right side

Philosophy , how many morphemes

8

through, how many morphemes

3

____ when a child uses a word to refer to fewer referents in the world than it should

under extension

______ when the child uses a word to refer to more referents in the world than it should

over extension

A newborn is able to focus on objects as far as two feet away

False

All five senses are in place in a baby at birth

True

mothers treat their babies as conversional partners from birth

True

All animals have some degree of cognition

True

The act of perception may be unconscious

True

Baby Talk is essential to early language development

False

Habituation involves focusing on stimuli as if they are occurring for the first time

False

Good bunny bad bunny video focus on...

babies can detect right from wrong at an early age

_______ helps ensure survival by protecting vital systems through automatic

reflexes

Cognition is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through ____, _____ and the _______

thought, experience, and senses

three most important sense for language development____, ____, ____

hearing, sight, touch

communication to a listener that is produced without intention

perlocutionary phase

8-9 months infant, intentional communication without words

illocutionary phase

communication that is produced with intension and words

Locutionary phase

Infants use gestures to intentionally communicate at which phase?

illocutionary

infant can see how far

8 inches