CSD 240 Midterm

Language

a complex and dynamic systems of conventional symbols that is used in various modes for thought and communication

Inner language

keep thoughts and ideas to themselves

Written language

writing down thoughts and ideas

Form

how words, sentences, and sounds are organized and arranged to convey content

Phonology

sounds that make syllables and words

Morphology

organization of words

Syntax

organization of sentences

Content

the words used and the meaning behind them

Semantics

the meaning of individuals words and word combinations

Use

how people draw on language functionally to meet personal and social needs

Pragmatics

language use for social purposes

Morphemes

the smallest units of language that carry meaning and are combines to create words

Modularity

a cognitive science theory about how the human mind is organized within the structures of the brain

Modules

regions of the brain developed to process specific types of information

Domain specific

modules that can process only very specific types of information (ex: depth perception in the visual system)

Domain-general

modules that carry out very general tasks (ex: memory and reasoning)

Speech

describes the neuromuscular process by which humans turn language into a sound signal and transmit it through the air to a receiver

Respiration

air traveling from the lungs up to the trachea/windpipe

Phonation

air moves through the vocal cords to create vibrations to make voice

Resonance

air proceeds to the oral and nasal cavities where it resonates

Articulation

air is manipulated by the oral articulators (tongue, teeth, lips, jaw) to emerge as a series of speech sounds that are combined into words, phrases, and sentences

Hearing

the sensory system that allows speech to enter into and be processed by the human brain

Frequency

how fast the particles move back and forth

Intensity

how far apart the particles move back and forth

Speech perception

refers to how the brain processes speech and language like phonemic information

Auditory perception

describes how the brain processes any auditory information

Coarticulation

smearing or overlapping of phonemes in the production of strings of speech sounds

Communication

the process of sharing information, such as thoughts, feelings, and ideas, with two or more persons

Formulation

process of pulling together your thoughts or ideas for sharing with another person (involves language)

Transmission

process of conveying these ideas to another person by speaking, signing, gesturing, or writing (involves speech)

Reception

process of receiving the information from another person (involves hearing)

Comprehension

process of making sense of the message (involves language)

Symbolic/referential communication

occurs when an individual communicates about a specific entity and the relationship between the entity and its referent is arbitrary Ex: a child says "bottle" to request something to drink

Preintentional communication

communication in which other people assume the relationship between a communicative behavior and its referent Ex: cat's purr and infant's cry - partner must infer the goal of communication

Intentional communication

relatively precise in its intent and the relationship between the communicative behavior and its referent is not arbitrary Ex: infant points to a bottle

Feedback

information the receiver provides to the sender

Linguistic feedback

includes speaking

Nonlinguistic/extralinguistic feedback

use of eye contact, facial expression, posture, and proximity

Paralinguistic feedback

use of pitch, loudness, and pausing

What is instrumental communication?

Used to ask for something

What is regulatory communication?

Used to give directions and to direct others

What is interactional communication?

Used to interact and converse with others in a social way

What is personal communication?

Used to express a state of mind or feelings about something

What is heuristic communication?

Used to find out information and to inquire

What is imaginative communication?

Used to tell stories and to role-play

What is informative communication?

Used to provide an organized description of an event or object

Language difference

describes the variability among language users

Dialects

the natural variations of a language that evolve within specific cultural or geographic boundaries

Monolingualism

single language

Bilingualism

two or more languages

Code-switching

when speakers who have more than one language in common alternate between the languages

Phonological development

involves acquiring the rules or language that govern the sound structure of syllables and words

Prosodic cues

word and syllable intonation and stress patterns in a language that allow infants to break into the speech stream

Phonotactic cues

sounds following the phonotactic rules of a native language that allow infants to parse the speech stream

Phonological knowledge

acquisition of internal representations of the phonemes composing his or her native language

Phonological production

expression of native phonemes to produce syllables and words

Phonological awareness

an individual's ability to attend to the phonological units of speech through implicit or explicit analysis

Phonemic awareness

awareness of the individual phonemes of a language

Minimal pairs

words that differ by only one phoneme

Phonotactic rules

acceptable orders of sounds in syllables and words and the place where specific phonemes can and cannot occur

Morphological development

internalization of the rules of language that govern word structure

Grammatical (inflectional) morphemes

include the plural -s, the possessive 's, the past tense -ed, and the present progressive -ing

Bound morphemes

bound or attached to other morphemes, Prefixes and suffixes

Free morphemes

can stand alone

Derivational morphemes

change a word's syntactic class and semantic meaning

Syntactic development

internalization of the rules of language that govern how words are organized into sentences

Mean length of utterance (MLU)

mean number of morphemes per utterance

Clause

a syntactic structure containing a verb or a verb phrase

Negative sentences

express negation and rely on such words as no, not, can't, don't, and won't

Interrogative sentences

involve the act of questioning

Wh- questions

seek information about time, place, manner, reason, and quantity

Yes-no questions

seek a yes or not response

Complex syntax

refers to the use of phrase and clause structures, as well as conjunctive devices for organizing internal structures of sentences

Homesigners

children who are born profoundly deaf to hearing parents who do not have exposure to any conventional sign language

Child-directed speech (CDS)

refers to the talk directed to children by others, including parents and other caregivers

Semantic development

refers to an individual's learning and storage of the meanings of words

Mental lexicon

the volume of words he or she understands and uses

Lead-in

adult labels an object of event that is outside of the child's attentional focus

Follow-in

adult labels an object of event that is currently the child's attentional focus

Specific nominals

refer to a specific object (ex: Daddy, Fluffy)

General nominals

refer to all members of a category (ex: those, cats)

Action words

describe specific actions (ex: up), social-action games (ex: peekaboo), and action inhibitors (ex: no)

Modifiers

describe properties and qualities (ex: big, mine)

Personal-social words

describe affective states and relationships (ex: yes, bye-bye)

Semantic network

as the human brain acquires new words, they are organized according to connective ties among them

Spreading activation

activation of specific entries spreads across the network according to the strength of connections among entries

Pragmatic development

involves acquiring the rules of language that govern how language is used as a social tool

Communication functions

the intention of a communication used in a social context

Conversations

exchanges with other people

Schema

the building blocks of cognition and are internalized representations of the organizational structures of various events

Joint attention

when infants and caregivers focus attention on a mutual object

Register

refers to stylistic variations in language that occur in different situational contexts

Neuroscience

a branch of science that focuses on the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system

Neuroanatomy

the anatomical structures of the nervous system

Neurophysiology

how the nervous system structures work together as a complex unit and as separate, distinct biological units

Central nervous system

brain and spinal cord

Shields of the brain

bone, layered membranes, cerebrospinal fluid

Contralateral

the right side of the brain process information from the left side of the body and vice versa

Peripheral nervous system

cranial and spinal nerves which carry information inward to and outward from the brain and spinal cord

Horizontal axis

runs from the frontal pole of the brain to the occipital pole