SPA 223 Exam 2

Vocabulary flashcards based on SPA 223 lecture notes for understanding key concepts in language development.

Overextension

A semantic mapping error where a word is applied to a broader category than intended.

Underextension

A semantic mapping error where a word is applied too narrowly. “book” for one particular book

Overlap

A semantic mapping error where a word is used for some but not all items in a category.

Categorical Overextension

Applying a word to any member of a related category, e.g., using 'daddy' for all men.

Analogical Overextension

Applying a word to other items based on perceptual similarities, e.g., using 'ball' for the moon.

Relational Overextension

Using a word for thematically related items, e.g., calling a watering can 'flower'.

Social-Pragmatic Framework

emphasizes the role of social interaction and joint attention in language development.

Infant-Directed Speech (Motherese)

A special register of speech used by caregivers

Phonotactic Regularities

Patterns in speech that help infants discern where words start and end.

Prosodic Regularities

the predictable patterns of stress, rhythm, and intonation in speech

Canonical Babbling

The stage of babbling characterized by repeated consonant-vowel pairs, like 'ma ma ma'. includes reduplicated and variegated

Reduplicated Babbling

A form of babbling where the same consonant-vowel pair is repeated, e.g., 'ba ba ba'.

Variegated Babbling

A form of babbling where different consonants and vowels are used, e.g., 'ba da ga'.

Jargon

An advanced form of babbling that includes the melodic patterns of the child's native language but no real words.

Quinean Conundrum or the mapping problem

The challenge children face in determining the meaning of a word based on contextual clues.

Whole Object Assumption

children assume words refer to whole objects rather than parts.

Mutual Exclusivity

The principle that once children learn a word for an object, they assume it does not have another name.

Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)

A measure of linguistic complexity based on the average number of morphemes per utterance.

Brown’s Stages of Language Development

stage 1: single-word sentences, 18 months, 1.3 MLU

stage 2: two-subject sentences, 24 months, 1.9 MLU

stage 3: three-subject sentences, 30 months, 2.5 MLU

stage 4: four-subject sentences, 36 months, 3.2 MLU

stage 5: embedding and connecting, 42 months, 3.8 MLU

Post: complex syntax, 54 months, 5 MLU

Regular Past Tense Overgeneralization

The application of the past tense morpheme -ed to irregular verbs, e.g., 'eated' instead of 'ate'.

Phonological Processes

when children make systematic changes to word sounds because they cannot yet produce the adult word

Customary Age of Production

The age at which 50% of children can produce a particular speech sound.

Age of Mastery

The age at which 90% of children are able to produce a speech sound correctly.

Final Consonant Deletion

A phonological process in which the final consonant of a word is omitted. bow (“boat”)

Weak Syllable Deletion

A phonological process where an unstressed syllable is omitted from a word. monica (“harmonica”)

Stopping

A phonological process where fricatives are replaced by stops. punny (“funny”)

Gliding

A phonological process that involves substituting glide sounds for liquid sounds. wabbit (“rabbit”) JOJO SIWA

Backing

A phonological process where sounds produced in the front of the mouth are substituted with back sounds. goke (“goat”)

Fronting

A phonological process where back sounds are replaced with front sounds. tootie (“cookie”)

Referential Gesture

A gesture that conveys a specific meaning or refers to a particular object. (waving or call me hand)

Deictic Gesture

A gesture that indicates or points to something in the environment. NOT SPECIFIC, GETTING ATTENTION

Hierarchy of Categories

The organization of items based on levels, including superordinate, basic, and subordinate categories.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound with meaning

Morpheme

The smallest grammatical unit in a language; it can be a word or a part of a word.

Grapheme

a letter or word

Allophone

Variations in the pronunciation of a phoneme that do not change the meaning of a word.

Expansion in Language Development

repeating a child's words in a more complete sentence, reinforcing their communication and modeling complexity

Lexical Entry

The mental representation of a word: phoneme, meaning, and part of speech

Semantic Mapping Errors

Mistakes made by children when they incorrectly apply a known word to a different but related concept.

Joint Attention

A social-pragmatic skill where a child and caregiver share a focus on an object or event.

Retrieval Error

When a child knows a word but struggles to recall it, leading to incorrect usage.

when is an toddler’s Vocabulary Spurt?

50 words

Motherese Characteristics

higher pitch, slower tempo, exaggerated vowels, smaller MLU, more content words (nouns/verbs), fewer function words

_______ categories are based on what objects do, rather than what they look like, whereas _____ categories are based on similarities in appearance.

Conceptual; Perceptual

What type of question and what stage: Is cat eating?

Yes/No; stage 2

What type of question and what stage: Cat eating?

Yes/No; Stage 1

principle of conventionality

The lexical principle that explains how children learn that it’s best to say “water” instead of “wawa” once they’re able to produce the word in the adult form.

when is a lexical entry composed?

when a word is learned and used in context. first word around 1 year

how many words do toddlers tend to overgeneralize?

1/3 of new words

alveolarization

replacing “sh” with “t” or “d” or “s”. tu (“shoe”)

consonant cluster reduction

consecutive consonants are simplified to a single consonant sound. poon (“spoon”) or sake (“snake”)

when are specific morphemes acquired according to Brown?

1. present progressive: -ing 19-28

2. plural: -s 27-30

3. prepositions: in, on 27-34

4. possessive: ‘s 31-34

5. regular past tense: -ed 43-46

6. irregular past tense: ate, went 43-46

7. 3rd person singular: -s —> baby eats 43-46

8. articles: a, an, the 43-46

9. contractible copula being: she’s my friend 43-46

10. contractible auxiliary verb: she’s playing 47-50

compare lexical principles to the social-pragmatic framework

Lexical principles focus on how kids learn words and meanings naturally while the social-pragmatic framework focuses on social interaction and context cues

what is the criteria for a true word?

consistent, referential, recognizable, intentional

what are phonetically consistent forms?

do not resemble adult words enough

what is the wug test and why is it important?

-invented by Jean Berko Gleason and tested children’s abilities to generalize the rules for plural and past tense to novel words

-shows that kids can apply morphology and language rules to unknown words

why do children make semantic errors?

category membership: calling a cow a horse because they are the same thing

pragmatic error: calling a cow a horse because they don’t know the word cow but knows they are different things

retrieval error: calling a cow a horse because they can’t think of the word cow

how does whole object assumption and mutual exclusivity help kids learn new words?

they narrow down the meaning of new words with two different extremes

perceptual narrowing

when babies hone in on sounds that exist in their native language and stop paying attention to sounds that don’t

novel name-nameless category

children assign novel names to things that don’t already have a name, especially when they already know the name of the other object

habituation

when a child stops paying attention to a stimulus after it’s been shown many times over and over

dishabituation

when a child’s attention is re-engaged when a new stimulus is introduced

stages of yes/no questions

stage 1: copula or auxiliary (is) missing or in wrong place

stage 2: copula or auxiliary in 1st position

stages of wh-questions

stage 1: missing copula or auxiliary (is)

stage 2: copula or auxiliary is present but in wrong place

stage 3: copula or auxiliary is present and in correct place

lexical principles

1. reference, extendibility, object of scope

2. conventionality, categorical scope, novel name-nameless category

natural biases: whole object assumption and mutual exclusivity

stages of infant vocal development

1. reflexive 0-2

2. control of phonation (cooing) 1-4

3. expansion (isolated vowel sounds) 3-8

4. control of articulation (marginal babbling) ba 5-8

5. canonical babbling - reduplicated and variegated (CV) 5-10

6. advanced forms - jargon and diphthongs CCV - CVC 9-18

process of word learning

1. segment

2. find

3. map

copula

state of being

auxiliary

verb

contractible

she’s or she is or I am

uncontractible

she was or they were or this is or Taylor is

stages of negation

stage 1: external no

stage 2: internal no

stage 3: not

when is the 2 word stage?

2 years

prevocalic voicing

change a soft sound into a harsh one: guh gee for cookie

labialization

changing it to a sound that uses your lips

deaffrication

fis for fish

what are fricatives?

hissing of air. f, v, s, z, th

what is theory of mind?

understanding other people’s perspectives are different than yours (hiding object)

what are affricates?

combines stops and fricatives. ch and j

intra individual differences

receptive > expressive for infants

inter individual differences

outside factors on language development

milestones in infancy

1. speech perception

2. category formation

3. early vocalizations

what is statistical learning?

innate skill of pattern detection, domain-general

what is the High amplitude sucking procedure?

infants will suck more vigorously when presented with a sound or stimulus they find interesting

what is the Head turn preference procedure?

measures how long infants attend to different sounds based on their head turns towards the speaker of the sound (native vs nonnative)

what is the Preferential looking procedure?

assesses what children find interesting or different visually

what is eye tracking research?

measures attention and cognition based on how long a child looks at something

what do children bring to language learning?

statistical learning, segmenting, prosodic and phonotactic regularities