wng lang

Functions of language

purposes of language in communication. Example: “asking someone to close the door is conative”

Conative function

language used to influence or direct others. Example: “please sit down”

Emotive function

language used to express feelings or emotions. Example: “i’m really nervous today”

Metalinguistic function

language used to talk about language itself. Example: “a noun is a naming word”

Phatic function

language used to maintain social relationships rather than exchange information. Example: “hey, how are you?”

Poetic function

language focused on the aesthetic or creative qualities of language. Example: “slippery snakes”

Referential function

language used to provide information. Example: “melbourne is in victoria”

Critical period hypothesis

theory that children must acquire language before puberty for full language development to occur naturally. Example: “feral children often struggle to fully acquire grammar later in life”

Poverty of stimulus argument

chomsky’s idea that children learn language despite not hearing enough examples to explain their knowledge. Example: “children produce grammatically correct sentences they have never heard before”

Universal Grammar

chomsky’s theory that humans are born with an innate understanding of grammatical rules common to all languages. Example: “children across cultures acquire language in similar stages”

Argument for Universal Grammar

children learn language rapidly and with little explicit teaching. Example: “toddlers form complex sentences they were never directly taught”

Argument against Universal Grammar

language learning may come from interaction and exposure rather than innate grammar. Example: “children learn differently depending on social environment”

Usage-based theory

theory that language acquisition occurs through exposure, imitation, interaction and pattern recognition. Example: “children learn phrases they hear repeatedly from caregivers”

Argument for usage-based theory

child-directed speech and interaction strongly influence language development. Example: “children exposed to more conversation often develop vocabulary faster”

Argument against usage-based theory

input alone may not explain children’s ability to create original grammatical structures

Child-directed speech

simplified and exaggerated speech adults use with children. Features include higher pitch, repetition and simpler vocabulary. Example: “look at the doggy!”

Language acquisition

process by which children learn language

Babbling stage

early stage where infants experiment with sounds. Example: “bababa”

One-word stage / holophrastic stage

child uses one word to communicate a full meaning. Example: “milk” meaning “i want milk”

Two-word stage

child combines two words into mini sentences. Example: “mum go”

Telegraphic stage

child uses short sentences with mainly content words. Example: “doggie eat food”

Multiword stage

child begins forming longer, grammatically complex sentences. Example: “i goed to the park”

Voicing

whether vocal cords vibrate during speech sound production. Example: /b/ is voiced, /p/ is voiceless

Place of articulation

where airflow is obstructed in the vocal tract. Example: bilabial sounds use both lips like /m/

Manner of articulation

how airflow is obstructed during speech sound production. Example: fricatives create friction like /s/

Vowel height

how high or low the tongue is positioned in the mouth. Example: /i:/ in “see” is high

Vowel backness

how forward or back the tongue is positioned. Example: /u:/ in “food” is back

Roundedness

whether lips are rounded during vowel production. Example: /u:/ is rounded

Assimilation

connected speech process where one sound becomes more like a nearby sound. Example: “greem park”

Vowel reduction

weakening of vowel sounds, often to a schwa /ə/. Example: “tə”

Elision

omission of sounds in connected speech. Example: “friendship” pronounced without the /d/

Insertion

adding extra sounds in connected speech. Example: “law-r-and order”

Pitch

how high or low a voice sounds

Stress

emphasis placed on certain syllables or words. Example: “i DID do it”

Volume

loudness or softness of speech

Tempo

speed of speech

Intonation

rise and fall of pitch across speech. Example: rising intonation in questions

Morpheme

smallest unit of meaning in language. Example: “cat” and “s” in “cats”

Root morpheme

core meaning-bearing part of a word. Example: “help”

Stem

base word to which affixes are added. Example: “run” in “running”

Free morpheme

morpheme that can stand alone as a word. Example: “book”

Bound morpheme

morpheme that cannot stand alone. Example: “-s”

Affix

morpheme attached to a word. Example: prefixes and suffixes

Prefix

affix added to beginning of word. Example: “un-”

Suffix

affix added to end of word. Example: “-ed”

Infix

affix inserted within a word. Rare in english. Example: “abso-bloody-lutely”

Inflectional morpheme

changes grammatical meaning but not word class. Example: “dogs”, “walked”

Derivational morpheme

changes meaning or word class. Example: “happiness”

Morphological overgeneralisation

child applies grammatical rule too broadly. Example: “goed” instead of “went”

Noun

naming word for people, places, things or ideas. Example: “teacher”

Pronoun

word replacing a noun. Example: “she”

Verb

action or state word. Example: “run”, “is”

Auxiliary verb

helping verb used with main verb. Example: “have eaten”

Modal verb

verb expressing possibility, obligation or ability. Example: “might”, “should”

Adjective

describes a noun. Example: “blue”

Adverb

modifies verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Example: “quickly”

Preposition

shows relationship between words. Example: “under the table”

Conjunction

connects words or clauses. Example: “and”, “because”

Coordinator

conjunction joining equal clauses. Example: “and”, “but”

Subordinator

conjunction introducing dependent clauses. Example: “because”, “although”

Determiner

introduces a noun. Example: “the”, “some”, “my”