MURTAGH AP PSYCHOLOGY- Myers 4th Edition UNIT 3: Development and Learning Module 3.5: Language

language

our agreed upon system spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

phoneme

in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)

grammar

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

Semantics

the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

Universal Grammar (UG)

a theory developed by linguist Noam Chomsky that human's innate predisposition to understand the principles and rules that govern grammar in all languages

babbling stage

beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

one-word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

two-word stage

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements

telegraphic speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—"go car"—using mostly nouns and verbs.

aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding).

Broca's area

Controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

Wernicke's area

controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

linguistic determinism

Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think

linguistic relativism

the idea that language has an influence on the way we think

Noam Chomsky

theorist who believed that humans have an inborn or "native" propensity to develop language

Paul Broca

discovered area in the brain (named for him) in the left frontal lobe responsible for language production

Carl Wernicke

an area of the brain (in the left temporal lobe) involved in language comprehension and expression was named for him because he discovered it

Benjamin Whorf

language; his hypothesis is that language determines the way we think