MODULE 1

communication

speech+language

process by which participants exchange information and ideas, needs, wants, and desires

• requires a sender and receiver

• communicative competence

linguistic

• of or referring to a language

• performance: linguistic competence in actual usage

• competence: refers to a users underlying knnowledge of the rules that govern a language

utterance

spoken word, statement, or sound

speech

verbal means of communicating

• requires motor control (planning and execution)

• phonemes (specific sounds that can be combined in different ways)

• suprasegmentals (vocal quality, intonation, stress, tone, rate)

phonemes

• specific sounds that make up a language

• 44 in English

language

socially shared code or conventional system for representing concepts via the use of arbitrary symbols and rule-goverened combinations of these symbols

• evolves with specific historical, social, and cultural contexts

• dialect is a subcategory of 5 components: morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics

• language learning and use is determined by the influence of biological, cognitive, psychosocial, and environmental factors

• effective use of language requires an understanding of human interaction, including such factors as nonverbal cues, motivation, and social-cultural roles

• constantly changes, evolves, and grows

• culture greatly influences language

• English has changed and adapted over time via the addition of new words

dialect

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

• language rule system used by an identifiable group of people that varies in some way from and ideal language standard

• language difference, not disorder

• it is not regarded as deviant or inferior

factors:

• geography

• SES

• race and ethnicity

• situation or context

• peer group

• first or second language learning

registers: situationally influenced language variations

style shifting: the variation from formal to informal styles and vice versa

morphology

• internal organization of words

• morpheme = smallest unit of meaning

pragmatics

the study of language in context and as a means to achieve social ends

syntax

• form or structure of a sentence

• rule governed

phonology

• rules that govern the structure, distribution, and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables

semantic features

aspects of the meaning that characterize the word

selection restrictions

• based on these specific features and prohibit certain word combinations because they are meaningless or redundant

vocal play

vocalizations + different sounds

• we call this vocal play and is regarded as a precursor to a Childs first word that typically coincides with he first birtgdat

• children spend much of their first year experimenting with different vocalization and producing a variety of sounds

ASL

• does not mirror standard American english

• has its own rules for symbol combination

• sign language will change in regards to rules for combining different symbols based on the country where it is used

extralinguistic

linguistic

modes:

• speaking and listening

• reading and writing

• singing

language characteristics

• displacement

• rule governed

• arbitrary

• generative

• social tool

syntax

• form or structure of a sentence is governed by the rules of syntac

• specific word, phrase, and clause order

• sentence organization

• relationships between words, word classes, and other sentence elements

• specifies which word combinations are acceptable, or grammatical, and which were not

morphology

• internal organization of words

• bound and free morphemes

phonology

concerned with the rules that govern the structure, distribution and sequencing of speech sounds

• phoneme

• allophone

• phonotactics (distribution and sequencing)

semantics

• system of rules that govern the meaning or content oft of words and word combinations

• each word has 2 parts: semantic features and selection restrictions

• some units are mutually exclusive (man and woman)

• some unites overlap (female, lady, woman)

• includes world knowledge: ones autobiographical and experiential understanding and memory of particular events

• includes word knowledge: word and symbol definitions and is primarily verbal

use: pragmatics

• study of language in contexts and on language as a communication tool that is used to achieve social ends

• includes communication intentions and the number of ways they are carried out, conversational rules, and types of discourse

conversational rules:

• turn taking

• topic initiation. maintenance, and closing

• relevant contributions

• providing feedback

• providing clarification

acquisition

generative or nativist approach to language development

nature

nurture

Constructionist or empiricist or interactionist approach

linguistic theory

data

sample

variability

data collection

data analysis

reasons to study language acquisition

• concern for human development

• facilitate behavior change/learning

• increase insight into normal and other than normal language prcesses

• help us to understand our own behavior

• language development is parallel to cognitive development!!!

theories of language development

nature

• generative

• nativist

nurture:

• constructionist

• empirisist

• interactionist

generative/ nativist approach

• Children learn language because they are born with innate rules or principles related to structures of human languages

• Language development is an inherent part of being human

• Language is a universal human trait

• The environment’s role in a child’s language learning is limited

  The Who: CHOMSKY

• universal syntactic rules that applied to all human languages

• present in all humans at birth

  Language acquisition Device:

• - proposed that these rules are housed theoretically in the brain

• children use the rules found in LAS to figure out the rules of the language to which they are exposed

• instead of the subjects and verbs used by adults to produce sentences, children use meaning units

• pitfall: while they explain some child utterances, they fail to explain other forms of sentences, such as interrogatives
  

Constructionist/Empiricist/Interactionist Approach

BF Skinner

• parents model language, child imitates it

• the child is considered to be contributing member in the language learning process

• the child will cue the parent to provide the appropriate language that the child needs in order to learn the language

• the environment plays a critical rile in language development

• children learn language form the environmental input to which they are exposed

• children interact with their environment (parents, caregivers, friends, objects) to learn language

• to learn language, children rely upon their cognitive mechanisms

Emergentism

• Closely related to both the Nativism and Constructionist Theories

• Language development occurs due to interacting patterns in the human brain

• There is something in the brain that makes language learning innately possible

• The brain depends upon incoming information from the environment in order to seek out patterns

• The child finds patterns in the language input they receive.

constructionist/emergentism

• Focuses on a usage based approach

• it sees language as composed of symbols units that combine form and meaning via the use of morphemes, words, idioms, and sentence frames

• Language structure emerges from language use

• A child will begin to recognize patterns in the input from the parent, and in turn, beings to use some word-specific combinations

nativist vs constructionist

4 goals of language research

1. To confirm general language development principles

2. To discover new principles / information about language development

3. To clarify / expand the relationship between language development and other areas, most notably cognition

4. To provide a theoretical description oflanguage development

research study designs

longitudinal - a few children are studied for an extended period of time

case study - usually descriptive, one or a few children are included in the data collection

experimental - children are randomly assigned to groups

data collection

Data collection is largely driven by the aspect of language that is being studied
• Speech perception, comprehension, expression
• Expressive language development data are usually
collected in two ways:
1. Conversational (spontaneous) - Usually, a wider variety of language forms
will emerge in conversational sampling
2. Structured testing - More advanced use of language forms will be seen in structured testing

selecting sample size:

• Should be large enough to allow for conclusions to be drawn and for generalizations to be made about the greater population from whom the sample was drawn.

• Sample size is related to the power of your study
  • the number of participants you need in order to be able to generalize your results to many other similar children

• The sample of children selected for a research study should reflect the diversity of the larger population from which they are drawn
  • children should represent the socioeconomic, racial and ethnic, and dialectal variations that are found in the total population.

theory of mind

• One’s ability to understand the minds of other people, & to comprehend / predict their behavior

• The ability to understand that others have thoughts, beliefs, opinions, emotions that are different from one’s own

• awareness that other people have thoughts, beliefs, and feelings, and that these may or may not be the same as the Childs

The nervous system

Innervation or neural control is contralateral, meaning that the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body, and vice versa

• neurons

• cerebrum

• CNS

• PNS

neurons

3 parts

1. cell body

2. axon: transmit pulses AWAY from cell body

3. dendrite: receives impulses form other cells and transmits them cell to body

• do not actually touch, bit are close enough to allow neural impulses to “jump” or synapse between the axon of one neuron and the dendrites of the next

the cerebrum

• Each hemisphere of the brain is responsible for different functions, but they also work together via the corpus callosum

• For most people who are right handed, the left hemisphere of the brain is dominant for language functions
  – expression and comprehension of language

The brainstem

Rests at the top of the spinal cord
• Is responsible for life-sustaining functions:
– respiration or breathing
– heart rate
– blood pressure
– consciousness
– digestion

The reticular formation is a collection of neurons within the brainstem
– controls all sensory information
• including audition or hearing
• vision
• tactile or touch
• other senses

frontal lobe

Most anterior
• Controls voluntary motor function
– including movements for speech production
• Houses Broca’s Area
– a center that is responsible for motor programming and planning for speech production
– is in the language dominant hemisphere (the left in most people who are right handed)

parietal lobe

• responsible for sensory information

• also important in reading, word recognition, processing both auditory and visual (writing) information

temporal lobe:

• processes auditory infrmation

• houses wenicke’s area

  • an area that is responsible for language comprehension

  • found in the language dominant hemisphere (the left in most people whoa re right handed)

• also important in memory

occipital lobe

• most posterior lobe

• responsible for vision

• damages here do not produce deficits in speech, but may interfere with reading and writing skills

right hemisphere

• Primarily involved in non-speech tasks, although it does play a role in the ability to use / understand figurative language forms, such as humor / jokes, sarcasm, idioms, and to make inferences

• Involved in holistic processing of visual information (recognition of faces, places), speech prosody, music, tones / clicks associated with clocks / alarms, etc., and using / understanding emotional expression

hemispheric Asymmetry

• Again, the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for language production and comprehension in most people who are right handed.

• About 60-80% of people who are left handed will also be left hemisphere dominant for language.

• The remaining portion of left handers are right hemisphere dominant for language.

Brain maturation

• Language development is strongly associated with brain maturation
  – Remember, so goes cognition, so goes language!

• The 1st index of brain development is brain weight
  – triples in weight during the first 2 years of life
  – By age 12, the brain has reached its full mature weight

• During development, chemical changes in the brain occur, causing the brain to form new channels & to become better organized

• Once process that greatly assists in brain maturation is the process of myelination, where the entire nervous system is wrapped in a protective sheath.
  – This results in an increase in functioning capacity in the brain.

Language comprehension

• Comprehension consists of auditory processing and language decoding

• While comprehension processes are generally believed to occur in Wernicke’s Area, it actually involves a number of structures that assist in this process

• Processing begins with attending to incoming stimuli, such as the sound of a friend’s voice, the door bell or phone ringing, etc.

• Other areas involved in comprehension include:
  – Supramarginal gyrus
  • Parietal lobe
  • Thought to be important in reading and word recognition
  – Angular gyrus
  • Parietal lobe
  • Process auditory and visual[writing] information
  – Right hemisphere

• Comprehension also depends on memory storage of both words and concepts

• The store of word meanings is diffusely located throughout many areas of the brain, although it is believed to be primarily centered in the temporal lobe.

• The hippocampus & amygdala, deep brain structures that are a part of the limbic system, are also very important in memory.

  
  

  
  

Language production

• Language production processes are located in the same general area of the brain as comprehension processes

• Broca’s Area (frontal lobe) is responsible for programming and planning the message that is to be spoken

• Signals from Broca’s Area are then sent to regions of the motor cortex for execution by the muscles of speech production

information processing

• defined as the way information processed and includes a number of steps

• attention → discrimination → organization → memory

attention

• includes both awareness of something and active cognitive processing

• divided into orientation and reaction

  orientation:

• the ability to sustain attention over time

• motivation and interest play a huge part

reaction

• the amount of time required for one to respond to a stimulus

• involves ones ability to select relevant parts of a stimulus

attention

• In general, less mature individuals are less efficient at attention allocation and have a more limited attentional capacity.

• In facilitating language development, how might you adjust an activity for a 6 month old versus a 2 year old versus a 4 year old?

  
  

discrimination

• Defined as the ability to identify stimuli differing along some dimension

• If one cannot identify the relevant characteristics of something, then he / she will have difficulty comparing the new input with stored information

• Discrimination, especially for language processing, requires a special type of memory called working memory

• Working Memory or WM: A temporary storage for information you have to remember during processing
  • WM for most people is about +/- 7 digits
  Examples:
  – remembering what someone has just said to you.
  – remembering a telephone number long enough to

  
  

organization

• Organization of incoming information is important for later retrieval

• Information is organized or “chunked” by category

• Poor organization will tax the storage capacity of the brain and hinder memory or recall

mediational:

• a symbol forms a link to other information

Associative:

• one symbol is linked to another, as in the common linkages of “man” and “woman” and “hot and cold”

memory

Defined as the ability to recall information that has been previously learned and stored
• This is a more permanent type of storage for information
• Information is retained in long term memory via rehearsal or repetition and organization
• Information is best recalled when it is deeply processed

Top down vs Bottom down processing

Passive vs active processing

serial vs parallel processing

neuro development:

• hemisphere development

• frontal lobe

• myelination and synaptogenisis

• memory

• speech and language

• development altered by

Hemisphere Development

• After birth, there is rapid development in the cerebellum and cerebral hemispheres, especially in the visual areas of the occipital lobe
  

  Frontal Lobe

• At around 2 months of age, motor control in the frontal lobe becomes more active

• During this time, the child is gaining greater control of volitional or voluntary motor behaviors and many reflexes begin to disappear

  Myelination and synaptogenesis

• In the postnatal period, neurons experience myelination and synaptogenesis or cells communicating with one another

• Myelination occurs over many years

Memory

• Between the ages of 6 months to 1 year, a child develops
  increasing ability to remember stimuli and to make associations between words and the entities to which they refer

Speech and Language

• Neural areas devoted to speech / language are fairly mature by late preschool, although higher level cognitive – linguistic functions are no fully mature until well in adulthood

• Unknown when lateralization for language occurs – may be present at birth
  

  Development Altered by

• Brain development can be altered by a number of environmental influences, including maternal use of alcohol, nutrition, legal / illegal drugs

cognition

• Defined as the mental activities involved in comprehension of information, including the acquisition, organization, storage, memory, and use of knowledge

• Includes a number of processes, including reasoning, problem solving, learning, and thought

• Cognitive development is very closely tied to the emergence of language or language development

• At early stages of development, the brain appears to have relatively little in the way of architectural differences

• The much greater organization found in adults appears to result from development (maturation) and environmental stimulation

• Brain architecture refers to the way various areas of the brain are connected together

• Part of brain development – that is, maturation – involves the continued development of many synaptic formations

• Experience with the environment is essential for synaptic formation

  
  

cognition: timing

• Developmental Timing: Defined as the period of time when the brain is receptive to certain inputs and to changes in the brain itself as a result of learning.

• During the first 2 months of life, the brain begins to segment into specific regions

Cognition: experience

Early life events have a powerful influence on both the pattern of brain organization and behavioral development
– Both genetics and the environment contribute to this

• Sensitive Period: Developmental period that varies for each perceptual and cognitive area during which the brain is more receptive to specific environmental input
  – represent a time when an infant’s capabilities can be modified or enhanced
  – quality of experiences during this period is extremely important

cognition: memory

• The 1st step in long term memory process is organization and storage of perceived information.

• Organization is an attempt to bring systematic order to information – this is accomplished via categorizing information.

• Information becomes a part of long term storage via a process called rehearsal – repetition, drill, or practice.

• Integrative rehearsal occurs when new information is integrated with old information

• Vital for acquiring all forms of knowledge, including
  language.

• Infants who have better memory are also better at encoding, storing, consolidating, and retrieving representations of objects and events.

• Infants with better recognition & recall memory are better able to link words with referents.

• Better recognition & recall at 12 months is strongly associated with better language skills at 36 months

sensation and perception

sensation:

• defined as the ability to register or recognize/process sensory information

• all senses are functioning at birth

Perception:

• defined as using both sensory information and previous knowledge to make sense of incoming stimuli

both use attention!

sensation

• Touch is the first sense to develop in utero

• A fetus is also sensitive to
  sounds very early and will startle to both sounds and movement at about 8 weeks

• Hearing is developed by 20 weeks post- conception & is considered to be fully functional at this point

attention

• Defined as the ability to engage, maintain, disengage, and shift focus.

• Infants who have better attention are likely to acquire language more quickly.

• They are better able to follow the gaze of others, engage in joint or shared attention, and track referents.

• Joint or shared attention: Occurs when two individuals – mom and child – attend to the same thing, such as a toy.

• Newborns or neonates have difficulty controlling attention or concentrating on a mental activity

• Many of an infant’s behavior- state changes reflect internal changes or intrinsic brain activities.

• By 2 months of age, an infant will exhibit selecting attending skills and can remain unresponsive to some background or interfering stimulus events

• Habituation: Process of becoming used to a stimulus

  
  

Habituation

• Habituation enables an infant to attend to new stimuli without competition from older, less novel or new stimuli.

• This is important in future learning abilities as it ultimately influences one’s ability to stay on task for extended periods of time

perception

• the ability to discriminate differences in incoming information is a part of perception

• It is a process of gaining awareness of what is happening around us

• Visually, an infant is able to recognize mom’s face within a few days of birth

• By 3 months, an infant can perceive facial differences, and in general, will respond more positively to a smile

• As memory increases and after repeated exposure to a stimulus (person, toy), the sight of the stimulus will elicit signs of recognition

• of importance is the influence of auditory perceptual skills on speech and language development

• In order for an infant’s auditory perceptual skills to develop, he / she must be exposed to auditory stimulation from the environment

• Newborns are capable of many different types of auditory discrimination: different sound durations, different loudness levels, different phonemes & consonants in short syllables

• Newborns are also able to discriminate between different
  pitches, especially in the human speech range

• By 2 months, they can discriminate frequency changes, such as high to low

• By 7 months, infants can discriminate different words

• Neonates preferhuman speech to other nonlinguistic auditory stimuli and by 3 months of age, they seem to be more attentive to words

• Development of speech perception proceeds through the 1st year of life

• Newborns are capable of detecting virtually every phoneme contrast used in a language

• With exposure to language, an infant begins to recognize patterns in the language

• The ability to detect patterns & to
  make generalizations is very
  important for later symbol and
  language rule learning.
  • Strong associations exist between
  speech perception at 6 months of
  age and later word understanding,
  word production, and phrase /
  sentence understanding.

• By 5 months of age, most
  children will respond to their own
  name & to either mommy or
  daddy.
  Between 8 – 10 months of age,
  changes in perception &
  production occur & are thought to
  be related to brain development,
  especially synaptogenesis or a
  burst in synaptic growth.
  • During this period, imitation of others and
  intentional (“on purpose”) communication
  emerges

• By 8 months of age, infants
  develop an understanding of
  phonotactic regularities,
  defined as the ability to
  recognize phonemes,
  phoneme combinations, and
  syllable structures of their
  native language.
  Infants also develop the
  ability to recognize frequently
  occurring language patterns,
  called phonotactic
  probabilities, or the likelihood
  that certain sounds, sound
  sequences, and syllables will
  occur.

  
  

  
  

  
  

motor control

• Defined as muscle movement and the sensory feedback that informs the brain of the extent of that movement

• A neonate is unable to control motor behavior smoothly and voluntarily
  – Movements consist of twitches, jerks,random movements, most of which
  involve automatic, involuntary motor patterns called reflexes

• Hand to face contact and body rotation are seen at 10 weeks in utero

• Early vocalizations are controlled by the brainstem.

• Maturation of the pathways that link auditory and motor areas with speech areas is not achieved until the 2nd year.

  
  

reflexes

Reflexes disappear or are modified by around 6 months of age
– largely due to the process of myelination
• The suck – swallow pattern is of most interest for speech development
– It is established at 6 months post-conception
– Infants begin with up / down movement & progress to lateral jaw movements within a few weeks

suck-swallow reflex

In order to suck, the neonate must:
• be able to seal off the oral from the nasal cavity to prevent nasal regurgitation.
• also be able to close the vocal folds in order to protect the airway during swallowing

motor control: early vocalizations

• Vocalizations produced by a newborn consist of reflexive sounds, such as fussing and crying.

• Quasi-resonant nuclei (QRN) are non-crying sounds that usually accompany feeding or in response to some stimuli or talking by mother
  – QRN contain phonation, or vibration of the vocal folds, but the child does not have sufficient control of the vocal mechanism to produce either consonants or full vowels

PCFs

• Function as words for a child, even though they are not based on adult words.

• Unlike babbling, a PCF has consistent prosodic and speech-sound patterns, such as “ba-ki” that is used by a child to refer to a specific entity, such as his / her blanket.

• Are considered to be the link between babbling and adult like speech in that they are more limited than babbling but not as phonologicallystructured as adult speech.

• Also reflect a child’s understanding of sound- meaning relationships.

  
  

Early vocalizations considerations

First sounds are restricted to plosives, such as p, b,t, d, g, k; nasals (m, n, ing); & /j/.
– also represent about 80% of the consonants in infant vocalizations AND the first 50 words produced.
• Hearing or audition is very important during this period
– A deaf child will decrease the range of consonants within babbling, especially after 8 months of age.

representational competence

• Defined as the ability to extract commonalities from experiences and represent them abstractly or symbolically

• These abilities are the way in which an infant establishes relations between words and referents
  – it is necessary for language development

• These abilities are seen in an infant’s anticipation of future events, object permanence, and in symbolic play

• Mental Maps: Refers to the linking of concepts together to related, stored information.

• An infant will cognitively evaluate and compare different stimuli – mom’s face, toys, etc.
  – This gives rise to the formation of concepts or schemes that give infants an expectation about the properties of objects, events, and people in the environment.

• There is a strong correlation between the number of words heard by a child during early development and the cognitive abilities of that child, even into late preschool years

• At about 7 months, infants begin to understand 1 – 2 single words.

• At 9 – 13 months, children understand words based on a combination of sound, nonlinguistic cues, and context.

  
  

  
  

learning

• Begins very early

• A child experiences & learns from the environment via others (adults, older siblings)

• The ability to learn new tasks & to retain this learning increases with age.
  – A 2 month old can retain previously learned motor skills for
  a few days
  – a 6 month old can recall learning from the past 2 weeks
  – a 1 year old can recall from the past 8 weeks

• As an infant develops, his / her conceptual system will change

• The system consists of organized patterns called
  schemes or concepts.
  – Schemes are basically used to process new, incoming information
  – When new information conflicts with a scheme, then that scheme
  is modified or replaced

• It is important to note that cognitive development is not a quantitative accumulation of ideas & facts, but rather, it is the qualitative change in the process of thought (just like our “cat” example).

• In general, all cognitive development is the result of organization and adaptation

learning principles

Organization

-to systematize or organize information into systems

Adaptation
- Function or tendency of all organisms to change in response to the environment

Equilibrium
- State of cognitive balance or harmony between incoming stimuli & your cognitive structures.

Assimilation
• Use of existing schemes to incorporate external stimuli.
• Example: Both German shepherds & Irish setters are different, but share enough characteristics to belong to the category of dog.

Accommodation
• The transformation process that occurs when external information does not fit into any available scheme and as such, cannot be assimilated.

maternal techniques for infant participation

• phasing

• adaptive

• facilitative

• elaborative

• initiating

• control

paralinguistic cues

communicative competence

cultural competence

nonlinguistic cues

cerebellum

central and lateral sulcus

corpus callous

synaptogenesis

myelination

prefrontal cortex

motor cortex

integration

properties of language