Language

language

requires the use of signs or symbols within a grammar and allows the use of signs or symbols within a grammar to create novel constructions

rule systems

• phonology

• syntax

• morphology

• semantics

• pragmatics

phonology

systems of sounds

• how basic sound units put together to form words

prosody

intonation

phenome

shortest sound unit which sound produces change in meaning

syntax

structure, underlying rules

• word order and sentence structure

• rules for forming grammatical expressions

morphology

rules for combining units

• change to form meaning

morpheme

smallest meaningful unit in language

• root words

• prefixes

• small words (it, is)

• word endings (tenses, plurals)

semantics

• describing meanings of words

• structure of sentence and meaning are intrinsically related

pragmatics

rules that govern language in social context

• rules of conversation

• forms of address

• kids need to take into account context

speech perception

• babies show preference for native language but are able to discriminate sounds for multiple languages (babies under 6-8 months)

• later gets perceptually narrowed to language in which being exposed

prelinguistic period

first language-like sounds

phonation

0-2 months

• mostly reflexive

• crying, sneezing, burping —> do not modulate tongue

• not considered to be language

cooing stage

2-4 months

• vowelism sound combined with harder sounds

• behavior of baby influences caretaker

expansion

4-7 months

• testing sounds

• long vowel and consonant

• yells, whispers

• start to see fully formed vowels appear

• purposeful movement of tongue but not word like

• “ba” or “ga”

canonical

7-10 months

• “bababa” or “badidabu”

• sound sequences made on consonant and vowel sounds

• more like language

• only infants that can hear make these sentences

  • oral babbling decreases in Deaf babies

  • exposed to sign language, babble manually

contraction

10-14 months

• babies start to show preference for sounds in language they are being exposed to

• under voluntary control

  • sounds babies make are usually universal

  • vowels tend to sound like mama or papa

gestures

proto-declarative pointing

• joint attention important

proto-imperative pointing

proto-declarative pointing

directing others to object or event

proto-imperative pointing

trying to get others to do something

fast mapping

ability to rapidly narrow down meaning of word after brief exposure

biases

predisposed to help figure out new word

refer to whole

assume word means to whole not part

class of objects

refer to group rather than just one object

mutual exclusivity bias

every object has one name

-new word will refer to new object

shape bias

tend to generalize word to other objects based on same shape rather than other features

pragmatic

cue for fast mapping

• context and social cues to learn about meanings of words

syntactic

cue for fast mapping

• infer meanings from how word is used in a sentence

overextension

• single word used to cover multiple things

• not random, usually based on perception, form and function

under extension

use single word in highly restricted way

holophrase

used to describe children’s single word sentences

• situations, events, sequence of actions

one word stage

12 months

• child says words they’ve learned one at a time

two word stage

18-20 months

• start off slowly but increase rapidly

duos

need to understand context of situation to understand child

telegraphic speech

children often omit word/word endings that are used in adult language

grammatical morphemes

• carry relatively less meaning, children say key/important words instead

word order

children adopt strict ___ ___

• helps to keep more subtle meanings clear

• not relied on in every language —> has to do with structure of language

regularity

rule for grammatical morpheme testing

• using morphemes ____

new situations

rule for grammatical morpheme testing

regularity is extended to ____ _____

• are they able to apply rule to words they’ve never learned/heard before

overregularization

rule for grammatical morpheme testing

• languages have irregular words

• want to see if child applies rules to irregular words

self correction

rule for grammatical morpheme testing

• kids correct errors

detect errors

rule for grammatical morpheme testing

____ ____ in other’s people’s speech

explicity

rule for grammatical morpheme testing

____ state the rule

2 ½ - 3 years of age

questions

• inflection

• “Wh” questions

• invert subject and verb

Negatives

• No + _____

  • nonexistence, rejection. denial

• complex sentences

• narratives

4 ½ - 6

grammatical structure is there, after language development is more based on refinement

Nativist Theory

Chomsky

• Language Acquisition Device

• Universal Grammar

language acquisition device

• preexisting, innate brain structure that allows young children to acquire language

• neurological structure

universal grammar

abstract, unconscious rules that are common to all languages

• children are born with general understanding of the form of language, so need only minimal input

• child active

Learning Theory

Skinner

• reinforcement

• shaping

• stimulus control

• passive child

• language learned through principles of instrumental conditioning

Social Interactionist Perspective

• biology and maturation is important

• environment also important but more nuanced

critical: bi-directional interactions w/ the environment

LASS

language acquisition support system

• emphasizes importance of parent and caregivers role in environment/language development

nonverbal games

Adult influences on language development

• peak-a-boo

• games non-linguistic but allow child to learn structural aspects that lay foundation for speaking

caretaker speech

Adult influences on language development

• when talking to child, you structure speech to cater to young child

• simple, concrete objects, high pitch, more repetitions/questions

expansion

Adult influences on language development

• as child language becomes more sophisticated, child directed speech becomes more complex

recasting

Adult influences on language development

• takes what child say, expands and recasts into more complex form

• can also serve as correction

statistical learning theory

• distributional properties

• brain relies on statistical patterns

  • sounds that go together more frequently are more likely to be words