Childhood Language- Quiz 1

What is Brown’s three criteria?

productivity: new utterances

semanticity (symbolism): symbols stand for objects, ideas, events

displacement: messages need not to be tied to immediate context

What did the ape study with Viki show?

Viki was only able to produce 4 words after 6 years: mama, papa, cup, up

she would have to physically close her lips with her hand to produce /p/

What did the ape study with Washoe show?

learned ASL (over 130 signs)

she did not pay attention to word order, and it was not clear whether her sign language was grammatical structured in the sense young children are

was able to generalize words (hat they’d never seen before was still a hat) question of having syntax was not determined

was able to determine that a child’s and chimp’s first 50 words are very similar

What did the ape study with Nim show?

tried to discover if chimpanzees can make grammatical sentences

Nim was raised in a rich human environment and was taught ASL, Nim signed his first word at 4 months but was not able to string together more than 2 to 3 signs

lacked word order and turn taking skills

What did the ape study with Kazi show?

understood 500 spoken words

also understood word order “put the milk in the jelly”

What is the difference between symbols and grammar

symbols: visual or written signs used to represent ideas, concepts, or sounds (for example A is the symbol for ash sound)

grammar: set of structured rules that govern how words, phrases, and clauses are combined to form meaningful sentences

What is Lenneberg’s quote?

language is species-specific and species-uniform

(1967): milestones on a regular schedule, speech isn’t suppressible, all lang shares universal features

“Language can’t be taught to other species” said before Washoe

What are the Neanderthals and what is the evidence they likely spoke?

our closest extinct human relatives

probably spoke because they had the hyoid bone, had FOXP2 gene, had relationships and interbreeding,

capacity for speech is likely 400,000+ years old

What are the five systems of language? Include classifying examples for each

phonology: the sound patterns and rules of a language

morphology: internal structure of words

semantics: meaning of words (your mental dictionary: the lexicon)

syntax: how words combine in sentences (known implicitly by every native speaker)

pragmatics: social use of language

What is the difference between phonemes and letters

phonemes are the smallest units of sound in a language, while letters are the written symbols that represent those sounds

phoneme: smallest sound unit that can signal a difference in meaning (abstract sounds that are not tied to a specific letter, approximately 44)

letter: a visual symbol in the alphabet used to represent sounds in writing, 26, letters can represent multiple sounds)

key differences: phonemes are sounds but letters are symbols, a single phoneme can be represented by more than one letter

What are morphemes?

the smallest unit of meaning in a language

they are indivisible and every word is built of one or more

What is the difference between free and bound morphemes?

free morpheme: can stand alone

• (these carry the content, call them lexical)

• also include functional: to, the

bound morpheme: can not stand alone

• two types: derivational and inflectional

What is the difference between derivational and inflectional morphemes?

derivational: changes the word’s meaning or part of speech

inflectional: fit the word into grammatical structure (plurals)

What is the difference between competence and performance? Which one can researches actually observe?

competence: your hidden knowledge of your language’s rules

performance: what you actually say (slips, false starts, “um”)

researchers can only observe performance - competence must be inferred

What is every dialect?

rule governed, speakers follow rules nobody taught them

What is the difference between language and communication? Which is a form of which?

communication: exchange message/information

language: way to communicate through sounds and/or symbols (written or spoken), signs, posture, and gestures

language is a form of communication that allows individuals to convey thoughts, ideas, emotions, and information through structured system of symbols and sounds

What are the three cognitive milestones?

object permanence

means-end understanding

categorization

What are the tasks that measured each cognitive milestone?

object permanence: hid object in hand → hand under cloth A, then B, then C → object left under C

means-end understanding: pull a string to get a toy, use a stick to reach, necklace in a bottle, stacking rings with a trick ring

categorization: give a child 4 of one kind and 4 of another, scramble on table (pass in stages: serial touching (touching the same kinds of objects in a row), grouping one kind of item, sorting items into 2 groups)

What is the naming explosion? When does it occur?

occurs somewhere in the second year, naming suddenly ignites

Which milestones travel with the naming explosion, which do not?

categorization travels with the naming explosion

means-end did not travel with the naming explosion

Why did the study have to be longitudinal?

study had to be longitudinal because they wanted to know when a particular skill develops and need accuracy

What is the difference between longitudinal and cross-sectional?

longitudinal: follows one person across time

cross-sectional: multiple people at different stages