Cognitive Development: language

Week 7

Outline the two main components of language.

• Language comprehension:

  • Skills, techniques, mechanisms by which we are processing language and understanding what it means.

  • Proceeds language production

• Language production:

  • Physically creating sounds and combining those sounds into words that have meaning, stringing those words into sentences, so that the person listening understand what your saying.

Phonemes

• Definition: The smallest element of speech sound

  • Example: “ship” has 3 sounds: /sh/ + /i/ + /p/

• Learning: about the sound system of a language

• Traits:

  • Not universal—differ across languages

  • “Voice onset time”

Morphemes

• Definition: The smallest element of speech sound that contains meaning

  • Example: “unbreakable”—root words (“-break-”), prefixes (“un-”) and suffixes (“-able”)

• Learning: about expressing meaning

Syntax

• Definition: how words are put into sequences to form grammatical sentences

  • Example: rules regarding the ordering of words.

    • The sentence "You could help them" is a grammatical English sentence

    • But the sentence "Help them you could" is not—but the meaning is still understandable (there is still structure/ grammatical rules)

• Learning: rules for combining words into sentences.

• Traits:

  • Not universal—differ across languages

Pragmatics

• Learning: how language is used.

• Example: cultural rules for conversing.

  • Using signals to indicate sarcasm in speech

  • Language use with friends vs authority figure

  • Turn-taking in a conversation

Outline the model of speech perception

1. Sound input

2. Acoustic analysis:

   • Phonolgy: sound pattern of language

3. Word recognition:

   • Morphology: structure of words

4. Sentence processing

   • Syntax

Explain “Voice Onset Time”

• The delay between the initial sound of a voiced consonant and the onset of vibration of the vocal cords

• Example: 'pa' VOT tends to be about 50 ms slower than 'ba' VOT.

Mental lexicon

The repository of all lexical knowledge possessed by an individual language user

Morphology

The study of morphemes

Describe the method for researching language development in 2-3 months olds.

High amplitude sucking procedure (2-3 months):

• Purpose: Used in very young infants to investigate what babies perceive regarding speech sounds and visual stimuli

• Investigates:

  • Differences infants perceive between speech sounds.

  • How babies attend to different information in speech sounds.

  • What information they remember.

• Method:

  • Infants enjoy novelty.

  • Sucking on a pacifier leads to a sound playing, they habituate to this.

  • A new speech sound is then introduced - if the infant recognises this as novel, they will suck on the pacifier to hear it more.

Describe the method for researching language development in 4-24 months olds.

Head turn preference (4 - 24 months):

• Purpose: indicates how interesting infants find speech sounds.

• Method:

  • Interest is measured by how long infants attend to stimuli.

  • The principle is that infants pay more attention to familiar speech sounds.

Outline the preferential looking procedure.

• Purpose: indicates children's understanding of words.

• A word is played whilst visual stimuli are displayed. If infants understand the word, they are expected to look at the stimuli that match the word's meaning.

Outline the different theroretical eprsectives on lgnaugage development.

1. Domain-specific: mechanisms we are looking at are specific to language

2. Domain-general: mechanisms underlying language or the development of langauge are general to our cognitions of language

3. Innate: we are born with the capacities to learn language whether it’s a domain specific or general mechanism (Stance A & B)

4. Acquired:

   • Domain-specific—we acquire language and the mechanism for doing so is specific to language (Stance C)

   • Domain-general—we learn language and it is acquired through general cognitive processes and cognitive systems (Stance D)

Describe the nativist view (stance A: innate and domain-specific) on language acquisition supported by Chomsky.

Language Acquisition Mechanisms:

• General learning systems are not suited for language learning.

1. Language Acquisition Device (LAD):

   • A mechanism in the human nervous system.

   • Incorporates innate concepts of language.

   • Guides the process of language acquisition.

2. Capabilities of LAD:

   • Specializes in learning abstract grammatical patterns common to all languages.

   • Flexible enough to:

     • Learn any language (despite imperfect input).

     • Operate with minimal feedback.

The Poverty of the Stimulus:

• Challenge: Input provided to children is often:

  • Poorly structured.

  • Littered with speech errors.

• Outcome: Despite these limitations, humans still learn language effectively.

Outline what is meant by the critical period.

• Definition: An age range (or developmental period) at which specific experiences are vital for development to occur in a

  typical way.

  • Language: The critical period for language development is from infancy to

    puberty

• Example: Second language acquisition (SLA)

  • People who learn a second in childhood sound similar to native speakers of the second language.

    • This isn't the same for those who learn a second language later.

Outline evidence for the critical period in language acquisition.

Hartshorne and colleagues (2018):

• Method:

  • Looked at 669,498 native and non-native English speakers.

  • Asked about the age which they started learning English, and their English grammar.

• Results:

  • Found that the critical period for SLA from infancy to almost adulthood (~17 years old)

Outline stance B and stance C theories on language acquisition

Stance B: Language Development via Domain-General Mechanisms

• Language development relies on domain-general mechanisms, the same mechanisms underlying other cognitive abilities.

  • These mechanisms are not specific to language

• The mechanisms are innate and biologically structured.

• Key Mechanisms:

  • Working Memory

  • Long-Term Memory

  • Perception

  • General Attentional Systems

Stance C: Language Acquisition through Learning

• Language is acquired through a process of learning, as proposed by behavioral theorists.

• There is nothing necessarily innate about language development.

• Key Points:

  1. Language is learned like other cognitive abilities or traits.

  2. However, the way we acquire language is specific to language:

     • It is distinct from how we learn other behaviors, traits, or associations

Outline The behaviourist/ learning approach

Stance D (Acquired and Domain-General)

• Language learning is supported by general learning systems.

• It can be explained by studying the child-adult speech patterns and reinforcement.

Key Principles:

1. Parental and Societal Reinforcement:

   • Language is acquired through responses to reinforcement from parents and society.

2. Learning Through Scenarios:

   • Language involves learning the appropriate verbal responses for various situations.

Outline the limitations of the behaviourist approach (stance D)

Limitations:

• Parental Responses: Parents often respond to the 'gist' of children's speech rather than correcting grammar.

• Bilingual Children: This approach would predict that bilingual children take longer to acquire language.

• Universality Issue: Does not explain the universal nature of language development across cultures.

• Associative Complexity: Would require children to form and manage a huge number of associations.

Outline the connectionist approach

Stance D: Acquired and Domain general

• Learning language, like other learning, occurs through the constructions of networks of association

  • Informal and implicit rule-based learning

  • Based on input from the environment and experience: but not all levels of connection are directly observable.

• The human brain is like a computer:

  • Parallel processing: Language acquisition depends on the brain handling lots of information simultaneously

Steps in language learning:

• Processing takes place in a network of nodes or units.

• Input: exposed to repeated patterns of units (language)

  • They extract patterns and co-occurring units

• Hidden units: grammatical rules (e.g. one specific word always follows another)

  • Associations are then formed and strengthened

• Output: Representing complex associations of co-occurring patterns and units

Describe the interactionist view of language development

Modern Theories of Language Development

• Language development is shaped by both environmental input and a biological predisposition to learn language.

Key Features:

1. Integrated Approach:

   • Draws on the strengths of previously discussed theories.

2. Active Role of the Child:

   • Recognises the child as an active agent, not just a passive recipient of language input.

   • Children actively participate as conversational partners.

3. Caregiver Accommodation:

   • Caregivers adjust their language to match the child’s language ability.

Outline the statistical learning approach

• Statistical Learning Approach

  • Builds on domain-general connectionist accounts.

  • Focuses on tracking the probability of sequences or patterns of speech sounds.

  Key Features:

  1. Rule and Pattern Creation:

     • Learners create 'rules' or patterns based on observed sequences.

  2. Sophisticated Language Learning:

     • Language learning evolves as learners use prior evidence to:

       • Evaluate the strength of a rule or pattern.

       • Refine their understanding over time.

Outline the evidence for the statistical approach

Saffran et al. (1996):

• Study: Exposed 8-month-old infants to strings of syllables where certain syllables tended to co-occur.

• Outcome: After a few minutes of listening, infants were able to detect and learn groups of sounds that reliably occurred together as words.

• Key Finding: Infants showed a preference for novel combinations of these sounds, indicating they had learned the patterns.

Outline the importance of social interaction in the development of language.

Infants (6-8 months old) exposure to Mandarin for 4 months:

• Only audio exposure: no learning

• Only video: no learning whatsoever.

• With a person: significant learning

• Conclusion:

  • It takes a human being for babies to take their statistics (statistical approach to learning).

  • The social brain is controlling when the babies are taking their statistics.

Outline the impact of bilingualism on language development.

• Definition: Bilingualism refers to the acquisition of two languages.

• Theories of Language Acquisition:

  • Challenges behaviourist accounts, which struggle to explain bilingual acquisition.

  • Supports aspects of domain-specific language acquisition theories.

• Differences between simultaneous and sequential bilinguals:

  • Differences were observed in methods of acquisition and brain areas involved.

Cognitive Benefits:

• Meta-analysis by Barac et al. (2014):

  • Bilingual children show strengths in some cognitive areas, but results are inconsistent across others.

  • Experience with two linguistic systems leads to changes in:

    • Brain function

    • Brain structure

    • Brain organization

Define child directed speech (“motherese”) and outline why we use it.

• Characteristics:

  • Short simple sentences that refer to concrete objects and events.

  • Important words are often repeated

  • Speech is slower and often in a high pitch

  • Not universal

• Why we use this:

  • Children orientate to it

  • Simplified structure helps children learn syntax, semantics and pragmatics.

  • Acoustic variation and repetition highlight important words

Outline the case of Genie.

Genie experience:

• Suffered extreme neglect and deprivation from 18 months of age up to when she was found at 13 years old.

• Following this, she did have some success in learning to communicate, but she did not acquire 'normal' language.

• Argued to be due to missed language input during her critical period.

Outline the chronology of language development form birth to 2 years.

Describe the semantic development in the stages of language acquisition.

Children’s Language Development

Understanding vs. Production:

• 18 months: Understand 50–100 words.

• 24 months: Understand ~900 words.

• 6 years old: Know around 8,000 words.

• Key Insight: Children’s language comprehension develops faster than their ability to produce words.

Learning the Names for Things:

• Rapid Word Learning:

  • Riddle of reference: occurs with minimal information.

  • Example: How do children know that rabbit refers to the entire creature, rather than:

    • A specific part of the rabbit,

    • The action it’s making,

    • Or all furry creatures?

• Word Learning Constraints:

  1. Perceptual Constraints:

     • Focus on perceptual similarity between objects.

  2. Conceptual/Whole Object Constraints:

     • Assume a new word refers to the entire object.

  3. Social Constraints:

     • Rely on social cues (e.g., joint attention, pointing) to infer meaning

Outline the pre-verbal communication in the stages of language production

• Language Development: Birth to 10 Months

• Early Vocalizations:

  • Includes cooing, crying, and babbling.

• Babbling Development:

  1. Purpose:

     • Practice producing phonemes, as well as the pitch and rhythm of their native language.

  2. Progression:

     • Gradually links phonemes to morphemes.

  3. Deaf Babies:

     • Deaf infants also babble, but use their hands for babbling if exposed to sign language.

Describe the development of one/two-word utterances in the stages of language production.

One-word utterances emerge at around 12 months

• Example: mummy, daddy, cat

• First words that have meaning

• Holophrases → a single word is used to stand in for a larger sentence

Two-word utterances emerge around 18 months

• Telegraphic speech → Children only use crucial words still to stand in for sentences, but tend to be consistently formed and worded

Errors in word use:

• Overextension: Children use a single word to refer to many things, which is incorrect because it is too broad

• Under-extension: Children use a single word to refer to a specific thing, which is incorrect because it is too specific

Outline the chronology of language development form 2 years onwards.

Outline acquiring grammar in the stages of language production

Language Development: Modifying Word Meanings and Learning New Verbs

From Two Years Onwards:

• Children learn to modify word meanings:

  • Achieved by modifying root words with morphemes.

• Example: using the past tense of words

State the types of learning mechanisms in acquiring grammar

Two different types of learning mechanisms

1. Rules are learnt via abstraction and generalisation

2. Learn exceptions to the rules via memory and/or analogical reasoning

Outline how grammar tules are learnt

• Language rules are abstract and general, applying to a wide range of word forms.

  • Example: regular verbs (e.g. accept-ed)

• Children overregularise this rule for irregular verbs (e.g. eat-ed) and have to learn these exceptions

Describe how children learn exceptions to linguistic rules

How Exceptions Are Learned:

1. Memory:

   • Forms that do not follow rules (e.g., irregular past tense verbs) are stored in the mental lexicon.

   • They can only be recalled if they have been previously encountered.

   • Example: Eat → Ate is remembered and stored.

2. Analogical Reasoning:

   • If multiple irregular forms share similarities, learners notice patterns and use analogical reasoning to infer new forms.

   • Example: Knowing that ring → rang might lead to the inference that sing → sang due to phonetic similarity.

Effectiveness of These Methods:

• Memory-Based Learning: Works well for words if their irregular forms have been heard at least once.

• Analogical Reasoning: Can be applied even when a past tense form has not been heard directly.

Outline the development of morphological rules in the stages of language production

From Two Years Onwards:

• Children begin modifying word meanings by adding morphemes to root words.

• They apply generalized rules (e.g., plurals and past tense) to new circumstances.

Key Study: Berko (1958):

• Objective: Compare how 4-year-old children and adults apply morphological rules to real and nonsense words.

• Findings:

  1. Nonsense Words:

     • Children applied rules to novel items (e.g., plural of "wug" → "wugs"), indicating they knew morphological rules.

  2. Real Words:

     • Children sometimes relied on memory rather than applying rules:

       • Example: "Glass" (plural) vs. "Tass" (nonsense plural).

  3. Past Tense:

     • Adults: Used analogical reasoning (e.g., "bing" → "bung").

     • Children: Relied on the regular rule (add “-ed”), as they had not learned enough irregular verbs to generalize.

• Conclusions:

  • Children’s reliance on rules (regular forms) contrasts with adults’ use of analogical reasoning (irregular forms).

  • Shows gradual development of language production abilities.