language

Sensitivity of Newborns to Language Sounds

Newborns show sensitivity to speech sounds, as demonstrated by their ability to discriminate between different speech sounds even at a very young age.

Main Stages of Speech Development

Speech development progresses through stages including crying and cooing, babbling, single words, the two-word stage, and later stages of language learning.

Perception vs

The ability to understand words and sentences develops more rapidly than the ability to produce them in speech and writing during infancy and childhood.

High Amplitude Sucking (HAS) Technique

A method used to study infants' perception of speech sounds by measuring their sucking behavior in response to different speech stimuli.

Phonemes

The basic building blocks of speech sounds, from which all words in spoken languages are constructed.

Parsing

The process of dividing a continuous stream of speech sounds into words, phrases, and sentences.

Child-directed speech

A style of speaking characterized by a high-pitched tone, slow pace, and exaggerated intonation, used when talking to young children to help them parse speech signals.

Babbling

The stage in language development around 7 months of age when babies produce sounds resembling speech, experimenting with vocal muscles and movements.

Content words vs

Content words refer to specific objects or actions, while function words play a grammatical role in signaling relationships between words and clauses.

Over-extension errors

Errors made by children when a word is applied to a broader category than its specific meaning.

Pronouns

Words like 'I', 'you', 'me', and 'we' that pose a challenge for young language learners due to their variable meanings.

Telegraphic speech

Two-word utterances used by children around 24 months, conveying complex meanings with minimal words and dominated by content words.

Syntax

The rules governing the arrangement of words in a sentence, which children begin to understand and apply in their speech development.

Descriptive Grammar

Focuses on describing the regularities that are a natural part of language, rather than prescribing rules to follow for correct speech or writing.

Vocabulary Spurt

A period around 18 months where children rapidly learn new words at an increased rate.

Fast Mapping

The process where children acquire new words in a single learning episode by linking a new content word with an object or action.

Syntax

The rules governing how words can be combined to form sentences in a language.

Over-regularisation

Errors made by children when they apply a grammatical rule too broadly, such as adding "-ed" to irregular verbs in English.

Behaviorist Theory

A theory suggesting that children learn language through imitation and reinforcement of speech behaviors from others.

Chomsky's Perspective

Emphasizes that understanding language involves more than just observable behaviors and highlights the importance of internal mental processes in language acquisition.

High Amplitude Sucking (HAS)

A technique revealing newborns' abilities to perceive and remember speech sounds, providing insights into early language development.