W11 - Language Acquisition

Babbling stage

Early vocalization period where infants produce repeated syllables and experiment with sounds

One-word stage (about 1 to 1.5 years)

Children produce single words that often function as full sentences

Two-word stage (about 1.5 to 2 years):

• Children combine two words to express linguistic relationships

Telegraphic stage (begins around 2 years

• Children produce longer sentences but omit function words

High amplitude sucking procedure

• Research method used to test infant language perception by measuring sucking rates

Habituation:

• The process where an infant is sucking to hear a sound until becoming bored with it.  

Dishabituation

Increase in infant's sucking rate when a new stimulus is presented after habituation to an old one

mouth lateralization in adults

in linguistic tasks, adults open their mouths more on the right side (since language is in the left hemisphere)

what does babbling indicate?

since babies open their mouths more on the right side when babbling - this shows left hemisphere language specialization

word spurt

the dramatic increase in vocab acquisition after children learn about 50 words

overextension

using words in a wider range than is appropriate in adult language (calling all men daddy)

comprehension v production in babies

children can comprehend complex language before they can produce it

overregularization

applying regular grammatical rules to irregular words (mouses instead of mice)

wug test

experimental method to test childrens ability to apply morphological rules to new words

whole object constraint

assumption that words refer to whole objects rather than parts

form over color

preference for shape over color when learning new object labels

mutual exclusivity constraint

assumption that an object only has one label

critical period

a limited developmental period during which the brain is particularly receptive to acquiring language

genie cast study

example of someone deprived of language during childhood who never achieved full linguistic competence

what are two myths about language acquisition

1. kids simply imitate their parents and others around them

2. they learn by being corrected by parents/others

how to babies learn language then?

making their own rules

statistical learning

• realistic word boundaries