chapter 7 Language Acquisition

Phonological

Relating to the speech sound system of a language, focusing on phonemes.

Semantic

The branch of linguistics concerned with meaning; morphemes represent the smallest units of meaning.

Syntactic

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

Pragmatic

Related to the use of language in context and how context influences meaning.

Nature/nativists

The belief that genetic endowment and an innate brain structure influence language acquisition.

Cultural Context

The idea that cultural background shapes how language influences cognition and emotion.

Prelinguistic Development

The stage before language acquisition that includes hearing, preferences at birth, and babbling.

Social referencing

Looking to a caregiver for cues in unfamiliar situations, typically around the crawling stage.

One-word utterances

Early stage of language development (9-18 months) where children produce single words.

Two-word utterances

Stage of language development (18-24 months) where children combine two words to convey meaning.

Whole-object principle

Assumes that a label applies to an entire object rather than a part of it.

Mutual-Exclusivity Principle

Assumes that each referent has only one name.

Overextension

A mistake where a child applies a label too broadly, e.g., calling all men 'Daddy'.

Under extension

A mistake where a child applies a label too narrowly, e.g., calling only the family's cat 'cat'.

Telegraphic speech

Early form of speech where children use essential words and omit less critical ones.

Over-regularization

When children incorrectly apply grammatical rules, e.g., saying 'runned' instead of 'ran'.

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Chomsky's theory that suggests children have an innate mechanism that aids in learning grammatical structure.

Modularity nativism

The theory that the brain has specialized areas that help in different functions, including language.

Cognition influenced by language

The concept that the language one speaks can shape their thoughts and cognitive processes.