SPA223: Language Acquisition Final Exam Study Guide

What are the essential components of communication?

Pre-intentional communication, intentional or iconic communication, symbolic or referential communication.

How is speech different from language?

Speech is the physical act of producing sounds, while language is a system of symbols and rules for communication. For example, saying 'hello' is speech, while the concept of greeting is language.

What are the three systems that make up the form domain of language?

Morphology (organization of morphemes into words), phonology (organization of sounds into morphemes), and syntax (organization of words into sentences).

What is the difference between content (semantics) and use (pragmatics) in language?

semantics — to the meaning of words and phrases

pragmatics — use refers to how language is employed in context

For example, 'Is the Pope Catholic?' can have different implications based on context.

What is contextualized language?

relies on background knowledge, gestures, intonation, and situational cues, while decontextualized language relies heavily on language itself for meaning.

What is the difference between a phoneme and an allophone?

A phoneme is an individual speech sound that signals a contrast in meaning (e.g., /r/ in 'rat' vs. 'bat'), while an allophone is a variant of a phoneme that does not change meaning (e.g., the /p/ in 'pat' vs. 'spat').

How is language acquisition different from other childhood skills?

Language is learned rapidly, acquired (more or less) perfectly, not explicitly taught, and emerges after exposure.

What are the unique features of human language compared to animal communication systems?

Features include acquisition rate, universality, species-specificity, displacement, and productivity.

What is perceptual narrowing and when does it occur?

the loss of nonnative speech sounds. the process by which infants become more attuned to the sounds of their native language, typically occurring around 6-12 months.

What are phonotactic rules?

the constraints on the permissible combinations of sounds in a given language, such as 'ng' only occurring at the end of words in English.

How do children use prosodic cues in language development?

to parse the speech stream, identifying important elements in speech.

What is a morpheme?

the smallest unit of meaning in a language, such as 'wind' and 'fall' in 'windfall'.

What are grammatical and derivational morphemes?

add grammatical information and include free and bound morphemes

change the meaning or part of speech of a root word

What is the default syntactic word order in English?

Subject-Verb-Object (SVO).

What is the discrete combinatorial system in language?

It refers to a finite number of discrete elements that can combine to create an infinite number of sentences.

What are the three major syntactic achievements in language development?

Increase in utterance length, increase in sentence variety, and development of complex syntax.

How is utterance length measured?

MLU: calculated by counting all morphemes in a speech sample and dividing by the number of utterances.

What are the different sentence modalities that children learn?

declarative (statements), negatives, and interrogatives (questions)

What are Brown's five stages of grammatical development characterized by?

increasing complexity in grammatical structures and morpheme usage

What is the role of morphological development in language acquisition?

understanding and using morphemes, which are essential for word formation and meaning

What influences the development of a phonemic inventory?

exposure to language, phonotactic rules, and individual speech experiences.

What are the five stages of syntax development and their corresponding ages?

Stage I: 18 months - single-word sentences; Stage II: 24 months - two-element sentences; Stage III: 30 months - three-element sentences; Stage IV: 36 months - four-element sentences; Stage V: 42 months - embedding, connecting devices; Post-V: 54 months - complex syntax.

What are the three major tasks for a language learner?

Build a lexicon of 60,000 words, acquire new words rapidly, and organize the lexicon into a network.

What is the difference between receptive and expressive lexicons?

Receptive lexicon consists of words understood, while expressive lexicon consists of words produced.

At what age do children typically learn their first words and how many words do they know at age 2?

Children learn their first words around 1 year and know approximately 300 words by age 2.

When does the vocabulary spurt occur in children?

at around 50 words, typically at the end of the second year.

What are ostensive and non-ostensive word learning contexts?

Ostensive contexts involve eye gaze, pointing, and joint attention; non-ostensive contexts do not provide such direct cues.

What are some differences in vocabulary development between boys and girls?

Boys generally have a higher chance of being late talkers compared to girls.

What are the three parts of knowing a word?

Phonological form, developing conversational skills, and sensitivity to extralinguistic cues & speech registers.

What is fast mapping in language acquisition?

the ability to acquire a new word with minimal exposure

What is the difference between semantics and pragmatics?

Semantics refers to the meaning of language, while pragmatics refers to how language is used for social purposes.

What are some communicative functions of language?

Commands, questions, and direct or indirect statements.

What are conversational schemas?

Initiation and establishment of a topic, a series of turns that maintain the topic, and resolution & closure.

What are some examples of extralinguistic cues in communication?

Posture, gesture, facial expressions, eye contact, proximity, pitch, and loudness.

What are speech registers and how do they affect communication?

stylistic variations in different situational contexts, such as intimate, informal, formal, and superformal

What are the four lobes of the brain and their key functions?

Frontal lobe - motor cortex & executive functions; Temporal lobe - auditory cortex; Occipital lobe - visual processing; Parietal lobe - perception and integration of senses.

What are the primary language areas of the brain and their functions?

Broca's area in the left frontal lobe is responsible for expressive language; Wernicke's area in the left temporal lobe is responsible for language comprehension and processing.

What methods are used to study the brain and what do they measure?

EEG measures electrical activity in the brain; fMRI shows blood flow and provides a detailed picture of brain activity.

In which hemisphere is most language processed, and what is the exception?

left hemisphere; sign language processing occurs in the right hemisphere, with some involvement from the left.

What is a sensitive period in language development?

a developmental timeframe for growth or change in a particular aspect, indicating a time of opportunity where 'use it or lose it' applies.

What is the difference between learning and cortical remapping?

Learning involves generating new synaptic connections, while cortical remapping uses existing synapses for alternative functions.

What is the difference between experience-expectant and experience-dependent plasticity?

Experience-expectant plasticity involves changes due to normal experiences (e.g., acquisition of grammar), while experience-dependent plasticity involves unique, individual experiences.

What do feral children and late language learners indicate about the sensitive period?

They suggest that children not exposed to language in early childhood never achieve native fluency, emphasizing that earlier exposure is better.

What is the age range defined as infancy?

period from birth to 12 months.

How do infants use prosodic regularities to parse the speech stream?

stress (prominence on syllables through duration and intensity) and intonation (prominence in sentences through pitch and duration)

What is perceptual narrowing and when does it occur?

the diminishing ability to distinguish between nonnative phonemic contrasts, occurring around 6-8 months.

What are phonotactic regularities and how do they help infants?

permissible combinations of phonemes in a language that help infants segment words from continuous speech.

What is categorical perception of speech and why is it advantageous?

the ability to form categories crucial for language, allowing infants to distinguish between different speech sounds.

How does voice onset time of stop consonants relate to categorical perception?

a critical factor in distinguishing between different categories of stop consonants, aiding in speech perception.

What are the paralinguistic features of infant-directed speech?

include higher, exaggerated pitch, slower tempo, more pauses, and exaggerated vowels.

What are the syntactic features of infant-directed speech?

include smaller mean length of utterance (MLU), more content words (nouns/verbs), and fewer function words.

What are the stages in infant vocalization development?

Stages include marginal, canonical, reduplicated, variegated, and jargon babbling.

How do deaf babies babble?

use hand movements instead of vocal sounds, mimicking the rhythm and patterns of speech.

How is joint attention related to language development?

facilitates language development by allowing infants to share focus on an object or event, enhancing word learning.

When are first words typically learned?

First words are typically learned around 12 months (between 9-14 months).

What are the three characteristics of a true word?

recognizable, referential, and consistent.

What are the characteristics of early talkers?

Early talkers are in the top 10% of vocabulary production between 11-21 months, producing about 475 words and maintaining advantages in vocabulary and verbal reasoning.

What are the characteristics of late talkers?

produce fewer than 50 words by age 2, with males being three times more likely to be late talkers than females.

What is toddlerhood?

the developmental stage following infancy, typically starting around 12 months.

What is a lexical entry composed of?

a sound pattern, meaning, and part of speech

What are phonetically consistent forms?

idiosyncratic, word-like sounds used consistently and meaningfully, eventually replaced by true words.

What are two kinds of gestures that toddlers produce?

Diectic gestures (e.g., pointing, showing) and referential gestures (e.g., a gesture with a precise referent and stable meanings across contexts).

When are first signs learned and why are they produced before first words?

First signs are learned 1-2 months before first words, allowing for earlier communication.

What is the customary age of production for speech sounds?

the age at which 50% of children produce a sound.

What is the age of mastery for speech sounds?

the age at which 90% of children produce a sound in an adult-like manner.

Which consonants are learned earliest and which are learned latest?

Early speech sounds include /p/, /m/, /h/, /u/, /w/, /b/, while later sounds are typically more complex.

What are phonological processes?

patterns of sound errors that children use to simplify speech as they develop language skills

What are some examples of phonological processes in children's speech development?

Final consonant deletion, weak syllable deletion, consonant cluster reduction, assimilation, place-of-articulation changes (fronting, backing), manner-of-articulation changes (stopping).

What is final consonant deletion?

A phonological process where the final consonant of a word is omitted, e.g., 'cat' becomes 'ca'.

What is weak syllable deletion?

A phonological process where unstressed syllables are omitted, e.g., 'banana' becomes 'na-na'.

What is consonant cluster reduction?

A phonological process where consonant clusters are simplified, e.g., 'birthday' becomes 'birthay'.

What is assimilation in phonological development?

A process where two sounds in a word become more alike, e.g., 'doggie' becomes 'doddie'.

What are place-of-articulation changes in children's speech?

Changes where sounds produced in the back of the mouth are replaced with sounds produced in the front, e.g., 'k' becomes 't'.

What is stopping in phonological development?

A manner-of-articulation change where fricatives or affricates are replaced with stops, e.g., 'jeep' becomes 'deep'.

What is overgeneralization in language acquisition?

When children apply regular grammatical rules to irregular forms, e.g., saying 'maked' instead of 'made'.

What does the Wug Test demonstrate?

It shows that children can apply grammatical morphemes to new words, indicating they learn abstract concepts.

When does the two-word stage of language development typically start?

Around two years of age.

How is Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) calculated?

By dividing the total number of morphemes by the total number of utterances.

What morphemes are typically acquired first according to Brown?

Regular past tense -ed, plural -s, present progressive -ing, and irregular past tense.

How many words do children typically know at 2 years and 5 years?

At 2 years: 200-300 words; at 5 years: 2100-2200 words.

What is overextension in language development?

Using a word too broadly, e.g., calling all men 'daddy'.

What is underextension in language development?

Using a word too narrowly, e.g., using 'candy' only for jelly beans and not chocolate.

What is the Quinean conundrum?

The uncertainty surrounding how children map words to their referents.

What are the differences between morpheme, phoneme, grapheme, and allophone?

Morpheme: smallest unit of meaning; Phoneme: smallest unit of sound; Grapheme: written representation of a phoneme; Allophone: variation of a phoneme.

What are Brown's stages of language development characterized by?

by the increasing complexity of children's utterances and grammatical structures.

What is the whole object assumption?

The assumption that a word refers to a whole object rather than a part or a property.

What is mutual exclusivity in language learning?

The principle that objects only have one label, helping children learn new words.

What are some milestones of the preschool period?

Development of decontextualized language, emergent literacy skills, and new achievements in form, content, and use.

What are some components of print awareness?

Recognition of print functions, understanding print conventions, and recognition of part-to-whole relationships.

What are shallow and deep levels of phonological awareness?

Shallow: word awareness, syllable awareness, rhyme awareness; Deep: phoneme counting, phoneme blending.

What is syntactic bootstrapping?

Using syntax to help infer the meanings of new words.

What are the five stages of reading development?

1. Initial reading and decoding; 2. Confirmation and fluency; 3. Reading to learn; 4. Multiple viewpoints; 5. Construction and reconstruction.

What are morphophonemic rules?

Rules that govern the interaction between morphological and phonological processes.

What types of figurative language are there?

Oxymoron, irony & sarcasm, proverb, and conceptual metaphor.