Language Study Guide - Child & Adolescent Development

What is meant by the terms “receptive speech” and “productive speech”? Explain which appears first in development.

a. Receptive Speech: The ability to understand language

b. Productive Speech: The ability to express thoughts and need through communication

c. Receptive appears first.

What is phonology?

Understanding and producing speech sounds

What are semantics?

Meaning of words & sentences

What is syntax?

Form/structure of sentences

What is morphology?

Internal structure of words (how parts combine to create meaning)

What is pragmatics?

Different language use in different contexts & situations

What are morphemes?

Smallest meaningful unit, develop as words or as prefixes & suffixes

What are the 3 common language mistakes that young children make?

overextension, underextension, overregularization

What is overextension?

Using specific words to refer to a larger class (ex: using “dog” to mean other 4-legged animals, stimulus generalization)

What is underextension?

Using a general term to refer only to a specific example (ex: only saying “dog” for their dog and no other dogs)

What is overregularization?

Common morpheme for irregular cases (goose->geese, tooth-> teeth)

What are the primary forms of communication in the 3 stages of language development?

a. Prelinguistic: (10-13 months) crying (communicates distress), cooing (repeated vowel sounds), babbling (early signs of language, 4-6 months)

b. Holophrastic: (1-2 years) one-word utterances

c. Telegraphic: (2+ years) two-word utterances

Describe the learning, nativist, and interactionist perspectives on language development.

a. Learning: Children imitate adult speech and are reinforced

a. Speech improves with feedback, adults give feedback, babbling in own language’s intonation, children imitate adults

b. Nativist: We are born with language acquisition

a. Children can construct things that they haven’t heard before, they don’t imitate adult grammar, adult’s praise and recast poor grammar, brain is lateralized for language processing

c. Interactionist: Language results from a child’s biological abilities and their environment

a. Sensitive period shows need for experience, and effects of

maturation

d. The sensitive period hypothesis is the critical period of language learning, by puberty.

What are the six principles in young children’s vocabulary development?

1. children learn the words they hear the most often

2. children learn words for things and events that interest them

3. children learn words best in responsive and interactive contexts rather than when they are in a passive role

4. children learn words best in contexts that are meaningful

5. children learn words best when they access clear information about word meaning

6. children learn words from ample exposure to grammar and vocab

Describe how the early research on bilingualism was flawed. What have been the more recent findings on bilingualism (in both linguistic and nonlinguistic arenas)?

a. The early research was flawed because there were confounds in the study (access to education, and lower SES). The more recent findings show that there is advantages in working memory, attention switching, and theory of mind. As well as increased activity in regions associated with cognitive control and language processing.